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Very High Engine Sound-VIDEO

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by AbuS3ood, Dec 20, 2012.

  1. AbuS3ood

    AbuS3ood Member

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    High all,

    I have purchased a 2010 III Prius with 73K miles last week after my 2006, everything is fine for me but I have a scary problem , the engine sound is very high while driving even after enough warming up, specially when the ECO meter reaches the PWR area or when accelerating hardly, I tried changing the engine oil with synthetic 0W-20 and the filter and the sound still the same.

    Please guys check the video attached and also note that
    - I live in the middle east, its winter here and temp is 50F.
    - The car was imported from the US,
    - The speed in the video in KM/h.
    - Im using clean OCTANE 95 fuel.
    - The video was after driving 20 Miles.
    - I have latest version of Techstream with original Mongoose MFC if this can help me with diagnosing the problem.

    Video Link:



    Thanks in forward.
     
  2. AbuS3ood

    AbuS3ood Member

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    93 views without any reply! c'mon guys!
     
  3. GrGramps

    GrGramps Active Member

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    I don't hear anything abnormal. You must realize that the sound volume varies with our speaker volume, so it's unlikely you will get a diagnosis of value.
     
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  4. AbuS3ood

    AbuS3ood Member

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    I watched the video and the rough-high sound is noticed in the video, please check again
     
  5. Jason dinAlt

    Jason dinAlt Member

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    The whole reason for using an Atkinson cycle engine is to minimize throttle losses. So as soon as you go into the red zone, the engine revs freely. That's all I'm hearing. It's not that I think my comment will help, but you seem unhappy that people watched the video without commenting :)
     
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  6. AbuS3ood

    AbuS3ood Member

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    Thanks Jason, Im not looking for video comments :) I just want to know the reason of that high sound to fix any problems or cause because I paid a lot for that car :confused:
    The GenII prius wasnt making even 50% of this sound with pedal pushed to the limit, thats weird for me
     
  7. AbuS3ood

    AbuS3ood Member

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    BTW the sound in the real world is higher and rougher ...
     
  8. rrg

    rrg Active Member

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    When I go into the red power meter the engine always sounds louder. Anything below the red power is lower volume.

    I see in the video you jump into the red power area. That would cause the engine to go loud.

    If you have a tach or scanguage let us know what RPM the sound starts to get loud.

    I assume the volume of the engine is normal at a steady increase of speed (not going into the red range.)

    my2cents.
     
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  9. spiderman

    spiderman wretched

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    The noise seems high to me. Yes, as rrg mention, we need to know what the RPMs are. Seems to be the engine is over-revving. What is the SOC (state of charge) read?
     
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  10. sprtent

    sprtent Member

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    Also, would help the viewers by pointing out when (which second) in the video the noise accur.

    If RPM range is normal, I would first look to see if the exhaust system is original or the previous owner changed it. Could also be an exhaust leak somewhere. A high-flow filter can also be the cause. Again, just posibilities.
     
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  11. Former Member 68813

    Former Member 68813 Senior Member

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    Did I hear some warbling sound? The video is too short and too low sound and video quality to be of any value to help you. Compare to some other youtube recordings of engine noises.
     
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  12. AbuS3ood

    AbuS3ood Member

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    Thank you all,
    The state of charge in the video is one bar away from full, I hear the sound even if the SoC is 100%, with my 06 prius I was hearing the high noise only if the battery is very low,

    The video can be watched in HD since I recorded it with high def camera the recording starts with the high sound and then I take my foot off the pedal then depress again @ second 0:8 to show the big sound difference.

    I do suspect that the problem is with manifold or the exhaust system, but I wanted to know the prius chatters opinions because they always draw my attention to the cause of problem.
     
  13. kbeck

    kbeck Active Member

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    There's no question that the 3rd generation Prius gets noisy any time the engine gets tasked. It does so rather abruptly as the engine gets asked to put out significant power.

    If you're chugging along at 65 on the flat it shouldn't be particularly noisy. Uphill at the same speed (at least, uphill enough to put it into the red range) and it will be.

    Overall, I find that my 2010 Prius's quieter than the 2002 manual Civic it replaced. But the audio amplitude difference between 65 on the flat and full throttle on that Civic wasn't as big and was definitely more gradual than how the Prius handles it.

    As a previous poster noted this could be due to the Atkinson cycle engine, although I'm not the automotive engineer who could say that with any certainty. It could also be an artifact of the whole hybrid system. As a guess, when one goes over a certain power level, it could be that the demands on the engine rise dramatically and more abruptly than what would happen on a conventional power train. As others have noted, at high power levels the Prius engine is rather free-revving.

    In order to separate out the Atkinson vs. Hybrid question on noise, it would be useful if a Chevy Volt owner could be induced to comment on what the power level vs. noise characteristics on that car look like: Does it have the same somewhat abrupt increase in noise as one move from medium to full throttle that the Prius does?

    Finally, as mentioned previously, there's a question of sound levels in the recording. Given the variable gain on any recording device it's possible to make a Lincoln Continental sound like an Indy 500 car by turning the gain up enough. Not that I'm saying that you have the gain up in your recording, it's just hard to tell how bad it is, given that any 2010 Prius is somewhat noisier at high engine load. The only way to check would be to do a comparison between the absolute sound levels on your car and another, properly working Gen III Prius. There's gear that'll do that, but a nickel says you don't have it. You might take a test drive in a 2011/2012/2013 Prius and see if they're the same level or quieter; if they are quieter, well, mufflers do die, it's what keeps Midas busy.

    KBeck
     
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  14. AbuS3ood

    AbuS3ood Member

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    Thanks kbeck for the info, I went to my friends garage today and checked it and we found nothing, my only way to figure the reason is to test drive another 2010 prius despite that i tested more than 10 of them while i was searching for a car to buy, but maybe I wasn't listening to the engine the sound.

    This post reason is still open and if anybody had the same issue please let us know...