2005 Prius Strange Humming, whirring noise coming from the right front, What is it?

I'm trying to cut and paste that link to look at your video in the middle of the car like in the center of the radiator is the air conditioner on you sure it's not an electric fan or something I have not listened to your YouTube video yet I'm working on it

 

wheel bearing or cv joint, but if the tranny is low, top it up first

 

I just noticed the same thing in my car. It's at 260k sounds like it's in the middle but if you turn the wheels slightly it comes and goes. I'm thinking wheel bearings but really not sure.

 

Watched the video. Mine sounds the same but not nearly as loud.

 

If it’s wheel bearings find an empty big lot and turn the car. The side that you turn into and it barks it will be the opposite wheel. Another words if I make a hard right turn the load is now on the left wheel and if it’s barking that’s the wheel. I lost a front ds wheel bearing at 30k miles on my bought new 07. Dealer fixed it under the 3/36 and that’s how the tech tested it.

Also Many reports over the years of failed motor windings in the trans. Sometimes it can be driven but has a bad shudder vibration coming from front passenger side but also will show the red triangle of death on the dash.

Failed front wheel bearings on a G2 is very very common. Many posts on it and how to fix it found in the search forums link up top. May be a few hundred posts about it now.

 

Any full time mechanic will recognize the sound of a wheel bearing.

 

I tried to start a new thread but the text box disappears after I type in a title! I chose this similar thread because my weird noise could also be described a "whirring," though such words are subjective. 2008 gen 2, 210,000 miles, vg condition. Random occurrence, usually under load. It's a high-pitched trilling noise, right up there on an F#. The frequency never varies with engine speed. One mechanic who is credible drove it and thought it was an exhaust part rattling. I do not agree (all I have is my ears). Front area, seems to be on the right. When noise is occurring, no other symptoms, except that my mileage is below 39 mpg. Ring any bells?

 

You need to try another mechanic. This thread is about wheel bearings and you could have one going out. The side can be deceiving. Typically they are loudest around 45-50 mph and then get drowned out by road noise at higher speeds. Its fairly common on high mile Prii. Could be a worn brake pad but they usually chirp. Other brake parts are possible. If its engine related it should go away as you are coasting , going downhill or reducing speed. If it does go away then you look for things like the exhaust, water pumps or ac compressor.

 

The thread is about humming whirring noises from the right front. Along in post #6, someone chimed in with "if it's wheel bearings ....".

The noise in the latest post would seem to be something other than a wheel bearing. Good on the poster to say the pitch is a steady F# and doesn't change with engine speed.

Maybe even more valuable is to notice if it varies with road speed. If you can recognize a pitch that makes a I - IV - V musical progression as you drive 30, then 40, then 45 down the road, then it's clearly connected to your road speed. If it doesn't, that suggests it's something else.

My experience when I had Prius wheel bearings go out was that it was unexpectedly hard to pin down which one, and a lot of rules of thumb like "if you turn a corner this way and the sound does this" or "that hub will be warmer after a drive" didn't pan out at all. But a multiple sound pickup device called a ChassisEar was able to make the ID in seconds.