Maybe I just never noticed it before, but I think I'm hearing a new noise.

I was sitting in the garage, in the FEH with doors closed and key ON (ICE off and cold) to program the SGII. I could distinctly hear a whining or humming noise from the engine area. I got out, raised the hood, and the sound is coming from somewhere around the ICE, possibly to the rear. When I turn the key OFF, the whining stops immediately, nothing spins down like a pump might.

No codes on the SG and no dash warnings. Seems to drive normally.

Am I being paranoid or is something going on? MECS pump getting noisier perhaps?

 

Sounds like the MECS pump to me. This is how I tell people how to check that pump because it runs with the key On. I just instructed a poster on Hybridcars.com a few hours ago to check their pump this way because of a overheating warning. This is also one of the reasons why you burn SoC anytime the key is On. In a garage your just going to hear it easier.

GaryG

 

Thanks Gary, I just saw your post at Hybridcars.com. But I'm still unclear on how you check the MECS pump. Is a good pump silent, or should a good pump make some noise with the key ON? I guess what I'm asking is does a MECS pump fail by ceasing to run or does it get noisy first? BTW, my FEH just turned 30k miles.

 

The hybrid tech I talked to indicated he was able to get the pumps to start running again when he played with the wiring. He said he gave that up because the FEH kept returning for repair. He didn't indicate a change in noise was a problem near failure only that the pump would stop running sometimes and start running again by itself because of some wires. I'm near 70,000 miles on my '05 FEH with the original pump and I'm not going to change it till it stops running. If it quits just one time, I'm going to install one myself because I get employee pricing at my dealership.

If I were you I'd relax about the noise now that you know how to check it for running or not. The noise could just be caused by something else from the vibration of the pump. It could also be the power steering pump if the wheel is in a certain position. If the noise starts getting louder than that may be of concern so keep us posted.

GaryG