Chirping blower motor vs dealership

Today, my 2011 officially turned 15000. With that came the usual 15k service, compliments of ToyotaCare. I have been having the dreaded evil cricket noise from the fan for the last 10k miles, and saw that Toyota finally updated the blower motor. I printed out the TSB and took it along for the service to have it looked at. When my truck was finished, they went through the normal explanations of all they did and when they came to the chirping motor I got the old "there were leaves in the fan and that's why it was chirping" bit.
I do believe the person that cleaned the leaves and said the motor stopped chirping may have had earplugs in. I hopped in, and the chirping was still there.
I have a simple question though. If they say leaves at causing this chirp, how do these leaves get past a filter that is before the fan? And why does this chirp sound metallic and not like a baseball card in spokes?
Doesn't Toyota, the corporation, pay for TSB's and not the dealerships? I'm amazed that they wouldn't just put the new blower assembly in there and charge whatever they charge to Toyota. It seems like they are losing money on the swap to not just change it out? I'm amazed.
Has anyone else had an issue like this? I'll be calling the dealership the next chance I get to take it back for the swap. They way they seemed about it, you would think I was telling them I wanted the leaf springs...

 

I took my '11 Taco in for the same thing last nite. Got a call this morning from the svc. writer and he said that there was nothing he could do since neither him nor his boss could hear the noise. I told him that was bs and that the chirping happens every time I use the heat or a/c. I also told him that if the problem didn't get fixed bthat I'd file a complaint with Toyota Corporate. He said okay I'll call you back. 1/2 hour later he does so and then proceeds to tell me that my truck started making the noise and that a new blower motor was on order for me. My truck should be ready tomorrow.

 

I had no prob getting mine swapped out now a year later it's doing it again

 

that whole thing with the motor blower is a bunch of crap. some dealers are just plain dumb@sses

 

I cant find the revised TSB .. do you have a link? Thanks

 

I'm having mine replaced at the Dealer right now. The Service Adviser didn't even need to hear the problem. He stated they have blowers in stock, and have replaced a bunch. He also asured me it was the most up to date replacements blower.
Try another Dealer if not too much trouble.

Also had the rear leaf tsb done, no questions asked.

 

Yea, I have already had mine replaced this time last year. As soon as it turned cold started making noise again. It is in the shop now getting another one. I will keep taking it back until I am out of warranty. I paid for warranty no need for me to have to do a bunch of work to it and buy aftermarket parts. The more people that complain about it the more likely they are to update the parts to prevent the issue

 

Had mine swapped out at 3k then again a week ago at 11k. the dealer gave me no problems and told me that i am the first in utah to receive the updated blower. Its super quiet. Lets hope it stays that way

 

i got mine swapped after about 10 months of owning it. then another 10 or so months later it started doing it again so i took it in to get a new one while i still had 6k of warranty left and they put in another. this time it was supposedly a different one than before. we'll see how she goes. mine seems to always start making noise in the late fall/early winter. not sure why other than i use windows most of the year so i dont have the air on and might not notice.

 

Most recent tsb attached.

I had mine replaced once about 6 months ago with the one ending in 12. 3 months later crickets again, so I took it in and got the old leaves in the blower story.

I just dealt with the noise for about 2 months then on my last oil change I took the cabin air filter out and blew it clean with the air compressor. Took the truck back in with this most recent TSB inhand. Told them that it's still squeaking and that I wanted a -13 motor put in. I even left the truck running outside the service dept with it squeaking like it always does and of course when I got the service adviser out there the damn thing was silent.

I pretty much told them look this this is driving me nuts, there is a new part number as per TSB and every damn time I bring it in it stops squeaking. He went and checked to see if they had any new motors in stock. Went and got one and put it in. FINALLY my truck is quiet.

 

I am waiting for the dealership to get an updated one in. They said it would be around 4 weeks This will be the second replacement for me. I too will just keep using my factory extended warranty to get all this replaced until it is up. I wish Toyota would make more reliable parts to go with that high price tag we pay for these trucks. I will be going on replacement intermediate steering shaft #2 because that is also junk.

