2006 Tacoma - Noise from underneath the truck?

so...anyone have any idea as to what is making this noise? this just started this week. i drive the truck 1 or 2 days a week when the weather is good because i'm always in the Acura. it seems to only happen during the first 5 minutes or so of running, having a hard time pinning the exact location of it because it stops so quickly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H9ePChpu10

2006 DCSB with a hair over 100K on it.

 

Does it change if you move the steering wheel? Maybe open the hood before starting it and see if you can find the source. Manual or automatic?

 

WHoops, automatic transmission. the sound changed slightly when i did anything that adjusted the idle whether it was moving the wheel or giving it any throttle. And usually in 5 minutes or less the sound is completely gone. Now the last couple of times i drove the truck, it has been about 30-35 degrees out too. it did not do this during the summer. also, other than this noise, the truck runs and drives like a new truck still. i havent noticed anything wrong.

 

Sounded like power steering noise but always hard to tell from just listening on the internet.

 

Thats what i was thinking at first too, i'll have to pop the hood before i start the truck next time and see if i can pin point it any better from there.

 

I pressed that play button and put my phone up to my ear thinking it would be hard to hear. Almost dropped my phone lol! Will probably be obvious with the hood up.

 

Ok, i hate this time of the year. It's dark when i leave for work, it's dark when i get home from work. So, to the best of my ability with almost no daylight, i peeked around under the hood with the truck running. The noise was there again on startup, then disappeared in about 10 seconds. the noise did not sound like it was coming from the driver's side of the motor, but i couldnt tell if it was coming from more of the center of the motor area or if it was coming from the passenger side.

I did see one thing that looked a bit meh. It looks like something has been leaking in this area. I couldnt get my light on it very well with the motor running. i'm not low on any fluids, can't tell if this is oil or if this is power steering fluid.

 

Crap...this is that timing cover oil leak isn’t it?

 

Noise sounded like power steering pump to me.

 

I tried getting a better listen this morning, no such luck. I listen to over by the power steering pump side and it seems like the noise is further away. so i move to the driver's side to check out the alternator, and again it seems like the noise is on the other side. Still, nothing wrong with the way the truck is operating, just this annoying sound for the first few moments on startup when its cold. i might have to dig a little deeper this weekend when i'm home and its still daylight.

 

I first thought about the power steering pump soon as I heard the noise.

for me, I had a whine when I turned the wheel left to right, and a bit while idleing IIRC. Mine seemed to be weeping around the PS fluid cap. I just bought some new fluid, and topped it off, 2+ years and its been fine.

Might be worth another check of your PS fluid

 

Try taking the belt off and start er up. If noise goes away its one of these: PS pump, AC, alternator, pulleys, water pump. If noise still there, maybe in engine/trans.

 

The belt on this truck was such a pain in the a$$ to replace,but that would definitely narrow down the location. I'll have to work on that this weekend.

i did notice that the p/s reservoir was on the low side, so i topped that off. Didnt seem to have an effect on it.

 

you can also try to dump some baby powder on the belt in a few locations where it meets the pulleys...eliminates belt, maybe will point you in another direction of pulleys or remove belt as mentioned above for a quick start up

 

Old mechanic taught me this...... with the truck running take a long handle screw driver and put the blade end on the power steering pump. Put the handle to your ear. You will hear through the screw driver. In turn, try it on a/c , alternator, water pump, etc. This will give you a better idea what the culprit is.

 

Alright, removed the belt and the noise disappeared. So i started on the pulleys. Power steering pump did not make a noticeable sound, but there was a tiny bit of play in and out with the pulley itself. The alternator and the AC compressor did not make any noticeable noises either. Two of the idler pulleys had a bit of resistance compared to the other, and made a slight dragging sound so i think that is where most of my noise is coming from.

Also, i had this noise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8UwmqiDydY

you might need to turn it up a bit, my hoodie sleeve kept hitting the fan shroud when i spun the fan. i can hear the noise much clearer on my phone than on this computer.

 

Bringing this back up since its warm enough i can work on the truck outside now. I released the tension off the belt yesterday after i changed out my spark plugs. With the tension off the belt, i grabbed each tensioner pulley. I did not notice any play in and out off the truck, they seem to be pretty solid. There might have been very slight play in the one. The power steering pulley however had a lot of play in it (in and out). Is this normal of these power steering pumps? i cant imagine it would be, but i figured i would ask.

 

typically the pullies that run of the belt should have very little play in them. I would be welling to bet you have a bearing starting to go in your power steering pump?

also when you topped it off the other day did you bleed the system? Truck running turn the wheel back and for from left to right stop a couple of times. Go back to center, turn off engine, wait for fluid to settle and then check the level....might surprise you.

 

I did not bleed the system, i did not think to do that. i will definitely do that this week and see how it looks after that.