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It's not the wheel bearing, so what's that noise??

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Doug_M, Aug 25, 2016.

  1. Doug_M

    Doug_M Junior Member

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    I have a whining/moaning noise from the front (left I believe) of my '09 Prius. I know it's not the wheel bearing because I changed that and it made no difference (duh..).
    The noise doesn't change with the gas pedal but is dependent on road speed. I hear it most obviously on smooth road surfaces, but that's probably just because there's less other noise to drown it out.

    It's not really really loud, but I want to fix it for safety/reliability reasons.

    Any ideas?
    Doug
     
    #1 Doug_M, Aug 25, 2016
  2. CooCooCaChoo

    CooCooCaChoo Senior Member

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    I've heard that it could be the CV joints too if the boot ripped and there's no grease in the boot now.
     
    #2 CooCooCaChoo, Aug 26, 2016
  3. Doug_M

    Doug_M Junior Member

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    The CV joint boot seems fine, and I didn't feel any play when I tried shaking the shaft around. Are there any other ways to test the CV joint? (replacing it, I suppose!).

    Doug
     
    #3 Doug_M, Aug 26, 2016
  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    cv joint noise changes when turning.

    how old are the tyres?
     
    #4 bisco, Aug 26, 2016
  5. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Have you checked your tires?
     
    #5 JC91006, Aug 26, 2016
  6. Jmack111

    Jmack111 Member

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    Cooling pump turn on after car turn off to save the hot water

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #6 Jmack111, Aug 27, 2016
  7. Doug_M

    Doug_M Junior Member

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    I don't think it's the CV joint. There isn't any weird noise when turning, and I can't detect any difference in the sound that is dependent on the load on the drive train.

    The tires are an interesting thought. They're at least 3 years old (when I got the car) and have at least 30k miles on them. They still have some tread life in them, and there's no sign of visible damage or uneven wear.

    Is there anything that might be a visible sign of a "noisy" tire? I can rotate them to different locations on the car, and see if that has an effect. They're not at the point where I want
     
    #7 Doug_M, Aug 27, 2016
  8. Doug_M

    Doug_M Junior Member

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    It's not the pump. I'm familiar with that sound, and this sound happens when the car is moving.
    doug
     
    #8 Doug_M, Aug 27, 2016
  9. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i have a noisy tyre with no visible signs, i can tell which wheel it's on. at 43k, i'm going to replace all of them, even though the tread is still fine.

    in the past, i had noisy tures, with visible cup marks in the outer tread. you can google 'tyre cupping'.
     
    #9 bisco, Aug 27, 2016
  10. valde3

    valde3 Senior Member

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    Rear wheel bearing? Jack up the back wheels and spin them to feel/hear if bearing is bad.
     
    #10 valde3, Aug 27, 2016
  11. Just_a_man

    Just_a_man Junior Member

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    I am aware that this is an old post... Just wondering if Doug_M had resolved the noise issue. It seems to be the same problem with my Prius 09.
     
    #11 Just_a_man, May 15, 2019
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