High pitched whining noise with lots of warning lights

Hell if we know, that dashboard looks waaaaaay different than the rest of the gen 3s here.

 

Biz did say it's a 2004. Posting in the wrong forum is something a mod can fix. I'll let the mod do that.

That happens a lot. Many scan tools will not show all of the codes in a Prius.

There are a couple of options. This thread helps you find scan tools that will be more useful:

Gen2 OBD2 app review | PriusChat

But even higher priority at the moment, this shows you how to get those brake trouble codes now, without having to shop or wait for any scan tool:

Blink (a/k/a Flash) Codes – How to. | PriusChat

 

Hey I'm new here so I might mess something up lol, but I have a question about a whirring noise coming from my car.

Normally it wouldn't concern me, cause I know Prius', especially Gen 2's, are kinda special in their own way and like to make the goofiest of noises, and furthermore it has made a similar consistent sound in the past; but now it's a higher pitch, it's much louder, and the timbre(?) sounds different. It may be an overreaction but I'm only nervous about it because I'm starting to see and hear signs of some pretty intense wear/aging on my car and I'm thinking my precious pickup truck escaping shitbox might be gaining some wings here soon

 

there is a fuse label AM2 in the front fuse box (next to the jump start points), pull that fuse and then start the car. See if the noise goes away.

If the noise goes away, it's your inverter pump making that noise. The AM2 fuse will disable the pump if you pull it.

 

There's a lot more stuff than just the pump downstream of the AM2 fuse, and the car'll be kind of crippled without it. (That's why in cases where the pump goes and takes that fuse with it, the car gets crippled.)

But you can search for other posts with 'pump' and 'AM2' in them, and you will find some that show you the connector just above the fuse box that you can unplug, just to disable the pump by itself. (People use that plug so they can replace the AM2 fuse and have the car work again, without a bad pump immediately re-blowing it.)

 

Oh you're correct. What was I thinking pulling that fuse. I meant disconnect the pump by the connector, not the fuse itself

 

So one of my Prius is also doing this high pitch whining noise and has the dash lights on light it's the hybrid battery. There has to be something connected to this high pitch whining noise. Anyone have any additional experience with this. Did the original poster get his sorted out? I am charging my computer at the moment to check the Techstream.
TomK

 

bizpm, thanks so much for the reply and follow up. I will be able to put the Techstream on it tomorrow hopefully and see if anything shows. It has to be something or Toyota would not have made the warning. Could it have been maybe the inverter pump is intermittent?
TomK

 

I'm not sure I know what you mean by all parts of that sentence.

A high pitch noise could be various things. Usually when someone says 'whine' I think of a noise not made on purpose (more like the sound some electronics happen to make just because, or screechy bearings, or something). When someone says high pitch 'tone' or 'beep' or 'alarm', I think of a high pitch sound that is made on purpose to tell you something.

The Prius brake system has a high pitch 'tone' it can make on purpose to alert you to an especially serious brake problem. There will be related lights on the dash.

So which lights are the ones showing up on your dash?

The "it's the hybrid battery" part of your sentence I don't get. Generally that isn't something you'll know until the trouble codes have been read.

If any of the brake, ABS, VSC, ((!)) lights are showing on the dash, you don't have to wait until you have Techstream or another scan tool at hand. You can get those trouble codes right away, like this:

Blink (a/k/a Flash) Codes – How to. | PriusChat

 

My daughter was the one driving it and she said it had the "brake" "triangle" "exclamation/car" for sure were on. I went to go get the car and see what I could find and drove it home without any problems at all. The tone was for sure a warning and it is pretty clear in the video in the #1 post. I also have been around Prius for what seems like ever and driven thousands of miles to know what is normal and this was not. She had called me and said "the car has this really high pitch whine noise" and I could hear it as an alarm of some kind.
TomK

 

Not a lot of high pitch alarm noises built into the car. The one for the brakes is the one I know about.

 

So the codes that came up was an old P0A08, replaced a few modules this winter. Then there was a C0205, front left speed sensor, B1421, solar circuit sensor pssenger, and B1271, combination meter. So the question still is why was there a alarm tone? Car has the last day plus had no issues and has been driven over 100 miles.
TomK

 

Search me ... I don't think any of those are among the codes that set off the alarm.

 

How do you know that it was an "old" P0A80? In general only a fault in the hybrid control system will turn on the master warning light (RToD) plus brake warning lights.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

P0A08 or P0A80?