 

I'm currently on my 3rd blower motor in a 2010. this one started squeeking as soon as the weather changed again. no more warranty, and i dont know if its worth trying to get another one from the dealer, even if it is an updated one.

 

Guys:

You need to make sure you get the 0404(3) motor installed. It is quieter than the (2) as far as the clicking sound and I've driven the truck in 18 degree weather with no chirping so far. They may finally have it fixed. We'll see.

I'm on my fourth motor in my 2010 with just over 15K on the truck. The second motor (first replacement for the chirping) was actually louder (clicking) than the first one and they knew it. The third replacement was only two months ago but I realized the dealer didn't put in the updated motor (another clicking motor and I wasn't aware of the updated TSB yet). They ordered the new one with no questions asked. Also, after first checking the motor to actually make sure it was chirping, they are no longer getting in my truck to check. They know they have a widespread issue on their hands.

If you're dealer isn't fixing it, call customer care and get them to make the appointment for you. They can and will do that. If you're dealer is giving you flack about a TSB with this many revisions and problems, he's clueless.

Lastly, if you've had your blower motor replaced under warranty and it's still chirping, I think you would have some recourse with Toyota or the dealer to get it replaced, even if your warranty expired. Especially since there are newer motors available.

Rossi

 

I had mine replaced the second time out of the 36k warranty. Most dealers warranty repairs they made for 12 months.

 

Good news up here in ND. I called Minot Toyota/Chrysler and explained that a)the fan is making a really horrible sound, among other problems and b)I am 2 hours away from any Toyota dealers, but Minot is the closest. And the parts/service manager said no problem, he'd put a blower motor aside with my name on it to make sure one was on hand for my appointment. I'm totally thrilled that he was so helpful, this is the 4th dealership I've tried to get to do warranty repairs (including that obnoxious windshield noise, which he's also trying to figure out for me), and it's the first one who really even tried to help.

 

Dealer here in Missoula, MT, Bitterroot Motors said they are replacing 1-2 blowers a week and gave me no problem. They ordered the parts and will instal when they come in. Yay, might loose the crickets in my cab for a while.

 

Just this morning I went to the dealership to get this part replaced. That chirping has been driving me nuts. The service guy gave me no problems at all and said he sees this all the time. The chirping wasn’t even that bad while I was there (of course), but he still had no problem ordering the new one and replacing it. He even mentioned that there might be a recall at some point to fix this issue since it’s so widespread. Let’s hope this TSB works.

 

I was just wondering, now that I have the latest part number blower motor in my 2011, if I'll have to go through this all over again in a 2012...?

 

UPDATE!

I called my local dealer again and said that the noise was back. My exact words were, "The evil cricket has returned under my glove box". I took it in , a 40 minute drive, to have it checked out again. This time, they acknowledged it was the fan motor and said they would replace it under warrenty. Here's the kicker: they had to order it in. So I went back this wednesday, the 18th, and finally! The noise is gone. I can listen to my radio at a reasonable volume again. I actually drove half way home with just wind and tire noise to enjoy the peace.

Just thought I would share a mostly successful dealer experience! I say mostly, because why don't they have these common problem parts on hand? It seems every Tacoma has "the chirp"

Cheers

 

Thanks for providing the TSB, so I printed it out... many times I reported the ticking sound at low fan speed... but the dealer seemed to never hear it. Before my truck passed the 36,000 mile mark, my service writer at Toyota Carlsbad noted the problem was unresolved. Now, I find this thread that there was a TSB for exactly this problem... Why the hesitation to replace the fan motor when I described the issue? I just called my service writer at Toyota Carlsbad and left a message with this TSB #... we shall see!

Of interest, my 2005 had the 'harsh ride' issue and Toyota Carlsbad did not offer any fix (I didn't know about TSBs back then)... so I paid some big bucks to Off Road Warehouse to supplement the soft rear suspension.