3rd Gen Poll: Rear End Noise howling when feathering throttle

Keep us updated. Hope you get it resolved.

 

Don't let them tell you that it's a "normal characteristic "of the vehicle remind them that it's 2018 and you have access to the internet which includes Tacoma world where there's 200 pages of other people having the same issue

 

My 2016 started out as a slight whine when feathered around 55 and then degraded to a continual whine even under power that started around 55 mph and cotinued up to as fast as I wanted to go and resulted in several passengers saying “what’s that noise?” So far nothing anywhere close to that going on and hoping it stays that way.

My dealer acknowledged the issue with my 2016 and kept to the “Toyota is working on it and I suspect there will be a tsb soon....” line.....heard that for over a year

 

The issue with this is that if you tell them there are tons of other ppl with this issue, that kind of fuels their argument that it is in fact a normal characteristic of the vehicle since tons of other ppl have the same noise

 

To be honest it is a normal characteristic of thia vehicle but that does not make it normal. If the window sticker said this vehicle whines during certain speeds or they had an advertisement saying Now with whine / howl sounds new for 2016 they would sell nothing absolute 0 tacomas.so unless they advertise or put a warning label on it they need to fix it.

 

Exactly. If it's normal how come the window sticker doesn't mention it nor the website.

 

Just wait until you try and sell your truck and the person test driving it hears the howl.

“Don’t worry it’s normal.”

Yeah, no one is going to buy that.

 

Lol, this is true

 

Typical corporate-speak. Common place, yes. Normal, hell no!!

 

I did notice something happen today. I was going down a bridge with a pretty decent grade and it was howling terribly and it got louder then out of nowhere it just stopped for a whole two seconds. Then it just came back. I had it in S4 allowing the transmission to control my speed but it was the first time it intensified to the point it just stopped. Very weird.

 

Noticed tonight on my 2018 DCSB OR, quiet whine at ~55 mph only while feathering the throttle. If i got off the throttle or accelerated it went away. First time I've heard it @ 2k miles. Gonna keep listening for now, if it continues I'll bring it in to the dealership. Based on this thread I'm assuming this is not a good sign?

 

I think if we ALL report this to NTHSA they'll either issue a recall or a TSB correct?

 

Nope. It's a noise. It is not safety related. Also, it is an intermittent noise on random vehicles.
You truly have four choices:
1. Lemon law
2. Trade it
3. Live with it
4. Start taking stuff apart and either fix the problem or deaden the sound.

That's it. I traded mine and got another just like it just a different color. So far no noise. If this truck starts making a noise again, I will have the same choices as above. If Toyota has not issued a new TSB by then, I will take the back seat and carpet out and dynamat it to minimise the noise.
Seriously, that's all anyone can do. Posting on an internet forum does not help, that's for sure.

 

A noise is like a " whistle" or air coming through the door jams. A mechanical noise, whether a squeek over a speed bump ( ball joints) or a differential howling/ humming indicate something mechanical is going to fail or is improperly setup...The fact that you traded for another that doesn't produce the same issue is very telling of the issue. Toyota will resale the truck to another unsuspecting buyer. They haven't exactly disclosed what the root cause is, nor will they.. Look at their past behavior with Prius.. C'mon floor mats... Shameful behavior that still continues.

Tacoma World is a great resource. So posting on the internet DOES help.. Its knowledge. You're correct in your itemized list of actions to take.. I can agree with you on that.

 

Nothing proves that it is a safety hazard. They don't care

 

at this point in time the only grenaded rear diffs have been the ones low on fluid or weeping. The ones that howl have not proven to be problematic, yet. Just very annoying to those that have louder howls

 

I have been designing machines for a living for a long time. Trust me, machines and their components make noise. Why is that piece of plastic on top of your engine? Why do we have a muffler? Sound deadening under the carpet? Because vehicles make noise. Now, i won't pretend to think all differential gear meshes whine. They don't. But for some reason, some of these Tacomas do. It did it on 2nd generations too. Pretty sure when they issue a TSB it will be sound deadening and that's fine with me.

Having a question asked or answered on the internet is helpful I agree. My point was the act of posting does not help. Posting or reading a solution would help. I think when it warms up in spring I am going to do the sound deadening anyway just to see how much quieter it gets inside. Our trucks are pretty noisy anyway.

 

I recently rode in a friends 18 OR and the cabin sounded a little quieter than my 17. His also had a howl but it was faint. I'm guessing Toyota didn't address the rear diff but rather added more sound proofing to the rear of the cabin.

 

Besides the Howling the rear in my Truck has been Weeping too, I will be hitting 10k soon so I will let the Dealer check it out, also going to use Sound Deadener in the rear of the cab in the Spring when it warms up.

 

I'm pretty sure one of the techs I rode with hinted that they will add " sound proofing material". I think most of them mean well, but know Toyota and corporate won't do jack. They can't blow the whistle at fear of repercussions.

The last vehicle I had that was offroad was a Nissan Xterra 06 offroad. Never had any issues with the rear differential. Just a noisy T-case, but I did buy it at 50k. The differential on that was a Dana 44 hybrid. Even Nissan can build a decent differential without the price tag of Toyota. Came with everything the Tacoma does. Minus crawl control.