Some Funky Noises On My 2014 (and an introduction)

Hi there,

I'm a new citizen of Tacoma World but have lurked the 2nd Gen forum quite a bit the past few years. Some great stuff in here!

Anyway, I leased a 2014 DCLB (in spruce mica) in August and absolutely love the thing. My first Tacoma was a 2006 RWD SR5 that I purchased used in 2011. It served me well but the 2014 is just that much more refined and capable for the Canadian winter. We've had some pretty hectic weather already here in Alberta, but this truck (with winter tires also) has me actually looking forward to that next snowstorm!

I'd originally wanted to wait until the redesign and was also a little hesitant with the new GM's coming out, but at the end of the day Tacomas have always been my favourite vehicle and having now seen the Canyon/Colorado, the Taco is still the leanest and meanest looking truck on the road by far, irrespective of size.

But I digress once again. It's going to the dealer in a few days in the hopes that they'll be able to diagnose and remedy some abnormal noises. The first is a weird knocking/rattling (emanating from somewhere just inside, under, or behind the cab by the way it sounds) that really took off once the cold weather hit, and the other is squeaky rear suspension that sounds to be nothing more than the leaf springs that everyone seems to complain about.

Regarding the weird knock, it became extremely noticeable when the temperatures got super frigid the other day, and is most often triggered by driving over abrupt bumps of some sort (manhole, hard packed snow/ice on roads, etc). I warmed the thing up in a heated garage for a few hours and could barely replicate the noise after taking it back out, and never noticed it during the first couple months of driving the truck in warmer temperatures. It's prominent now though and yet very hard to locate. I've had a couple people in the back listen for it, including myself, and even had the shop foreman from the dealer drive it today so he could hear it in advance of my service appointment.

Any ideas on what it could be, and why it's so temperature dependant? Bolts somewhere? Something behind that black cargo piece behind the rear seats? Is the bed itself contracting in the cold and causing the noise? I've done quite a bit of troubleshooting and am at a loss. The lame thing is that it's warming up throughout the week and the techs may not be able to reproduce the sound that easily.

I'd better cut off the long post before things get out of hand. Thanks in advance!

 

Just gonna throw out some possibilities. Loose bed bolts, spare tire (try tightening the hoist ), check and see if anything is in the bed storage boxes.

This past summer i started having a noise from the rear. I keep meaning to look into it but keep forgetting when the time would be right. I'm gonna check the spare tire and the rear suspension.

Mine started out sounding like a chain rattle, but now sounds like an odd squish type noise when hitting bumps.

 

Yeah mine's a very abrupt knock or creaking sound, which makes the bed bolts sound like the most plausible option out of what you listed (I could also imagine that the bed material contracts a bit in the cold).

It sounds a little too imminently close to the cabin to be the spare, and most of the time seems to favour the right side.

 

Also, I had the "ticking/chirping" blower motor issue on my 2006 and eventually installed the updated motor. I take it that the 2014's already come equipped with that newer part?

Has anyone noticed that the updated motor has a tendency to be a bit noisy in its own right? Not so much a chirp or tick, but almost more of a whine.

 

Howdy neighbor! Welcome to the family. Spare tire is a candidate here, for sure. If the techs don't figure it out, just start with the simple stuff. You'll probably solve the problem with tightening something they overlook.

 

check under your back seats. the jack/tools, whatever else might be in there could have come loose and are knocking around?

spare tire is a good call too though.

 

There's also another member who found out that his U-bolts were only finger tight, might want to check those as well.

 

Dumb question , have you looked in the rear cubbies behind the rear seats for loose items like the stupid flashlight holder and / or bed cleats etc ?

 

Yeah I've ridden in the back and been able to determine that it wasn't anything loose back there, though that was my initial assumption. With it being so tied to cold temperature it must be a bolt in the bed somewhere or something just beneath the area where the bed and cabin meet. I'll take another look at the spare to make sure.

 

I read you had it in a heated garage , so presumably it's not an ice build up under the bed or between the bed and cab ?

I know when I get snow / ice between my cap and cab it makes a hell of a racket

 

That's what I was hoping it was with the whole garage experiment. When I pulled it back out it was quiet for maybe 10 minutes but started again though. Puzzling.

It seems impossible to recreate when the vehicle's stationary.

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions thus far!

 

I was listening for my noise today. Going over a speed bump at an angle very slowly and it is making an odd creaky noise from the rear. I'm guessing it's my leaf springs.

 

Good luck , hope you figure it out

 

Could the cab mounts possibly be making noise? I've read of that being an issue on Tacos quite early on, so I'm not sure if any of the newer models would have that issue.

 

Something that I just discovered that was making noise is my hood. Another member in a different thread was saying their hood was was creaking, so I decided to check mine because my truck was making a noise. Sure enough, once I opened the hood and bounced on the door jam the noise was no longer present.

 

Looks like this was my cab bolts. Specifically the rear passenger side. Had all the telltale "symptoms" I've read about in other people who had the issue...colder it was, worse it became, sounded just like a ping pong ball bouncing around, etc. Had it in to the dealer a couple times and finally convinced them to order up the parts and replace the bolts. They did the two rear cab mounts and the sound is gone. Part of the job is replacing a "cushion" that's in there i guess, which was perhaps the culprit.

Not sure why a cab mount would be like that out of the factory essentially, but oh wel!