I just bought 2008 Prius (60tkm) and now i am wondering about noise coming from left front. It sounds very much like my older car breaks. High pitch squeezing noise. But it: - doesn't appear immediately when you start driving - doesn't appear on normal driving speed (> 30-40 km/h), or i just couldn't hear it - does appear when driving very slow - does appear when accelarate gently Something with breaks? Sound is very loud.
Could be wheel bearing, or something like a rock that got stuck between the rotor and splash guard. It might also be that parts of the brake system are extremely rusty due to lack of use. If you are comfortable working on your car, remove the front wheel and inspect the rotor/hub/caliper assembly.
(It's very loud but sometimes you couldn't hear it?) From the timing of it I'd bet you're hearing the electronic squeal of the electrical inverter system that serves the motor/generators and the high-voltage battery. This is completely normal.
I think that you are correct. I don't think it is breaks or wheel bearing becouse the timing. It never occurs when i start driving with cold car. But after 5-10min when i slow down to 10-20 km/h it starts everytime. But it is sometimes very loud. Its little bit embarassing to drive in parking lot with such a noise. Thats really normal? Everybody else has that noise also?
Yep you can hear the inverter. Usually you can hear a bit of a hum from the pumps plus a very small amount of high frequency squeal from the inverter itself. It definitely should not be "embarrassing" loud though. It should still be quieter than just about any other car with a normal engine. Can you make a recording of the noise?
Ok, this really isn't. Sometimes noise is harmless, but when it gets loud it is loud. Car works perfectly, but this noise is very irritating. I call Toyota and ask them opinion about that.
Someone posted that the inverter on his car was too loud and the dealer changed it (for free IIRC) and the problem was solved. I would bring the car to the dealer for a test drive if you could find a way to reproduce the noise reliably. If not then at least make a recording when it happens and bring the problem to the dealer's attention and obtain a written reciept. Good luck!
I reserved time from toyota repair. They can investigate the problem, i hope. Today when squeezing started i sift to N mode and noise just continued... No brake, no accelerating. I am confused
Greetings from service. We drive my car with mechanic. He said that noise is probably coming from front left brake. No need to be worried. And no sense for me to pay for changing any parts. He also recommended to make some aggressive breaking (like here many also told). Lets see if noise is different during winter.
I get my car to dealer and now they opened the left side front break. There were rust on break pads. They cleaned them and now that irritating noise is gone. Case closed.
Likely the rust is at the back of the brake pads, in between the the pads, shim pads and brake caliper. Perhaps they'd never been inspected? I would suggest minimum bi-yearly check of these. Typically with brake systems all the areas of contact are cleaned and a thin layer of molybedenum anti-sieze compound applied. There are also pins that allow the caliper to shift slightly, side-to-side. They are more enclosed, and use another lubricant. In my experience I've just checked that they are travelling smoothly, and leave it at that.
