Abnormally NOISY "Stealth" ???

[echase]

My '06 (Base) was just about dead silent when powered on without the ICE or AC Running. My '08 (#2) is significantly noisy.

I get a somewhat high pitched buzz from under the silver HSD-badged cover under the hood. This noise is not objectionable when the hood is closed, but is (barely) audible from the drivers seat with windows up. It sounds electrical, perhaps an inverter? (I don't know if that's where it lives, but I've heard vaguely similar electrical buzz on household inverters)

The other noise, which seems to come from the same region is whirring, like a pump of some sort. It's on all the time, and clearly audible from the passenger compartment and several feet away from the vehicle.

The car has 10K miles, so I'm taking it to the dealership for an oil change soon, and want to have some information to lead their diagnoses (and avoid an "oh, that's normal") I really miss the silence I used have on the '06... rolling to a stop light with windows down and listening to birds chirping was so much nicer than hearing this noise.

Also, I'm concerned if there is an issue with the coolant pump (or it's thermostat) won't the life of that pump have been diminished by it's running constantly for the last 10,000 miles?

Any help or guidance is greatly appreciated.

[donee]

Hi echase,

I beleive the inverter coolant pump runs continously. It should not be any more audible than a 2006 though.

An electrical whine (inverter noise) should not be apparent from a Prius. A Lexus RX-400h has a quite noticable (from a forward pedestrian location) inverter whine however.

[echase]

Originally Posted by donee

Hi echase,

I beleive the inverter coolant pump runs continously. It should not be any more audible than a 2006 though.

An electrical whine (inverter noise) should not be apparent from a Prius. A Lexus RX-400h has a quite noticable (from a forward pedestrian location) inverter whine however.

Thanks for the info there. It's substantially more noisy, whatever pump it is that's running. Can anyone tell me where the inverter coolant pump is (so I can confirm the source) I'm not going for service until at least tomorrow.

Thanks!