Hi everyone,

I have just notice some humming motor noise coming out of my dash when my ICE is off but with climate control on (heat) with fan turned on. I have done some troubleshooting myself and I traced the humming motor noise is coming from the Heater Water Pump.

This is how I traced the problem. At first, when I parked my car after driving for sometime, the ICE is off as usual as I am already parked but since temperature in Canada is still cold this time of the year, so I have heat turns on but then I noticed a humming motor noise coming out of my dash area. As soon as I turn off my climate control, fan off, then the humming noise went away. I thought it is caused by the blower fan so I located the blower fan under the clove box in the passenger front side and I unplugged the blower fan power connector and then turn on my climate control while my car is off (press Start twice without applying brake), and the humming motor noise comes on even through the blower fan is unplugged.

So I did some more googling and I downloaded the Camry Hybrid repair guide and found out that there is something called Heater Water Pump on the driver side under the hood.

Then I went back to my Camry Hybrid, press start twice and turn on the fan with temperature set to 21C degrees, the humming motor noise comes on as usual. But when I dial the temerature down to 18C degrees, no more humming motor noise. I also open up the hood as well and I can hear the humming motor noise is coming from the Heater Water pump very clearly.

As it turns out, if under full EV mode or ICE is off, the electric Heater Water pump turns on to circulate the excess heat from the engine to heat the cabin.

Basically, my question to you all is, is it normal to hear this humming motor noise from the Heater Water pump when the temperature is set to a higher temperature with the ICE off? (Press start twice without brake and turn on the fan to one with a higher temperature).

Can someone test this on your Camry Hybrid 2007 - 2011 and see if you get the humming motor noise? If everyone get this humming motor noise from the Heater water pump, then I don`t need to worry about having it replaced. But if it is not normal to have this humming noise, then I better call Toyota dealership to have it replaced.

I have attached a PDF file to show the location of the Heater water pump under the hood.

 

Why wouldn't you expect, logically, the pump to run under the conditions you describe.

So the question becomes...how annoying, intrusive, is the noise..?

 

Why don't you just take it o your local dealer and have them evaluate the issue for you?

 

also, Plasmacluster is supposed to make noise, and it's mentioned in driver manual. If you have one, of course.

 

I bought my Camry Hybrid used so this is the first winter driving this car. I know that it is normal that the electric heater water pump would turn on if the ICE is off and heat is needed in the cabin but I am not sure the humming motor noise is normal or not.

It is not loud at all but you will definitely notice it as it sounds like something is virbating behind the driver's dash.
Tunr
My car's bumper to bumper just ended so I prefer not to bring it to the dealership if I don't have to.

Since most of the ppl who read this forum owns a Camry Hybrid, I just want to ask everyone's a favor but performing the test on your car to see if you notice the humming motor noise from the heater water pump.

1. Turn car off.
2. Press start twice.
3. Turn fan on to 1 level.
4. Dial temp down to low and then up to a high temp.

Repeat step 4 to see if you can notice the humming motor noise.

I am sure the humming noise is not from the plasmacluster because once the driver side vent is closed, the buzzing noise will disappear.

 

I can understand your reluctance to bring it to the dealer but keep in mind, you don't have to fix it if you don't want to or don't need to. But it will help to quickly and correctly identify exactly what the problem is and the cost to repair. Most repair facilities do not charge for an estimate.

I recently had my '09 TCH for a minor issue and the dealer corrected it at n/c as a courtesy even though my car was 3 months out of warranty. You never know.

 

I can hear the blower running at HI and turning off at LO, no humming noise on my 2007 TCH.

 

Thanks for doing the test for me. You should be able to hear the fan blower at all time regardless if the Temp is set to HI or LO. When set the temp to LO, the humming motor noise is gone only with the fan blower noise in the background.

I have uploaded a video of my Camry Hybrid with the humming motor noise.

http://youtu.be/geyN4Yax7ww

Does anyone else have this noise?