HEEELP! 09 tacoma tapping and rubber burning smell?

SO PLEASE READ THIS CAREFULLY BECAUSE I AM STUMPED........

So I have a tick in my engine and VERY BAD RUBBER BURNING SMELL. Each time I start it up the rubber smell starts almost immediately.

My belt is attached, my oil is @ level(changed in November) and my antifreeze is @ level both in the radiator and reservoir(changed September, drained from the block and changed the thermostat and upper hoses. My heat is sweltering). Truck has 137k, almost 138 very soon.

So I drove most of the day around the Upper Peninsula, MI(talk about beautiful, I just moved here) and when I started out in the a.m., I heard the ticking, but when I back off the accelerator , it goes away, press on the accelerator I hear it. Even on start up I hear the ticking.

As soon as I pull into my driveway and try to back up, I had difficulty backing up, like I was in a snow bank, I wasn't. I smelled rubber after that and not before, and my driveway is dirt and snow.

The difficulty was like there was something behind me but I didn't have this difficulty before or after that moment. The ticking was still happening, frontwards of backwards. The burning rubber smell was getting worse. No check engine light either, just the annoying oil maintenance light which I refuse to turn off......LAZY, DISINTERESTED!

A friend said it's the idler pulley or adjuster, or my clutch(LC Engineering stage 2 clutch(which is a clutch masters clutch), oversized flywheel, oversized bearing(with metal sleeve), new slave cylinder, fork, pivot ball(greased to death) and all done in June. I made two very long trips to MI from Illinois and trailered it on the move. I haven't driven it much since I was here either.

I have been carrying around a 200-300 lb snow blower in the back, but have driven it maybe a couple times since driving to get it to a friend who said he can fix blower, the same guy I mentioned earlier. He has been busy and I just moved here as of last Saturday 1/7/23.

I don't have a garage of my own any more, but my friends do. They told me anytime I needed help they're there for me.

SUGGESTIONS?
Thanks,
Brian

Maybe an animal did something.

Suggestions?

O yeah, after all that driving, I took my radiator cap off like a dummy, but the fluid did not spew out and the radiator was hardly hot and the hoses too. Was this because of the cold? Remember, the heat is extremely hot, and the temp needle is steady.


I have guy with a lift and massive amount of tools.

 

Take the belt off and see if the noise goes away

Check all the pulleys and bearings in the belt drive system

 

With the engine COLD.
Remove the serpentine belt.
Start the truck and drive it a SHORT distance.
See if the problems goes away.

If it does, it’s something belt driven.

If not, look at the clutch system.

 

Assuming you topped it up, run it with the cap off and see if you have circulation when the t stat opens.

A stuck tstat or failed water pump can cause a hot heater but the radiator my be protected by the ambient temp.

Just something to consider after trying what the others suggested if you are still stuck

 

Thanks gents, I will try those things,BUT, I forgot to tell you that on start up, and this has happened after it sits for a few days, EITHER IN THE COLD OR HOT SUMMER, there will be a loud whining sound in the engine, but it goes away after the rpms go down, engine warms up.

My very gracious friend helped me change my manifold cats after a very long time with a P0430 glaring @ me from the dash burning a hole in my brain. The engine still has a slight hot smell to, but now more prominent rubber burning smell.

My gas mileage is terrible to. I did though on my two trips up and back from Illinois to the U.P., MI I got around 18.5ish, the second trip I got 16. That was 90% highway both times. One rout was slightly different from other.

Anyway, I digress.....the whining noise after it sits for a few days and slight hot smell.
Suggestions....Thanks sirs....Brian

 

So update:
I haven't driven my truck 2 weeks, until today. I had a friend, a man's man, someone that has had his fingers fixing tearing apart stuff for a long time.

So, he thought the ticking was an exhaust leak, but no code is flashing. I looked on the internet, it said misfire or low oil pressure. My oil is up and no leaks.

So him and I did further research and I found out it was the SVS(Evap canister valve). I hope it is because it is definitely coming from that area, the drivers side, toward the back of the engine.
K FLO gives the solution. 4 rubber washers, 2 on the outside of the bolt shaft, and the 2 on the inside of the tab and screw it in. I'm gonna try it tomorrow and I pray it works. I'll let you all know.

Another?
So about the coolant not being hot. So I had it idling for a half hour and drove it for 2-3 miles. Came back and the radiator was hardly hot and I cold take the coolant cap off with no extreme pressure. The upper hose was hot but not the lower hose.

What I did after I put the new coolant in in October, I put rislone/ hyper lubes hyper'cool in it. Could this be causing this? My temp gauge is on target and the heat gets hot and it defrosted my windows. I live in the U.P., MI.

We have 3ft of snow.....YEEEEES! BEAUTIFUL! GORGEOUS!

 

So it kinda worked. I have to try and disconnect it before I start it. BUT as I had it disconnected I didn't hear the tapping, BUT, only on acceleration or revving while idling.

I did awhile ago, I put on the ripp supercharger COIL PACKS ONLY, and plasma plugs. There was another guy on here who had issues with his ripp coil packs and put his old coil packs back on, but not sure if he had tapping/ ticking or not.

Can anyone find that post for me? I'm terrible @ that...sorry. Not everyone is created equal.
Brian

 

So an update! I have not gotten rid of the tapping. So I fogged the emissions with seafoam thinking I might loosen some carbon up. Nope, but I found out I have an exhaust leak. The seafoam fog/cloud came out my manifold driver side.

So I actually have an exhaust leak. I had @ least one bolt very loose. These are not factory manifold cats, and the gaskets are the cardboard composites not the metal. Could the gaskets be the problem?

I still have the ticking. I need to get it up on my friends lift. The nut on the far left lower, maybe upper, I just couldn't get a good hold and didn't want to strip it still may be loose.

Someone told me to use transmission fluid(actually I saw a video that stopped the ticking). They drained a couple quarts of oil and added transmission fluid and let it run for 10-15 minutes and drained it and replaced the oil and the ticking stopped. A guy told me another guy did that to his early 90's toyota truck once a year, and it had a head gasket leak @ like 300k, and the inside of the engine looked brand new.

My truck sounds like a dang diesel and I'M WORRIED! I'm going to try the transmission trick.

but please let me know what you think. I need for real help.
Brian

 

Not recommended to mix crankcase oil and transmission fluid together in your engine. I doubt that anything good will come from that.

 

Burning rubber smell? Aftermarket (is that even possible?) Cats... is there a heatshield around the cats? Could be exhaust system is missing a shield, and hot exhaust is burning floor insulation, carpet backing. Sounds like professional advice with eyes on the truck is in order.

 

Thanks i'll check