Prius (2004-09) :: 2007 - Whining Noise From Engine Compartment (Proportional To Acceleration)
May 13, 2014
I need to diagnose an issue I've had with my 2007 Prius with 79,000 miles on it. Several months ago I noticed a distinctive whining/humming noise coming somewhere from the engine compartment of the car while driving. The noise may be present at lower speeds, but the volume of the noise appears to increase proportionately with my acceleration and as such is most noticeable at highway speeds of 50 - 70 miles per hour. As I accelerate faster, the noise level seems to increase. If I take my foot off the gas and coast, decreasing speed, the whining noise gets lower in volume. I believe I first noticed this noise about 6 months ago, but wasn't more proactive about it like I normally would be because at first the noise didn't seem overly loud and my extended warranty unfortunately was up once I hit 77,000 miles. Now 6 months after I first noticed the noise, I believe it's definitely louder than it was when I first heard it, so much so that I can pick it out over the radio being on at a decent volume.
After checking some forums I thought the culprit might be a wheel bearing. I took it into a local Midas shop at they informed me that my passenger-side front wheel bearing was actually breaking apart in pieces. Obviously I had that wheel bearing replaced but I was also hoping this was the source of the whining noise. Unfortunately that wasn't the case as driving it home the noise was still present. They also said the tires were not balanced properly (from my Toyota Dealership no less when I had them install new tires) so I had the tires rebalanced as well. They did take the car for a test drive but probably stop looking for issues with the car as soon as they saw the wheel bearing in that condition. Also that shop does not specialize in Prius' or hybrids so they might not be able to notice the noise that shouldn't be there like I can.
Other than wheel bearings, where this noise could be coming from. Some posts on here possibly pointed to the ICE water pump or transaxle fluid (which as far as I know has never been replaced since I bought the car new).
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Developed a whining type noise in my '07 prius engine compartment. Noise only there when gas pedal pressed. If I let off on gas the whining noise stops.
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Any way, my 2007 Sonata with 57,000 miles just developed a whining noise on the right side of the engine compartment. It sounds like it is concurrent with RPM and I thought it might be the alternator, the drive belt or some pulley. I have even seen on the general internet that some others had a bad oil filter. To me, the noise seems to be coming from the alternator area. It is a relatively high pitched noise that almost sounds like an electric motor. Would love to get it fixed. I am nearing the 60,000 max on replacement from certain items and do not know if the alternator is covered.
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I had whining from the engine compartment when I am coasting and accelerating, much noiser than in the past. I had been getting a C1310 code along with C1253 , C1241 and C1300, but I changed out the Anti Skid ECU and these went away. However I still get the red triangle of death VSC and ABS lights on after driving on the highway for about 10 minutes at speeds over 65. So I then got P0A2B 250 codes, Drive motor A temperature sensor. After it rested a while and I restarted the car, all but the red triangle would go out. After two more starts the Red triangle went away too. This happened for a few weeks, until one day after a trip, the car just stopped. Would not start at all, no ready light went on. Testing gave me a P0AA6 526 code, Hybrid Battery Voltage System Isolation Fault. Now I know the 526 could be multiple faults but with the whining and the P0A2B, I am thinking the transaxle is the smoking gun.
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I have a 1999 Subaru Legacy 2.5 GT and I get a whining noise that is directly proportional to road speed when I drive. The noise is ONLY heard when the car is moving and your foot is on the gas. The second you lift your foot to coast the whining stops. If you are stopped, no whine. If you change gears, the frequency of the whine doesn't change. Turning the wheel left/right doesn't change anything. If it sounds like anything I've heard, it sounds like a dry differential. I've checked the front diff fluid level (the whine comes from the front) and the fluid level is full.
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I have a 2007 Prius with 136,500 miles on it. Love this car. Getting 53.3mpg currently. A while ago I started noticing a strange sound coming from the passenger side of the car where the engine is. Recently the sound has become more pronounced and it has me stumped. The noise occurs upon acceleration, but not all of the time. If the battery is at 2 purple bars and I accelerate, the noise is very noticeable. But once I get to cruise speed it goes away. Again, this is sometimes and not all the time. Hopefully it's nothing, but I figured I would post this incase something is on the verge of failing so I may catch it in time.
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I would describe the noise as a whirling/vibration sound that can be heard as soon as the gas engine portion of the car kicks in (even in park) but gets louder and more noticeable as the car is in motion, especially at highway speeds (55 - 65mph). Opening the hood and listening to the engine block, the noise is definitely coming from around the area of the silver-covered portion by the driver's-side, which I believe is the hybrid synergy engine. The noise has gotten to the point where I really get bothered by it driving anywhere, and I have to turn up the radio to try to drown out the noise.
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I have a 2004 Prius that has a ticking noise coming from the engine compartment It speeds up and slows down with the idle of the engine or the pressing of the accelerator. Appears to be coming from the passenger side (US). No diagnostic codes have come up.
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I first noticed a strange noise coming from the engine compartment a day ago. I had left the car to sit in the sun for a few hours. When I got in the A/C was set to on and the system was on auto. I tested to see if the noise went away when I turned off the A/C and it did. I turned it back on and it returned. I know the A/C operates at different speeds based upon cooling needs and that it can get sort of noisy but I didn't think that it could/should get this loud. The system seems to begin working quickly and it does seem to put out cold air. If the noise is unusual do you think that it indicates another underlying problem in the A/C system?
