Yaris Squealing Sound

[Yaris]

With your stereo off, has anyone else noticed that within 3 or 4 feet from a cold take-off that your Yaris makes a high pitch brief squeal similar to the sound a running shoe makes on a basketball court?
The dealership said that they couldn't figure out where the sound is coming from and when they started up 3 other Yarises for comparison they heard the squeal from them also.

[YamilR]

Thats why you're supposed to wait till the cool light goes off

[Yaris]

Originally Posted by YamilR

Thats why you're supposed to wait till the cool light goes off

It happens everytime I start the car after it's been parked 5 minutes or more even with the engine fully warmed up and no cool light.

[foober]

Mine doesn't do it. You should go back to the dealership and demand a good answer to what the noise is.

[07WYarisRS]

Most likely a loose or glazed altenator belt.

[Violin]

Mine doesn't do that either.

[pxpaulx]

Originally Posted by YamilR

Thats why you're supposed to wait till the cool light goes off

if you read the manual it actually says not to warm the car up by letting it sit idle - you should start driving it right away, conservatively until the light is off.

then let her rip!

[YamilR]

Originally Posted by pxpaulx

if you read the manual it actually says not to warm the car up by letting it sit idle - you should start driving it right away, conservatively until the light is off.

then let her rip!

MANUAL!!!! WE DON'T NEED NO STINKY MANUAL

[kaymm]

I had the same problem!! From a cold start, it would squeal. And once I added more gas, it would go away. Then as time went by, it would make that noise when I braked or clutch. Turns out it's some belt that needs to be tighted. It was literally a 5 min fix.

It was so embarassing driving around and have it screech like that.

[07WYarisRS]

Originally Posted by pxpaulx

if you read the manual it actually says not to warm the car up by letting it sit idle - you should start driving it right away, conservatively until the light is off.

then let her rip!

Yeah if you want the best mileage
a car gets 0 mpg while idling and a cold engine uses a lot of fuel until it warms up.
Driving seconds after you start your car will give you the best mileage.

The question is... Is it good for the engine?

Toyota and every car mfg is in the business of selling cars, PERIOD.
They don't care if you wear out your engine in 100,000 miles, fact is they want you to buy more cars. They do however need to make them reliable enough that you don't have major break downs so you will buy more cars from them.

Warming up a cold engine hurts fuel mileage and may shorten the life of the emmisions componts slightly but it's good for the engine.
Even 30 seconds to a minute will extend the life of your engine by allowing the engine to warm up slowly and not under load.
The steel cylinders and aluminum pistons expand at much different rates and operating an engine under load before it has warmed up and allowed the cylinders to expand an bit shortens the life if the cylinders, rings and pistons.

For the people that can't afford an extra minute in cold weather should start using Amsoil 0W-30 to prevent cold start and operating below normal operating temp engine damage.

I've always let all my engines warm up even if it's only a minute or two usually never longer then 3 minutes..

I build and rebuild engines for a living, and can tell you it's easy to see the difference between and engine that was allowed to warm up and one that was driven cold.
just like it's easy to see the difference between and engine that used synthetic or conventional oils.

[ECHOKnight2000]

^^^That's some really good insight. I knew that you should ease in driving when the car is cold. I sometimes especially when it gets colder let the car go for awhile but when I go to work in the morning I just drive off BUT I take it easy until it warms up or at least when the blue light is off, is that okay or does that shorten the life of the cylinders as bad as just driving off "normal" or aggressively?

[GabL]

I have the same problem too, but what I heard is not a squeak, but something like some gas being release from a valve... but it just happened once in every start up, not during the drive.

[07WYarisRS]

Originally Posted by ECHOKnight2000

^^^That's some really good insight. I knew that you should ease in driving when the car is cold. I sometimes especially when it gets colder let the car go for awhile but when I go to work in the morning I just drive off BUT I take it easy until it warms up or at least when the blue light is off, is that okay or does that shorten the life of the cylinders as bad as just driving off "normal" or aggressively?

It takes an engine with a thermostat a good 5 minutes to be up to normal operating temp, so regardless how long you let it warm up or when the cool light goes out, drive it easy for at least 5 minutes

Right now with the current temps it's not so bad. Coolant temps cold are still 40 oF or higher. It does not take too long for the engine to warm up, and if you can drive it real easy for the first couple mintes you should be ok.
But when the temps drops way down like it does in the winter up here in Canada and the norther US driving off with sub zero coolant temps will not allow the cylinders to expand nearly as quickly as the pistons. Not only does it take 2X longer for the coolant to warm up but the metals have shrunk even more due to the cold. Aluminum pistons expand at a faster rate then steel cylinders so the longer you can let it warm up the better. If you don't what happens is the aluminum pistons expand quickly (under load) and you get what is called 4 point scoring or in the worst case cold sieze the engine. Because pistons are often cam ground (out of round when cold) or thicker in the areas around the wrist pin boss they expand in different areas faster and these point will contact the cylinder walls scoring it. And after a while you start to lose compression due to the cylinder and ring wear.

Also it depends on where you live for instance 500 feet" from the end of my driveway is a busy road with a series of stop and go at stop signs and lights. That kind of driving on a cold engine is not good.
At my old house I lived right on the highway and had to be up to 80km within' seconds.
So in my case I let my car warm up for 30 seconds to a minute before I drive off in the summer and in the winter I'll give it 2 minutes or so and then still drive it easy for the first 5 minutes.

Now if I lived in an area where I could get on the street and drive it easy for a mile with out needing to accelerate from stops or keeping up with traffic I would not be so worried about letting the engine warm up more. But as i said driving it easy for at least 5 minutes is a good idea before driving it normal or aggresive

[07WYarisRS]

BTW
I find every time I use the E-brake to slide into a parking spot or to do a U turn, or drift around a tight turn I get a loud squealing from my car but in my case it's usually coming from the passnger seating areas but only if I have passengers in the car.

The fix to stop the squealing was easy, leave the wife at home

[Yaris Dick]

No problem on my LB yet. 5800 Miles. Auto tranny.

[ECHOKnight2000]

Thanks 07WYarisRS for you help.
I fourtantly live in a neighborhood with slow residential speed limits so until I get to the main streets, but they are 40mph and 50mph respectively and I'm not far from the highway but I have to go through some what of a maze to get to that so that helps with warming the car before gunning it.

On a side note: You probably already know this and I'm not trying to preach, but using your hand-brake the way you discribed it wears out the teeth-I think that's what it is, anyway its not good for it, at least excessively, but I know its fun, I've done it plenty of times but I restrain myself.

[eTiMaGo]

Originally Posted by 07WYarisRS

BTW
I find every time I use the E-brake to slide into a parking spot or to do a U turn, or drift around a tight turn I get a loud squealing from my car but in my case it's usually coming from the passnger seating areas but only if I have passengers in the car.

The fix to stop the squealing was easy, leave the wife at home

Strange, that's how my uncle used to describe his speed limiter...

[pennyracer]

i have a chattering noise on the belt side of the motor its cycles like a ac clutch but maybe its the idler pully or altenator cant tell only does it in the morning when it starts up till it gets warm then it seems to go away i did tighten the belt that helped from the sqealing that happend some times for only 5 seconds or so each time no belt sqeal but the chatter is still there i have 68000 miles on my yaris lb