I ventured into the garage late last night and heard a whirring noise like an electric motor coming from my Prius. I didn't have my smart key with me. I checked the doors to see if any were ajar. The whirring kept going. After a few minutes, it stopped.
View 9 RepliesMy girlfriend just picked up a 2007 Prius Touring, 78,000 miles, original owner. It was a private sale and I took a look at it for her. I'm just learning about the Prius and stuff to look for, but everything looked good on it to me. After purchasing it she noticed a noise coming from the drivers side dash. I searched here and saw that dash rattles are common, but this sounds more like an electric buzzing/whirring noise. The duration of the noise is always about 2 to 3 seconds in length, then it stops. There doesn't seem to be any common factor for when it occurs. Is there anything electric on the drives side dash (far left side, closest to the window), that might be making this noise? It's not super loud, you can't hear it if the radio is on.
View 4 RepliesI parked the little dear in the garage about 9:30 last night. I went into the garage this morning around 6:30 and I noticed how still and quiet it seemed. I then opened the garage door and went outside for a few minutes. When I came back in, I hear a low whirring sound. I went back outside to listen, but it was definitely coming from the Prius, perhaps near the back, underneath.
The hatch was open; I closed it, but the sound didn't change. The fob was in the house, and I didn't open the driver door, so it wasn't the brake pump. It lasted at least 2-3 minutes, at which time I was too bored to continue listening, and I went back to weeding and watering.
I have a 2009 Prius with about 56K miles on it that I absolutely love. Now I know from reading in the forums an my own experience that when the A/C compressor starts running you hear an electric whirring sound. My question is... is it a cause for concern when the sound it makes seems different -- the pitch sounds lower to me now. The A/C still works fine, but I didn't know if this changing sound means the compressor was on the way out.
View 13 RepliesWent down to my garage after the Prius had been off for at least 5 hours and heard a whirring kind of like a fan in the back half of the vehicle. I had never heard this before and it went on for at least 5 minutes then quit. My garage was probably around 60 degrees for most of that time, fwiw. Seems like the area of the battery fan but why would that need to run?
View 2 RepliesDoes the gen 3 prius use electric motor only when in reverse? Reason I'm asking is that, I was in reverse and didn't see a rock that prevented me to move and keep pressing on the gas pedal and got no response and throttle response was zero even on the HSI screen. Had to move forward and back to reverse to gain momentum to go over the rock. Just a weird feeling knowing that the gas motor didn't even kick in even when pressing on the gas pedal.
View 19 RepliesWe've owned our 07 since purchased new in 06. It's always made this noise, but it used to be for a short period of time (1-2 min). Now it goes on and on for 5-10 min. It sounds like it's getting "stuck" and starting the cycle over.
View 19 RepliesI went out to my garage a minute ago and heard my C making a weird noise. Like a small electric motor running. I finally pinpointed the sound to the bottom of the car back towards the fuel tank. At this point I thought my fuel pump was powered up because it sure did sound a little like that. I was saying to myself at that point that I am sure glad the car is still under warranty. So I went to get the SKS fob to start it up, hoping the sound would just go away. While sitting in the car prior to starting it, it occurred to me that maybe I should remove the fuel cap first. While opening it a slight "whoosh" occurred blowing fumes in my face when removing the cap and the farting promptly went away. The tank is down to two segments level wise, it is cooling down this time of the day, but I did get back from a long drive a few hours ago, so I can't see how the fuel or vapors were expanding enough to release through a pressure valve. So if you car is farting, remove the gas cap first before panicking.
View 9 RepliesSo recently I was driving through highway 17 with 4 people and we'll my 07 Prius was slowing down like never I eventually smelled a little burn but I ignored it I just though the engine was working a bit to hard. Recently I noticed that on the energy screen it only shows that the battery is getting charged it sometimes used the battery to the motor but not often. I did notice though that I run with electricity more when I'm in the city. It's quite weird it's like the electric motor doesn't work on the freeway.
View 8 Replies06' prius that I believe to be abnormal behavior. Just took the car on a 360 mile round trip. After about an hour of driving (Interstate 78mph) I happened to notice on the Energy screen that the car started to use the electric motor steadily for about 5 minutes of driving on flat terrain (Kansas). I watched as the SOC went from 5-6 bars down to 1-2 (purple). At which time the car started experiencing bouts of high rpm on level terrain/small hills. It stayed in this state for over 20 minutes or so of driving. It acted like it knew it needed to charge the hybrid battery, however the level never increased until such time as I exited the interstate and started braking. I am assuming that the HV battery should rarely discharge that much traveling at highway speeds on flat terrain.