Just to clarify, the ICE is not running in the video. The cabin fan is set to low and the temperature is set to low. The person in the car presses the A/C button and the cooling fans in the engine compartment come on as well as the A/C unit. The sound gets louder a few seconds in. Here is the link to the recording I made of the sound.
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Started the car the other day and a loud whining noise followed by the car "jumping" when I stepped on the gas. It would go/stop for a second, then shut down. Mechanic who is not a Prius expert said it was the tranny. He could put in a used one (77k miles). Car has 250k miles on it. Is it worth it? Or should I just part it out. I'm worried about things like the battery going next.
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Noticed a whining noise upon acceleration, today. Noticed that it might be the power steering going. No sooner than I read this, and making a trip to my wife's graduation...Loss of power steering. What should I look for when I take it in, and tell them it's the power steering that is gone. Was reading about a potential correlation with having the rack and pinion replaced. That is something that was done about a year ago. Any real correlation? How bad is it to continue to drive without the power steering?
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My 2012 Santa Fe AWD Limited whines, all the time, from the time I start it until the time I shut it off. It gets louder with acceleration. What is that?
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My 07 SCREW 5.4L 4x4 has 77,000 miles and has a high pitch whining noise on front right side of engine. Sounds worse in the cold,increases with RPMs.
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Looking for some input on a recent "hissing" noise coming from eng compartment. It's only noticeable during initial acceleration, and sometimes at the beginning of gear changes. I am assuming its tubo and/or exhaust related, as I've noticed a strong exhaust odor in the cab as well. I wasn't under load when the problem started but i was under rapid acceleration. Not noticing any fluids or oils leaking. No warning lights have tripped, as of yet.
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There is a whining noise related to vehicle speed and is most noticeable under the lightest acceleration at 40-50km/h, e.g., keeping a constant speed on the flat. It basically goes away on harder acceleration and is not there when decelerating. All other noise is as expected and not intrusive or unusual. Car is 2005 with 212k kms.
I changed the ATS fluid recently and didn't notice any metal "glitter" in the old fluid or much stuff on the magnet . It was just a mm of black sludgy stuff that didn't seem metallic. The fluid that came out was dark as I assume it hasn't been changed before no chunky globs or anything that would spell trouble..
What is causing this? The car is great other than this annoying noise which happens to be at speeds you normally do around town...
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I have a 2007 Prius that had a rotational noise on acceleration. I pinpointed the noise to the transmission area and suspected something was wrong with the electric motor. I took it to a local transmission shop and they disassembled the transmission to replace a bearing.
After repairs, they called me and informed me that the hybrid battery needed to be replaced. I've been driving the car for about a week with the noise and had no indication of a battery problem, or any other problem.
I had them tow the car back to my shop. The hybrid battery was discharged. The battery blocks were all between 10 and 12 volts. The vehicle would move slowly, but the ICE wouldn't start up to charge the battery. It had one DTC for hybrid battery malfunction.
I removed the battery from my own Prius and installed it in the car. The ICE fired up right away and shut off soon after, which would be completely normal in my car. But the engine never started again. I drove a short distance all on electric. The battery bars depleted quickly. Regen braking was not operating. There was a shudder every so often on acceleration. I'm not sure if it's in the transmission or the ICE is attempting to start? There are no DTCs so far.
The screen indicating where the power is going indicates that the engine is ON and delivering power even when it clearly is not. Not sure where to go with this one. It seems really odd that the ICE started once and won't start up. I tried disconnecting the battery and starting over, but the ICE still does not start up. I looked around the transmission for something disconnected, but found nothing.
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So, I have 100K miles on a 2007 4Runner (V6) and after having my radiator flushed at the Toyota dealership service dept, I get my car back and now hear a low rumbling noise coming from the engine compartment. I hear this noise every time I turn on the air conditioner, and sometimes even when it's off.
I took my car to Toyota today and after getting the service advisor to acknowledge the noise, I get a call 2 hours later saying, a) that no noise was identified by the technician; b) nothing wrong with my car; and c) I can come pick it up.
It ain't my imagination. Clearly, something is wrong. What it is? Should I take it to another service department? This kind of thing makes me crazy!
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I have a 2007 Azera with a 3.8 engine. It has 16000 miles without any problems. There is a clicking noise coming from the engine compartment when accelerating. The noise only occurs when the engine is cold and seems to be more pronounced when accelerating quickly. I do not hear it when the car is idling.
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Is it my wheel bearing, rotors or brake pads?
How do I describe it... well it has this squealing noise and it's proportional to my speed.
Heard this while I had my windows rolled down.
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I started noticing some strange sounds coming from the engine compartment after shutting off the car ( a 2007 with 90K miles). It's different from the hum for several seconds that I often hear after switching off the car. This one is a squeaky rough sound like a small motor wearing out. I think it's from the driver side of the engine compartment. Is that where the inverter pump is? This car didn't have any record of needing the inverter pump changed for the recall as far as I could tell.
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i have been hearing a rattling noise coming from the engine under acceleration only. It isn't a super consistent rattle, seems to only happen when accelerating from lower speeds. And sometimes you don't hear and other times you do. It's not a bad rattle or knock it's more of a ticking/light rattling sound that is definitely abnormal.
I know my brake accumulator is barking at me and the 3 way coolant valve is going bad as sometimes I get a constant pumping sound. I don't think these have anything to do with it but thought I'd mention it.
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