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Noise abatement!

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by sheltydog, Apr 24, 2020.

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  1. sheltydog

    sheltydog New Member

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    New to the forum but not new to Prius. Bought a gen2 (2007) two years ago because I always wanted one. It had 155K miles, and ran great. Shortly after buying it my daughter's Chevy HHR blew the engine. Now, she drives my car about 600 miles every weekend picking up lab samples from hospitals, so she puts a lot of highway miles on the car. So my beloved Prius now has 223K miles.

    Anyway I work on it whenever I can. She hit a pothole at 166K and ruined the passenger side wheel bearing, and it took 8 hours to change it. 100 miles later the driver's side wheel bearing was making noise so it was changed too.

    Since then I've changed both of them two more times. The most recent time there was 4" snow on my driveway so I had a local mechanic do the job. He also discovered the passenger side axle shaft was shot. Total repair $1200.

    About 100 miles later I was driving it when it suddenly began making a roaring noise when the engine idled (which it does a lot.) The local mechanic was stumped but said he could do a detailed investigation for $200. I decided I'd run it until something fell off. I was prepared to change out the engine and the transmission.

    Meanwhile I chased down a few more noises: the drive belt idler, fill the radiator, change the trans fluid (it was down by a quart,) and finally, change the torque strut. Bingo! No more noise!

    Of course something odd also happened. While disassembling the strut, a round, cast iron piece also fell out. My mechanic couldn't identify the piece. I looked around on sites that gave detailed illustrations and found nothing like it. I'll try to upload a picture.
    image2.jpeg image1.jpeg image0.jpeg
     
    #1 sheltydog, Apr 24, 2020
  2. GrGramps

    GrGramps Active Member

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    Care to tell us about the size and weight?
     
    #2 GrGramps, Apr 24, 2020
  3. valde3

    valde3 Senior Member

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    Or even better a picture with old torque strut. That way we could tell it's size and also if it came off of that.

    To me that maybe looks like the inner part of the pushing. But it would be very weird if mechanic couldn't identify that. Or maybe you just showed that part and not the torque strut. If you did the replacement.
     
    #3 valde3, Apr 25, 2020
  4. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk EGR Fanatic

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    It's maybe not shutting off as much as it should, hybrid battery going?

    Excellent pictures, but laying a ruler or a coin beside it would help with scale.

    To me it looks like something that's been sitting at the bottom of the ocean for a few years, testimony to Toyota's lousy rust proofing.
     
    #4 Mendel Leisk, Apr 25, 2020
  5. sheltydog

    sheltydog New Member

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    The part in question weighs 9 oz. There may be nothing wrong with the old torque strut, but after I put in the new one, the car performs fine again! Quiet and everything. The hybrid battery seems to be performing as it should. Here's another picture. My original pictures were shot outdoors with an iPhone, and this one was shot indoors with a Canon and flash. IMG_3404.JPG
     

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    #5 sheltydog, Apr 25, 2020
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  6. valde3

    valde3 Senior Member

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    That's one of the two mass dampers attached to bracket that's in between that torque strut and subframe. Here's a topic about the same failure Motor mount bracket help asap | PriusChat

    You should be fine without it as not having it will probably only make it slightly noisier at some rpm. But replacing that part shouldn't be hard if you decide to do it.

    Compared to other makes Toyota is better than average. All that salt that they just dump on the roads just causes this. These bolt on peaces rusting isn't as bad as the main body rust that's much more common on other cars. Cause that would need to be welded and this can just be replaced.
     
    #6 valde3, Apr 25, 2020
    Last edited: Apr 25, 2020
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  7. sheltydog

    sheltydog New Member

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    Mystery solved, valde3! Thanks for your help! The engine does indeed shake a bit at certain RPMs but is nothing serious, not like before. Since I hate laying on my back, the part stays off the car. You must know these cars inside out! When I grow up I want to be just like that.
     
    #7 sheltydog, Apr 26, 2020
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