Hello there,
New to this forum and created an account in desperation. Help!
Hopefully I won't have to take it in, but it's looking more and more that way. Apologies in advance for my poor knowledge of technical terms.
We have a 2012 CT200H. Initially, our issue was that it would not start; we were able to determine that it was most likely because there was a small item (glove) stuck in the trunk door. We were able to cut around the glove and rip it out, and the trunk opened right away but the car still did not turn on. I tried it again a few minutes later - and it seemed like the car wanted to turn on, but it did not. All dashboard lights came on at once, and the car started the familiar "whirring" but did not kick on. Eventually, it got to a point where it seemed it was in accessory mode, the "check engine" light came on and the power button light was not green but Amber. We figured out that we could turn it off by depressing the brake pedal and pressing the power button, normally. The headlights and radio won't come on so I am assuming the issue with the trunk killed the battery.
The thing that is confusing us: There is a loud whirring sound that is coming from the engine while the car is just sitting there, off. Sounds like the noise that comes on when the car starts. When we depress the brake pedal, (not the emergency brake, but the regular one) the sound changes from whirring to clicking/ticking, like a clock. When I go into the engine, I found that what is vibrating with sound is this orange hose as well as the tank (circled in red) filled with yellow liquid (please see attached image).
TL;DR : We've already accepted that the battery is dead and that we will have to probably tow this thing to the dealer. The light on the power button still comes on, but no sign of life from the car. Is there a way to get that whirring/ticking sound from that orange hose to stop? When the brake pedal is depressed the sound changes from whirring to ticking. But the car will not start, we've tried it. I'm worried that whatever is causing that sound is just draining/harming the battery more and more.
Sorry for my stupid questions, but if someone could please let us know if we seem to be off-track in our diagnosis, or if there's anything we can do to stop that sound.
Thank you in advance and sorry about the newbie post.
