3rd Gen Tacoma A/C Noise

Colorado_Taco17,
The probably didn't drive it on the road. I had the shop foreman take a ride with me and he heard and acknowledged it.

 

Anything new with the whistle getting fixed?

 

As un update, I started my truck yesterday in 93 degree weather and it did it as soon as the compressor spun up. Its definitely related to how much heat is being removed from the cabin. On cool day in winter, no sound.

What it could be is the first few seconds of A/C operation, an initial blast of vapor is pumped out the condensor till pressures stabilize. Its something whistling during that moment. As an FYI my moms 94 land cruiser hisses on compressor start, and so does my Lexus is300. It is not a finely tune whistle but just more of a hiss.

 

Mine does it at various times during a 30 minute drive, not only on initial startup. Maybe every time is when the compressor starts.

 

It’s ridiculous that a brand new truck has this problem. Makes a $40k vehicle feel like an $8k one. Totally unacceptable.

 

Fellow Tacoma Owners - I called Regional Toyota Sales and they gave me the phone number 1(800)331-4331. I have a case number and the representative is going to assign a case manager to my issue. The more that call and create a case the better for us all.
Nobody F.......s with the Jesus!

 

Mine whistles, only noticed it on hot days

 

Move up here where I’m at, won’t have to worry about a/c.

 

UPDATE: I received a call from my dealer today. Toyota truly recognizes this problem. They are ordering a new compressor for my vehicle. Toyota technical reps will be at the dealership to observe the installation. The service rep told me that they have been working on a vehicle in the bay area and replaced the compressor with one that could take a larger amount of oil. It resolved the problem. I will keep everyone posted. The compressor is on order and will be here in two weeks. More info to come.....

 

Lord I hope it works. I love my truck and wouldn’t get rid of it because of the issue but man, it’s annoying as hell.

 

Would the interior dash have to be removed to replace the compressor?

 

Unless they need to change the TXV valve, I doubt it needs to be removed.

The dessicant bag in the condenser will have to be changed though, as well as the o rings leading to the compressor. Also I hope they really get the procedure down for balancing the oil charge with the compressor swap. Lots of times i just see a new compressor tossed in with the factory fill, over or under charging oil.

Im sure toyota is looking at this in greater detail at this point. Im pretty sure most trucks are making this noise now. (Like our rear diffs lol)
These new systems are so small that an oil overcharge can affect heat removal. Better that than oil starvation though lol.

I hope this gets resolved and documented. I agree the noise sucks on such an expensive truck.
Once it becomes a TSB, I might be in line.

 

If they recognize this as a problem and decide they in fact do have the fix, how long until a TSB would likely come out?

 

I am not sure, but I will ask. At this point, they are trying to find a permanent fix for the problem. I don't know if they will issue a service bulletin. They are working on customer's trucks who bring the truck to the dealer and insist on getting the problem resolved. I can only think that the more customers who take their truck in, the sooner a service bulletin will come out. From talking to them, they are not aware that it is a widespread problem. They told me they were working on mine and one other customer's truck in the bay area.

 

I have a 2018 TRD with 3000 miles and had this noise from day one. I don't think mine has dual air. But pulling my boat up a hill and hard acceleration will make the noise every time and I had the AC on at the time. I could hear it and I'm hard of hearing. My buddy who can hear said what in the hell is that noise. At 5000 miles I'm taking in my TRD in for a list of issues. Whistling noise, transmission hunting all the time and the brakes to damn touchy. Never had a Toyota with so many issues. WTH....

 

Point of reference: 2017 Limited (meaning V6 A/T, 4x4, double cab, short-bed, dual a/c zones), bought new 11 months ago.

I have the annoying whistle sound but I have not noticed the a/c breathing sound mentioned previously. The whistle sound is incredibly annoying when I have the truck loaded and driving up hills. On a recent camping trip into the mountains it was almost unbearable to listen to as we wound through the North Georgia mountains. Sound quits when I turn off the a/c.

The thing I cannot reconcile in my head is why if it's an A/C problem would it be exacerbated by load in the truck or load on the engine? Unless it's the compressor, of course.

The truck is at the dealer now (overnight) for the second time trying to fix this issue (first time they performed the rear diff TSB which of course wasn't going to solve this problem but they understandably had to check off that box first). They are also replacing the vacuum pump which they discovered needed replacing during my 10k service. They genuinely seem to be trying to fix this noise issue which right now is all I can expect of the dealer.

They taped up the holes in the control arms and we drove around. Still able to reproduce the problem.

I will report back on on progress.

All in all, I'm not getting the desired reliability out of this truck I had hoped for. The goal of buying a new vehicle is to not have to deal w/ shop visits. I had a 2003 Tundra for 10 years before a reckless driver hit me and totaled it. Went to a sedan for a few years and came back to a truck, so obviously Toyota was top of the list. I swear I never needed a thing for that Tundra except replacing the a/c compressor after 150k miles.

 

Eagerly await your outcome

 

Op should change title cause it's not just off road

 

The dealership kept my truck for two nights tracking this down. They loaded the truck down with weight (two dudes + several hundred pounds of ice melt) and successfully reproduced the problem.

In addition to the control arm taping I mentioned above, they did determine that there was a bolt between the heat shield and gas tank that was suspicious. The heat shield was sliding on this bolt. After they removed this bolt they stated that they drove the truck three times (I can confirm they added ~ 50 miles to the truck) and were never able to reproduce the problem again. I just drove it around several miles and was also not able to reproduce the sound.

I'm at work now and haven't had time to crawl under and get a picture of the suspect bolt location. I will do so this evening.

My confidence level is actually pretty low that this is the root cause of this noise since people here seem to agree that there is a very strong correlation between the a/c compressor being on so this heat shield theory seems to be a bit of a stretch. But harmonics are a strange thing, so who knows. Only time will tell.

I'm taking a very long trip soon out to the Atlantic coast and I will report back. Since this trip will be hundreds miles and also to a warmer climate (where the a/c is sure to be used more) this will be a good test. Fingers are crossed but I'm not hopeful.

 

DudeImperfect, thanks for the update. I hope your problem has been resolved. I still feel the issue is AC related. When the AC is off there is no sound. I will keep the thread updated. The compressor they ordered for my truck should be arriving within the next week.