2004 prius ICE metallic rattle, opinions?

Hey guys, new here, but I've been watching the forums for a while, since I was contemplating getting a prius a few months back

Now I got one, fresh owner for 2 days now (2004 gen II of course), and I keep hearing this faint metallic rattle/grinding kind of noise going on every time the internal combustion engine is running, be it when the car is stationary or moving at low speeds (and maybe at high speeds too, but can't hear it over the generic normal road, tyres, wind and regular engine noises).

I've grabbed a short video of the damn engine running, and was wondering how bad it is, and whether or not it's safe to drive without killing it altogether, before going to the a toyota service and being ripped off and them still not sorting the problem out:

background/context:
- weather is very humid but mild temperatures (9 degrees celsius - Amsterdam, Netherlands);
- when the ICE is not running, the sound is not present (whether the car would be rolling on electric or not);
- the vehicle appears dealer maintained, but I have no clue what has been done to it, the seller was from another city fairly far away;
- there are no warning lights, triangles or exclamation marks or any symptoms whatsoever on the dash/MFD;
- the ICE seems to be on most of the time, as expected, except you know, traffic lights or when feathering the throttle to maintain speed/momentum;
- the mileage I've been averaging since 2 days ago when I bought the car is quite impressive for a car with 200.000 kilometers traveled: ~3.9 - 4.2 liters /100km, or ~1liter in 25km, or ~60 MPG US (this is based on what the car says, I'm on my first tank, combined city+highway traffic, never over 120 kph, slow accelerations etc etc. you all know hypermiling better than I do)
- the battery graphic on the screen when using the car will show only blue, never green lines inside the battery, and never fills up more than 80% of the bars that seem possible on that icon thingy)

Now, to me, that rattle/grinding faint noise sounds wrong, and reminds me of an old car I had that had a similar sound coming from the manual gearbox, in neutral or in gear. The sound would be slightly harsher when the car is cold, and get almost unnoticeable after driving it for a while.

Unfortunately I cannot say the same for the prius noise you hear in the video, it's there at the same intensity, not very loud, but just noticeable, especially when the ICE is idling, and less so when car is being driven.

Any ideas, opinions about what could be causing it? Do I need to start panicking right about now, considering the hybrid toyota service costs (especially here in NL)? Or do other Gen II owners know exactly what this is ?

edit: oh by the way, I'm asking here in a new thread because I've been searching like a mad man for similar threads but they are all about plasticky dash squeaks and rattles; not many about faint metallic grinding type noises.

Cheers,
//V

 

oh wow, I did not expect such a quick and awesome reply
so, first off: thank you Rich12, much appreciated; this really calms me down to be honest, because I know I'm only looking at triple digits in terms of costs;

the DYI side of things would be nice, except I suck at it, and also I have no tools whatsoever (I only DYI build computers and such, so only small screw drivers, but no hose clamps, no torque screwdrivers, etc. Oh and before the prius, I did my own oil/filter/plugs changes, and simple stuff like that only, on a ford ka, an alfa romeo 156 and a beemer).

But again, thank you very much for pointing me in the right direction, with the diagnostic and help offer. Much appreciated.

So I will probably not drive it until I can get it in service.
//V

 

awesome, will do dpeverhart, thank you too
cheers,
//V

 

Aye, will stay next to the mechanic when they work on it at the service.

Just watched a video of how it's done on my model, and it doesn't seem too difficult, but indeed the air needs to be bled out, and some nice wrenches are needed, which I don't have:

And yeah, the sound comes precisely from that side of the engine, where the serpentine belt and pulleys are. You guys simply rock with the diagnostic based on my retarded explanations of the symptoms. Awesome stuff.

I'll ask 'em to check most things anyway, like the hybrid battery, oil, plugs, wires, coolant, etc. You know, thorough inspection of most accessible stuff on there, get the worst out of the way. I'm still anxious that the big battery will fail at some point, but so far as I can tell by reading most available material/reviews/owner stories, it can last well over ~300.000 km (or ~200.000 miles), and it's no longer highly prohibitive in price to replace only the dead cells in it, if not even the whole pack, but we'll see when trouble strikes.

thanks again for your input, I value all advice that I can get that seems logical.
cheers guys,
//V

 

omg, really awesome guys, kept reading through here and indeed this is absolutely invaluable tips.
so yeah, first thing in the morning, gonna call a few toyota service locations, get some quotes on the thing, plus the tension pulley and belt, and other generic stuff (plugs, filters, fluids) like John suggested, and sort my spacecraft out.

btw, I'm a first time owner of these beauties, and I'm simply in awe of them. Even named it the USS Joyota shuttlecraft.

oh and being a member of a lot of discussion forums over the years, I must say, this is the absolute first one where folks are super friendly and helpful to newbies. So, many thanks guys, John, Patrick, bisco, PriusGuy jad, etc. Thanks for taking the time to help out

 

So, based on John(britprius)'s advice, found a dealer that is certified to repair hybrids by Toyota, with great reviews, relatively close to where I live, made an appointment, earliest is next monday morning, and based on the sound from the pump, they said it's safe to use it until the appointment.

