new powertrain noises and other irregularities

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by Former Member 68813, Jul 1, 2015.

  1. Former Member 68813

    Former Member 68813 Senior Member

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    i had the car since 2010, but wife is the primary driver lately. i just did a longer hwy trip and noticed 3 new issues. intermittent rattling noise somewhere in front of the car, i guess under the hood at low 70' mph. less noticeable closer to 80 mph. my son who drove part of the way compared it to the crunchy noise a loud hard drives makes. distinctively different from pinging and not linked to engine load.

    then i noticed alternating RPM when stopped or moving very slowly while ICE running to recharge HV battery when it dipped to 2 bars. i heard a few cycles of this as we were stopped on a hwy for full hour due to hwy closed due to multiple accidents.

    finally, today, i noticed a loud high pitched (>10kHz i guess) inverter noise when driving at slow speeds under 25 mph. much louder than usual and not related to speed, load, AC on/off, etc.

    the car is at about 64,000 miles, just outside the drivetrain warranty.
     
    #1 Former Member 68813, Jul 1, 2015
  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    I think you should just let your wife continue driving this thing.

    Most noises I hear from my 2010 are usually rattles and AC humming when it's on.
     
    #2 JC91006, Jul 1, 2015
  3. mmmodem

    mmmodem Senior Taste Tester

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    I heard some weird rattling noises at the front of my car too. Didn't sound like pinging. Sounded more like a clunking sound like from a hard drive. Thought car was getting old, sucks. Hope it doesn't break. Then at a red light, it rattled quite sharply and stopped. Drove home, opened up the hood and the metal rod to hold open the hood fell down. I felt like an absolute idiot.:confused: I was relieved but I had worried for nearly 3 weeks wondering what the noise was trying to recreate it for the dealer.
     
    #3 mmmodem, Jul 1, 2015
    bisco likes this.
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