Random fast clicking noise in dash

This thread has a webm video you can download and listen to, to see if it sounds like that.

 

Good morning Davidg does this sounds like your noise, I owned a Gen 2, 2006 Prius, with about170K miles and still all original other than a couple of cells changed in the hybrid battery and the 12V battery. When I first bought the car (used) I had to get used to all the sounds coming out of it, since day one I noticed a particular sound like a gear motor engaging, the sound will go for a couple of seconds 2 or 3 then stop for another 3 or 4 seconds and make the sound again, like so for a few more seconds and then stop, well in the last week I started to hear the sound but with me being inside and driving the car, so still with the engine running lifted the hood and I can hear the sound coming from underneath of the Inverter/Converter and then there is another sound that I could not hear from the inside as the most audible sound starts a second delayed the second sound starts and it sounds like when a vent is opening and closing, however, the second sound seems to come from the gas engine side (left) rather than from the Inverter/converter. Has anybody had the same increase in the volume of the sound or that sound at all?

 

Air outlet damper issues can sound a bit like a mouse scampering around under the dash; the thread up in #2 has more on that.

I know you said yours sounds different, but then you've got those codes there....

Don't worry about the B1421, that just means there wasn't strong light shining on the solar sensor when you read the codes. (It's only a problem if you know there was strong light shining on it at the time.)

 

that is a very odd sound, like the parking brake. i suppose it could be a stuck vent door.
when you change vent directions, does the air come out in the intended area?
if you open the hood, does the sound still seem like the same place? put your head in the drivers footwell?

 

Does the mode control for the A/C system work correctly in all positions? Defrost, heat, panel-vent, and in between? Does it take more time to reach any one position than another?

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

My 2009 Prius started making a rapid clicking noise in the dash. It originally sounded like it was coming from the lower AC blend door actuator. After unplugging the lower actuator I discovered the clicking noise is coming from the upper Mode door actuator/ servo.

I just replaced the combination meter last year. Now I have the dash back out to get to the AC Mode actuator. There is a sensor above the traction control sensor that has to be removed along with the traction control module just to access the AC Mode actuator.

The traction control module needs to be removed to access the upper screw on the lower AC blend door actuator. It almost looks like you can move the traction control module to access the top screw on the lower servo / actuator, but good luck. You’ll wind up removing the dash to move the traction control module.

There is a thread where one guy replaces the lower blend door actuator and leaves out the upper screw. The screw that’s almost impossible to remove or install without moving the traction control module.

I now have the dash and AC distribution ducts removed, and the traction control module moved over just to get the AC mode actuator out!

I know why Toyota charges a arm and leg to replace the Prius AC actuators.

 

For the lower actuator, the one for the mix door, yitznewton found an easy way with a special tool.

I don't know that anyone's found an easy way for the upper one.