2003 Toyota Prius "Screeching" Sound

Discussion in 'Generation 1 Prius Discussion' started by imakeitso, Aug 17, 2011.

  1. imakeitso

    imakeitso New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 17, 2011
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    Location:
    Phoenix
    Vehicle:
    2003 Prius
    Model:
    I
    When I start the car, it makes an intermittent screeching type of sound that goes away after a few seconds, a minute, or after about 1 mile of driving.

    The dealership is stumped and is replacing the steering rack at their cost to see if that resolves the problem.

    They did discover that if the car has been outside in the AZ heat, they can't reproduce the sound, but was finally able to briefly reproduce the sound around 5am.

    Attached is the brief file of the sounds - not sure if one will be able to listen to it since it's not one of the "official" file types, so I've also included a link to a private gallery on my business website that has the sound in different formats.

    Perhaps someone can help me help the dealership take the guesswork out of fixing it and let me take my "new" used car home!

    Thanks,
    Crista