Also, the good news is that they apparently are busy dealing with 2 recalls for my model(one is a pump but I believe it's the hybrid electrical one, not the ICE one), and they will replace some of the stuff for free, and the rest of the maintenance will not cost much. I've asked them if it's safe to use the car this week to go to work (15 km roundtrip city only, at most it will go to 2k rpm, granny driving style) daily, and they said that if the sound is not really really loud, it should be fine, but always monitor the coolant in the expansion tank before and after every trip, and always be topped off.

So for now it's not leaking at all, and there was no need to top it off yet. And to finally get to my point, thanks to you guys and your advice, I am now in a better position to deal with service mechanics, and still super happy and excited about my prius purchase ^^

Thank you very much, guys

 

actually, I don't know what did the service people mean by 'topping the coolant off', since there is probably no coolant storage tank / expansion tank.. ah well, I'll keep my eye on it and only drive real slow and smooth, no harsh acceleration, pray for tailwinds etc

 

oh I see now, so yeah, I looked at the coolant today when I came back from work, everything seems sweet still. Other than the mild rattle, I really haven't got anything to complain about. Cheers for the explanation, makes perfect sense, now that I've taken a longer look under the hood and identified some of the things and their function. Am I correct to say that the fuse box (well one of them at least) is next to one of the electric engines in the engine bay compartment? Most other cars I owned had that under the dashboard inside the car, driver's side mostly. Anyway, this thing is like a whole new discovery experience every day, I'm psyched ^^ but also ashamed that I know almost nothing about these wonderful machines, but learning

oh, yeah, on the phone with the repair garage guy, I made a list of things I want checked out, and aside from what they will replace for free based on those 2 recalls that John explained (namely the transmission pump and the steering shaft bolt or shaft), they quoted, after hearing my list, that they will charge me 100 bucks for inspecting and computer or manual testing of the below items, and then the cost of the parts that absolutely need changing (either as preventive 'medicine' or end of life), and however many hours they need to finish the job(but no longer than 5 total estimated for everything) at 50 bucks a pop. They said the car will be done with within the same day. So I'm probably looking at a few good hundreds, somewhat shy of 1k I think, but we'll see if they can find other major wrong things with it.

Here's the list from my phone conversation with the cheapest toyota certified dealer (out of 4 I called earlier):

[things to check/replace at the toyota service]
- check error codes!!! (if any)
- hybrid battery check!!!
- auxiliary battery check and replace if older than 6 years anyway
- transaxle fluid and operation check
- ICE water pump, pulley and serpentine belt --- REPLACE!
- inverter water pump check and replace if it wasn't done in any recalls
- oil and filter check/change
- engine air filter check/clean/change
- plugs and coil(s) check
- cabin air filter check
- air conditioner checks (freon, compression if applicable like traditional cars, etc. etc. etc.)
- brakes check
- wheel alignment checks and maybe rotate the tyres
- tyre balancing checks (currently no weights on any wheels, just crappy plasticky wheel covers)
- fuel injection checks
- throttle body cleanup and checks

Reason why I'm prepared to spend a bit now, is two-fold:
1. personally, I'm about as savvy about these hybrids as a construction worker would be about medicine, or brain surgery; so if the thing breaks, I don't wanna get (overly) ripped off, but rather pick and choose, through your guys' grace, both the dealership/service with the best quote, as well as the time when I have it repaired, instead of being pressed by the mandatory test's expiry date;
2. having just bought the spaceship, until I learn what to listen for, and feedback to feel on, you know, early signs of something, whatever, being wrong with it, I'd rather spend some money, get as much warranty on both parts and labor as I can get from these guys and rely on the car to be running well with no major issues, and meanwhile learn the car's operation mood in detail. Think of it like a sort of a 'schooling' price or something

Now, I could wait 4 more months or so until june for the Dutch nationally mandated, compulsory yearly review/test(APK) and delay possible expenses until then, but I like to operate under the `condom' principle (better to have one and not need it, than need it and not have it), if you know what I mean

cheers,
//V