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Noise while driving (wuj wuj wuj)

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by Sylvia2007, Jun 8, 2018.

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  1. Sylvia2007

    Sylvia2007 New Member

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    Hi all,
    I have a 2007 Prius, and it has served me very well for almost 260,000 miles. The other day it started making a rhythmic noise in the mornings or after sitting all day. It begins when I reach about 25 mph, it changes speed with the speed of my wheels, and if I turn the wheel significantly to the left or right, the sound goes away and returns when the wheel is straight again. It sounds like if a powerful sprinkler were hitting the bottom of the car in quick succession (the best way I can think to spell it is wjj wjj wjj). Over a minute or two, it slowly rises in pitch and gets progressively quieter until it goes away and remains quiet until the car sits for a long while again.

    I thought possibly a wheel bearing, but researching sounds and symptoms for that online doesn’t seem to align. Any other suggestions?

    The other key element to my story is that this car is definitely on its way out, with over 250k on it, and I am actively saving for its replacement, so I am loathe to put any money into this one, even for diagnostics. I mostly want to know the risk of continuing to drive with this issue, and if I were to fix it (to buy a few more months) what kind of cost are we talking? Thanks!
     
    #1 Sylvia2007, Jun 8, 2018
  2. 09Prius2

    09Prius2 Member

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    #2 09Prius2, Jun 8, 2018
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    welcome!
    tire?
     
    #3 bisco, Jun 8, 2018
  4. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Are you getting around six wjjes per second at 25 MPH, would you say? (Six per second is just about the fastest I can say wjj wjj wjj; that's not easy.)

    That would suggest something wjjing along with the brakes/hubs/wheels/tires (I think the Prius tire sizes usually come out around 900 revs per mile, times 25 miles per hour, times one hour per 3600 seconds, about 6¼ revs per second.)

    You could jack up each corner separately and spin the tire around, and listen for wjjing. If you find the noisy corner, you can take the wheel/tire off and spin the hub to hear if it still wjjes. If so, you can flip up the brake caliper away from the rotor (this calls for a wrench, and unhooking the battery first to avoid mishaps), and spin the hub again to hear if it still wjjes. If it doesn't, look more closely at the brake rotor and brakes. If it still does, it might be the bearing (though wjj wjj wjj isn't a bearing noise I've heard before, they can go a lot of different ways).

    It's entirely possible to go through this exercise and not find any smoking gun, but afterward the sound is gone. That tends to mean there was some foreign object up in there, and it got dislodged as you took stuff apart.

    -Chap
     
    #4 ChapmanF, Jun 8, 2018
  5. Sylvia2007

    Sylvia2007 New Member

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    Chap,
    Thank you so much for your thoughtful, guiding answer! I’ve copied your text and look forward to further investigation. Here’s hoping it’s not too bad...
     
    #5 Sylvia2007, Jun 9, 2018
    bisco likes this.
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