When I'm at a stop, occasionally I will hear a very faint honking news (as if you were to lightly tap the horn on a gm vehicle). It happens maybe once or twice a day and it is usually only one to three honks at a time. I notice it because I'm always looking around thinking someone is honking at me. It almost sounds like the sound of a dry squeegee on your windshield. Its not my wipers either. They are off when I hear it. Any ideas?
LOL, no. I've even heard it when I pulled into a parking lot and had the car in park for a few minutes.
It is something wonky with the brakes. Many of us have experienced it, and I believe that there was even a TSB on it. It only happens in my car when I'm at altitude - and others found the same thing. Very odd. Since it doesn't happen where I drive the other 360 days of the year, I've decided not to worry about it - but I do know how disconcerting it can be!
I've heard this too! Only when I apply firm brake pressure while the car is stopped, like when I'm trying to FAS it. It's infrequent, & I've only heard one, possibly 2 honks at a time. Curious as to what it might be.
The "honk" is due to air bubbles in the hydraulic lines. The noise occurs as the bubbles go through the control valves. It can often be fixed by bleeding the brakes (ONLY your dealer has the required equipment), but sometimes a costly part will need to be replaced. See the thread: http://priuschat.com/forums/toyota-.../29211-tsb-br001-07-brake-actuator-noise.html JeffD
There is a TSB out for it. Take it to the dealer, they will first try to bleed the brake lines. If that doesn't work they will replace some gizmo or other. In the case of my wife's car, that fixed it
Tom - What I mean is altitude... uh... height above sea level. And TSB... Tech Service Bulletin as you have correctly surmised. It happens to me when I leave my roughly sea-level city, and drive to higher places... at altitude. And there is a tech Bulletin issued on it - since posted here. Not sure what else I can add.
yeah I didn't know if you meant hi or lo altitude. I'll see if my dealership can fix it. If I do nothing about it, will it become a problem later?
I am going to take my car into the dealership early this week to have them fix my SKS. My car is a 2005 with 83k on it. I know the service bulletins were only for 3 years or 36k, but should I have the dealership fix the problem? I have a 30 day warranty on the car since I purchased it only 3 weeks ago. Will this become a major problem in the future?
Since brake system performance is not affected by this, it should not become a major problem. However if you can get the 30 day warranty policy to cover the problem, why not.
My master cylinder starked squeaking last fall when we were out west at altitude. It stopped when I got back to the lowlands of Michigan. Tom
After much investigation (precious little of it by my Toyota dealer), I narrowed the very brief honk down to the pump in the "thermos bottle" that holds warm engine coolant. The honking noise in my 2005 was typically present when the car hadn't been started for awhile. It's been going on for about 6 months. Once I TOLD the dealer where the noise was coming from, they consulted Tpyota and solved the problem.....by declaring it to be a "normal operating noise". Problem solved! :boxing: As far as I know, it's not harmful; at least nothing has exploded yet. My wife's 2006 and my sister's 2007 haven't started making this noise yet.
