My 2009 Touring edition has been intermittently making this noise: (see two posts further down as every time I refresh the page, the youtube link vanishes) I hear it while driving as well as at stoplights. It comes and goes; sometimes I will drive it for over an hour before it starts. Sometimes I hear it as soon as the car starts even after sitting for hours. It doesn't appear related to my use/non-use of the fan or A/C. I've heard it when the ambient temperature is hot or cool, at start-up and after driving for a while, brakes on or off, First noted four or five months ago after an oil change, but may have stated earlier as I often have the radio up. Any assistance would be welcomed. I'd like some idea of what it is before I take it in, as I will be charged for diagnostics.
The vehicle in the youtube video doesn't look like it's a touring edition (wrong wheels) - not sure if that's relevant, but the noise is certainly weird, I'm sorry but I haven't a clue! Does the noise occur only when the vehicle is in motion?
my 05 does it too, I think its the brake booster bleeding off or building up pressure ..sometimes it will be a few seconds as Im starting it sometimes is continues as Im driving for a few miles or it could be just gremlins in the glove box?
Sounds to me like the coolant thermos pump, located behind/under the driver's side headlight. This usually activates at startup and shutdown. Either the pump is bad, or the 12volt battery is super low...
Here is the recording from my car: Sometimes I hear it at rest, sometimes in motion. I drove 12.5 miles each way to work and back(30 minutes there and 48 minutes back at speeds from 5mph to 45mph) today without hearing it once. Yesterday it started after I had driven about 25 miles(variable speeds), stopped for a half hour, then started up again. It started while in motion, and continued in Park. Sometimes the noise starts after the car has been sitting overnight.
I changed the recording to one actually from my car. It is a bit different. The battery was replaced two years ago. The sound does not continue after the car has been shut off (that's a different noise). I couldn't tell if it was coming from the driver's side or the passenger side when I went under the hood. I have heard the noise start long after the car started. I went looking for a recording of the coolant thermos pump, but have not been able to locate one. Might you know of one? Isn't it supposed to sound like a water bubbler?
I reposted the recording of MY car - the one I had up before was one someone else had recorded three years ago of his non-Touring car making a similar noises. The recording was made of the car at rest, but I've also heard it while the car was in motion.
That may be the thermos pump. Common issue. But it only runs after you shut the motor off. Its behind the drivers side headlight down in the well. You can hear it good behind the front drivers wheel. Search CHRS pump. Or its the brake abs unit. Thats right behind the drivers footwell in the engine compartment firewall real low. Very hard to see from up top as its so low.. Or its the Inverter coolant pump. Which is right behind the drivers side headlight. Little black pump. Its very loud and should be very very easy to find. Hope its not the ABS pump...$$$$$$.
I believe the problem is with the engine coolant valve. That valve switches engine coolant between the cabin heater core and the coolant heat recovery system canister, and is part of the engine emissions control system. If you don't see the check engine light on, I suggest that you wait for the valve to fail. It will probably cost mid three-digits at the Toyota dealer to have the valve replaced.
I agree with Patrick, that sound is the engine coolant valve. I've heard it many times and that's the cause of the noise
Thanks Patrick, I was hoping you'd respond. The coolant was replaced at the beginning of the summer, before the noise started. Could there be any relationship, like did they forget to tighten something, or did replacing the coolant loosen up debris? (The car was out of commission for about seven weeks in the summer, so I haven't been driving it with the noise as ling as one might surmise; a motorcycle tried to pass my car on the left while my daughter was turning left in a no-passing zone)(no one was injured enough to warrant hospitalization, amazingly)
I looked at the post by Stomper88 from Jan 2012 on how to replace the valve: http://priuschat.com/threads/p1121-co... Sounds like it might be related to the coolant change or perhaps just the age of the car and the need for a coolant change? I have about 134K miles on the car.
Maybe. Well, if the valve is original equipment, it has lasted a long time given your car's odometer reading. Check the engine coolant level in the radiator (do not rely solely on looking at the overflow reservoir.) Make sure that the cabin heater works well and that you do not hear air bubbling in the heater core. If you do not find any issues then I would not fault the workmanship associated with the coolant change. If you should find the engine coolant level is low, look at the inside of the engine coolant pump pulley and the top of the air conditioner compressor housing, for pinkish or whitish stains. If you see this, that is evidence the engine coolant pump bearing is leaking and the coolant pump will need to be replaced.
