Is anyone's air conditioning compressor loud enough to hear over the engine (ICE running)? Today I turned the A/C on while stopped at a light and I thought that it was rather LOUD......while going down the road, with ICE coming in and out you could hear the A/C quite distinctly and not a nice sounding noise. When I got home I opened the hood and with ICE off the noise was quit loud......turn the Air conditioning off and noise off......ran temp selector up to max hot and turned A/C back on...no noise....left A/C on and continued to decrease the temp selector towards cooler until the compressor started and the noise started again and got louder the cooler I selected the temp. Shut everything down and standing in front of the car reached down and touched the right side of the compressor ...It was very cool...the left side was VERY HOT. The wiring appears to indicate that the left side of the compressor (facing the car) is the A/C electrical motor side of the unit. All thoughts appreciated.......
Re: Noise from Air Conditioning compressor or the A/C motor I know what you are talking about. I have heard it also in a few Prius'. Doesn't seem to be in all of them or the temp was set different,don't remember. When you turn down the temp, the compressor spins up faster. As you know it is driven by an electric motor built inside. I have not had any customer mention it yet and there are no TSB's on it yet that I know of. ( I also posted this to the AC Gone thread, before I found this one, :lol: )
Most A/C systems get loud when they are short fluid. With it's multi-speed setup, the Prius compressor will be louder when cooling demands are higher, so that behavior is normal. But if it is loud overall, perhaps you shuld have the fluid checked.
My A/C compressor makes a gentle whirr sound that is barely audible when stopped and ICE off. With the ICE on or at any speed, road and engine noise overwhelm the sound of the compressor. The brake fluid compressor, on the other hand, is a noisy beast, and makes a short, low-frequency oscillating noise (a "buzz" or "purr") almost every time the brakes are pumped. This is not overly loud but is definitely audible above low road noise and the ICE. I'd say that if what you are hearing is your A/C compressor, you should take your vehicle in to the shop for a diagnostic look-over.
twdusa, There really is no need to post this message in multiple forums (I have read it in at least three threads, so far). :!:
I began to experience some A/C compressor noise in my 2010 Prius (after 4K miles) and became concerned that something may be going bad. The A/C worked perfectly. Even so, I took it to my Toyota dealer and they had a technician check it out. After a while they brought me into the shop and had a (new from stock) 2010 parked alongside mine with the hood open. The new Prius made about the same noise. The technician said it was a characteristic of how the compressor relates to the cooling demand and the outside air temperature. It works different than a belt driven compressor. Florida temperatures are hot this time of year. I'm going to wait and see.
