Radio turns off for a few seconds ... electric pump noise

Hi .. I'm new to this forum .. I have owned my Gen 2 Prius since 2006 (143k on clock) with no problems except some failed cells in the HV battery. However I now have a strange problem that has just started over the last couple of days.

When driving with the AM radio on, all of a sudden the radio goes dead and there is an electric motor sound. It sounds a bit like the coolant pump but it may be inside the cabin. Then after a few seconds the motor noise stops and the normal radio instantly resumes.

I have the base level radio with a single CD player and no CD stacker.

Has anyone come across these symptoms ? Thanks

 

I've been away for 2 days and now my wife has advised that its;

1. Still happening with the radio on
2. Now happening without the radio on
3. Seems to happen when car is going down hill
4. Does not effect the cars performance

So I took it for a drive and confirmed the above. I then decided to see if it would occur when playing a CD. But the CD would not insert. Then I looked closely and saw the small edge of a coin just visible between the foam sleeves of the CD player slot. I had to remove the radio to get the coin out.

In summary the coin was causing the CD auto feed to think that a CD was being inserted. The noise I could hear was the CD unit trying to unsuccessfully load 'the coin'. This also explain why the radio turned off .. because that is what happens when you insert a CD.

I'm just not sure which kid did this .. but I'm hoping it was the youngest !!!

Being able to show my wife that it was not the fault of the very reliable but ageing Prius was a bonus

Thanks for your help.