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Annoying whistling noise from outside right front door!

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by van-island, Dec 17, 2008.

  1. van-island

    van-island New Member

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    Has anybody else experienced this? It sounds like a strong wind through the trees (but quieter), and it happens between 50 - 110 km/h. It is coming from around the side-view mirror or that small corner window area, however there is nothing noticeably protruding on the outside of the car. Maybe the window isn't sealed properly?

    I drive 222 km round-trip to work (almost all highway) and it is starting to grate on my nerves.

    My Prius is only 2 weeks old as well, which is pretty disappointing. I am planning on taking it in to the dealer this week, but wanted to see if anyone else had experienced something similar or has any ideas as to the cause.
     
  2. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    Yes, there have been reports of whistling noises. The fix seems to be to cover up the screw-holes on the underside of the mirror with tape. Are the holes on the left mirror covered, but not the right? I think this is supposed to be a 'dealer installed item', but they get forgotten, and tend to fall off after awhile.
     
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  3. van-island

    van-island New Member

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    Bingo! Thanks hyo silver!

    I looked everywhere around that mirror but never thought about underneath... duh. :noidea:

    One of the plastic covers has a hole in its front edge, so I guess the wind is getting in there. I will take it back to the dealer and try to get some more covers.

    Thanks from Oak St @ 70th!
     
  4. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    You're very welcome. Glad I could help. :)

    Those plastic covers tend to fall off in wet weather, so if you notice that noise again, you'll know where to look. I've found self-adhesive repair patches for bicycle tires last quite a bit longer. You can find these at most any bike shop, or Mountain Equipment Co-op if you happen to shop there. Of course, you could always just turn up the stereo and not worry about the wind noise. ;)
     
  5. tundrwd

    tundrwd Member

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    Yep - AC/DC works great, and most any other Metal band! :rockon:
     
  6. alanh

    alanh Active Member

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    On mine, the holes were covered with tape which tore and was whistling. I just removed the tape entirely to get rid of the noise. I didn't put anything in to cover the holes.
     
  7. SBB

    SBB New Member

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    This was our problem as well, a slight tear in the tape covering one of the screw holes underneath the passenger side mirror. Replacing the tape fixed the problem.

    Thanks to the folks in this forum -- I would never have thought to look under there, but once I did it was so obvious...
     
  8. priusincc

    priusincc Member

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    Wow, the whistling happened to me too. Two of the clear plastic patches over screw holes on right side were missing/damaged. I'll try taping them. The left side is OK.
     
  9. danl

    danl New Member

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    OMG this has been driving me crazy for 2 months. I never bothered to ask about it on the forums LOL. Same issue, whistling noise outside the right door. The odd thing is that it started happened after I washed and waxed the prius. I'll have to check the mirror tonight. Thanks for the tips and OP for raising the question.
     
  10. freakadore

    freakadore New Member

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    I had the same problem, took it to the dealer and they replaced the entire mirror assembly! It is still under the 3yr/36k warranty.
     
  11. snapdragonfly

    snapdragonfly New Member

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    Hello - I am new to the forums, I found you on a web search because I was absolutely desperate to find out why the hell the whistling noise. THANK GOD for this post in this forum! See, I had a red herring that was about to do us all in - someone hit my car right before Christmas, on the passenger side, and it had to have some minor work done but it included taking out the little rear window and it has been back to the poor auto place 4 times for them to find the whistle.

    Turns out that I think it *is* the mirror - I looked and there is a huge obvious hole in one of the screw covers. I put some duct tape on it and it seems to be gone. I'm going to make them replace it though because it's still under warranty.
    But actually the work that the body shop did was sloppy in the first place (I could see flaws) or I wouldn't have suspected them of being the cause of the whistle in the first place. They've fixed it to where it looks better and now I've found the cause of the whistle, it seems.

    So thanks for this forum.

    And I do love my Prius.
     
  12. richard schumacher

    richard schumacher shortbus driver

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    When the car left the factory those screw holes were covered with clear tape. So if you put clear tape over them they will be as good as new, and you can save a trip back to the shop.
     
  13. Brodie

    Brodie New Member

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    I'm having exactly the same issue in my 2008 for the last week or so....can't wait to go out and look under the mirror and fix the darn problem. Yet another reason PriusChat is awesome!