Exhaust gurgling sound

Hey everyone,

One thing I have noticed for a while is that when I am in 1st or 2nd gear and coasting in gear at slow speed, I hear a gurgling sound coming from the exhaust.

I also have a ticking noise coming from the engine area. It is more noticeable during a cold start. It does it when its warm too, but its not as noticeable. After having a local muffler shop take a look underneath the truck, they didn't notice anything unusual with the exhaust system.

Does any one else's truck do this?

 

Not sure about the exhaust gurgling.The ticking your hearing is what everyone says is the common/normal Taco tic.I haven't noticed it though on my 2012 since i bought my truck brand new almost 3yrs ago.

 

My truck makes a gurgling sound when my rpm's are too low. Just downshift and keep the rpm's high.

 

No I don't but I'll make a recording today while I am out.

 

Hey everyone, here is a short video of the sound that I am talking about. I initially recorded this with my S4 which captured the sound better (particularly the backfiring sound). Unfortunately, my phone is locked so I had to use my old point and shoot.



Some other symptoms that could be related to this problem:

- Significant drop in gas mileage. While doing about 80% stop and go city driving (short trips), my trip odometer used to read around 100-120 when the fuel gauge hit the full line. Now I am only getting 70km when I reach that same point.

- Lack of power across the board. When in any gear, it not only feels like something is holding the truck back, something actually is. If I am on the road, I have to push down on the gas pedal further just to maintain speed. If I let off the gas even a tiny bit, the truck slows down pretty quick. By quick, I mean you feel a jolt and the truck leans forward the way as when you stab the brakes hard.

- Feel a vibration when I am decelerating in gear (in the steering wheel and under the truck).

- No check engine light.

Maintenance that I have done recently:
- Oil change.
- Replaced engine air filter.
- Flushed power steering.
- Changed front rotors and pads.
- Turned rear drums.
- I have had driveline problems with this truck in the past. I am at 51000km right now and got the clutch replaced under warranty at 24000km.

Based on the symptoms above, I am thinking about taking a look at the spark plugs, and having someone else take off the driveshaft and inspect it.

Any other ideas?

 

I get the gurgling but I was told that's from the decreased back pressure from my magnaflow muffler. Is that the stock exhaust? Based on what you're saying, plugs seem to be the next step

 

Drive it for 30 mins or so highway at night and see if one of the catalytic converters start glowing red, it could be stoped up.

 

Are you still under warranty?

 

Yes I am still under warranty. However, the dealership where I am likes to play the "its normal" game whenever I go in for something. However, I wonder if I should still go anyway just so my ass is covered if something more serious happens.

If something serious happens after the warranty is up, would I still be covered if I can prove that I did my due diligence?

Its funny that you mentioned checking the cat. Whenever I take a drive up the mountains and then pull over for whatever reason, I can smell something burning when I get out. After taking a look underneath, I can never see anything.

I'll take a drive now and get back to you all in an hour.

 

After going for a drive up the mountain and back, I didn't see or smell anything unusual under the truck.

 

Check your u joints. Sounds funny but I had 2 bad ones and I had a loss of power and milage because of the slack in the driveline. Makes a huge difference.

 

I would try a different dealer, and yes you should take it in. It might save your ass if something major happens right after it expires.

 

All the dealers in his area are owned by the same guy. I remember OP from an earlier issue. I'd check for exhaust leaks along the pipe. There are lots of YouTube videos on how to do this. Then I'd change the air filter, spark plugs, and clean the MAF. I'll be honest though, it's pretty early in that trucks life to need the plugs changed and the MAF cleaned. In general I'd do all the inexpensive preventative maintenance I could that effects fuel, air, or spark going into, and out of in the case of the air, the engine.

If that all fails then it's off to the dealership. Isn't this a lease truck? The tricky thing with the warranty is that even if you do document the problem before you go over warranty, and take it to your dealer to document the issue, if the dealer declines warranty it's up to you to go to court to get warranty. While there is a precedent for you to get your truck fixed in such a case the onus is on you to sue the dealer for your loss. The dealer doesn't have to go to court to deny your claim, he only has to go to a court of law if you protest the denial of your claim.

This is where people that rely on the law find themselves in trouble. Often really shady dealers will even falsely quote the value of the warranty work above the threshold for small claims court so that you have to go through even more hoops to get work done on your truck. What does the dealership chain care? They have a legal department usually anyways for this. That's the problem with shady dealers. It's up to the owner of the vehicle to prove they are shady, and that costs money and time.

 

lmao Yes this is the same guy as before.

I agree with you that my truck shouldn't need this kind of work at 50000km. However, I live in the city and 85% of my driving is stop and go commutes that are around 15 minutes at the most. For highway driving, I do two trips up the Malahat every month and make lots of trips from downtown Victoria to Langford. With that kind of use, the plugs could have a lot of carbon on them.

What you said about taking the legal route for warranty claims makes sense. In other words, Toyota's strategy is to drag the issue out and make it as long and expensive as possible so I back off. I can totally see things working out that way. I read about a guy on here from Tennessee who went through a lengthy legal battle with Toyota after his truck had problems right off the lot. While I admire how long he kept fighting Toyota, I don't have the resources or connections to do that.

I booked an appointment at a transmission shop on Wednesday to have the drive shaft, u-joints, transfer case outer seal, and rear differential seal removed and inspected. Tonight I will haul out my spark plug kit and check the spark plugs and spray the MAF. I replaced the air filter back in March, so no worries there. I will take some pictures of the plugs and post them on here later.

 

Don't get me wrong, 90% of dealers won't be turds on most warranty claims. There is always that 10% that will be though. It's better safe than sorry when you already know your dealer is being a turd.

Make sure you clean that MAF with proper MAF cleaner or you will be unhappy.

 

Have you tried romping the fuck out of it for a good 15 mins, drive it hard for a while and see if it clears it out or throws a code. If it throws a code the dealer has to fix it if it's under warrenty, unless they say it's a wear item

 

Also I changed my plugs at 100k miles and reset the computer and my truck was noticeably quieter.

 

Also check your tire pressure, it could be really low and effect gas mileage but I doubt that's the problem.

 

Sincerely, thank you for the ideas. I have already checked that stuff.

 

I have tried that too, but not for 15 minutes lol More like 10 seconds. No it didn't throw a code.