View 19 RepliesA quick question, currently an observation.. but a concern. we purchased our 2012v used at 55k miles.. She's running great, MPG's are above rated expectations. (ave 47.2 so far) We are currently @ ~59400 miles.. So, all seems OK w/the exception of this strange noise.. I'm familiar with the typical prox pulse sound at low EV speeds.. and this noise is not that one.
View 11 RepliesWhen sitting at redlight, engine off, vibration seen and felt when electric motor is active.
View 6 RepliesJust walked by the back end of my new Prius III and heard what sounded like a electric motor running from the general area of the exhaust pipe at the right rear end of the car. This was about 5 hours after I last drove it.
View 1 RepliesYesterday, at 8000 ft in the Arizona mtns, my 2010 Prius exhibited some strange behaviors. For several minutes the gas pedal was non responsive in the first half of it's travel, then it would lurch ahead in a jerky manner unlike it's normal behavior.
It seemed like the electric motor was not being engaged. It also seemed stuck in ECO mode. Pushing the economy mode button would not disengage economy mode. If I stepped hard on the pedal it would go, but not very well. After heading down the mountain to a lower elevation seemed to work.
We are only one week in to owning our 2006 Prius! Question is why does it sound like a motor whirring sound after turning it off? It only lasts 20 to 30 seconds, just wondering if this is a normal sound?
View 4 RepliesMy 2013 Prius v V with 60,000 miles just intermittently started to show 3-4 dash lights when driving: Slip, Brake, and ABS. Whenever this happens, I noticed the regenerative braking doesn't work and the traction motor refuses to turn off at a stop (like at a red light). The traction motor will turn off if I put the car in neutral. At first it happened with just those three lights, but now a fourth comes on...the LED lights indicator.
So what gives? Sometimes these symptoms last for days, and then they stop. Sometimes they stop for days, and then return. Once in a while they disappear (sometimes after a rest of a few hours) and then come back on after a short drive. Once, they persisted for days, then disappeared. A few hours later, however, I had the car parked with the power on for about an hour while talking to someone via Bluetooth (traction battery at 3/4). All of a sudden all the power to the vehicle cut off. When I turned the car back on a half hour later the symptoms came back and persisted for days.
This on again off again dance has been going on in a temperate Southern California Coastal climate (Orange County CA) and also in a hot desert climate (Coachella). It seems like a short...or maybe a problem with a brake actuator or sensor (same thing? dunno). I've researched this on the web, and couldn't find anything that matches exactly my symptoms. It seems to be related solely to the braking system, but why the LED light now? The LED doesn't come and go on it's own, it comes on in tandem with the other wheel-related lights. Very strange.
Have just purchased a 02 prius with a transmission that slips. Would this be a electric motor problem or actual tranny problem?
View 18 RepliesWhen my Prius C is in the garage for awhile and then I open the driver door to get in the car there is always the sound of a running motor - "rrrrrrrrr" coming from the engine compartment. The sound is of a motor running. The sound always lasts the same lenght of time - about 9 seconds. Then the sound stops. Since it happens all the time, I think it is part of the Prius C computer start-up software program. What is the source of this running motor. Is it the power steering motor or a fuel, oil or cooling pump?
View 10 RepliesAfter the car is parked for a while, when you open the driver side door or just touch the door handle an electric motor starts running. After several seconds it stops. Sounds as though it is running a pump and building pressure or vacuum. Just wondering exactly what it is?
View 19 RepliesFor the last few weeks, it has seemed that the battery gauge on my 2002 has been half full more often than it should. I admit that I have no good science for this determination, but about half the time when I return home from work the gauge shows half full, and it returns to full after about 1 - 2 miles of driving. The car has about 122K miles on it.
Today I took a long drive through some pretty steep terrain toward the New River Gorge in WVA. Round trip it was about 750 miles. On the way home, I got an error on the console. I'm not sure what it was, but on the main display there were three boxes with writing. I didn't read them as I was pulling off to the shoulder. By the time I got there, the warning was gone. I turned the car off and restarted it. Everything looked good and I headed the remaining 10 miles home.
Once home, when I turned the car off, I heard a vibrating noise from (I think) the left side of the hood for about 5 - 10 seconds. I turned the car on again, and there is a vibrating sound, and the same turnoff problem.
Is this the final death knell of my traction battery? I have a 120K servicing due about now. I have been planning a reinvolt battery, but it is a bit of a drive away. Should I consider trailering the car down?
I just purchased my vw used with 28,000 miles on it. After its been parked for a while, I open the drivers side door and an audible whirring noise coming from somewhere in the car goes off, what is this noise coming from?
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