Squealing/chirping noise in cold weather

Hey everyone, I am brand new to Tacoma world. This is my first post. I was googling the topic of this thread when I came upon this site so I decided to register. I have a '99 regular cab 4x4 2.7 L manual 5 speed. My problem.....

A few years ago I first noticed this little chirp noise and it seemed like it only happened when I pushed in the clutch to shift into 5th gear. I didn't think a whole lot of it. Last winter I noticed it did it more than ever. It seemed like it mostly occurred when pushing in the clutch, but not always. Sometimes it happened during acceleration without touching the clutch. Once the weather warmed up, I never heard it again. Now these past couple months it has gotten worse and worse.

I recently took a drive to Vegas which is about a 4-5 hour drive from my house in Arizona. I was hearing this noise even about an hour into my drive. It used to stop once the vehicle warmed up, but now seems to be worse than ever.

The noise basically sounds similar to a squealing belt, but I know it is not from a belt. The sound sounds like it comes from underneath and just behind my center console, or just below the back sliding window. It happens when I push in the clutch and also just while accelerating, no matter what gear I am in. I think the noise goes away if I let off on the gas, but I am not entirely sure. And, the noise is not constant, but very prevalent. Again, it seems like the cold weather makes it happen.

Could this be coming from the driveline? I have not lubed my zerk fittings on the driveline recently but I am not sure if that is the problem. I am thinking either that or something in the transmission. The truck has 175,000 miles on it with the original clutch, and I do not drive it very roughly at all. Sorry for the long post, but any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!!

 

Sounds like you may have a bad carrier bearing, it supports the center of the two piece drive shaft and is failure prone at high mileage. Costs about $150 and can be installed with normal everyday tools and a few borrowed tools from Autozone. Other possibility is a bad bearing in the transmission or differential pinion housing.

Good luck, there is plenty of carrier bearing threads and how-to around here.

 

I too had a similar noise, two days ago. It was about 15 degrees when it happened and every other time it was also cold. I drive mostly city, so I only have the problem when I travel on the highway over an hour and only in the cold. I have been around and have heard this sound before. My guess, a dry universal joint. Grab the drive shafts, give them a shake. If they move, its time for UJ s or even just a good grease.
Again just guessing, its too cold to lay on the ground and I haven't heard anything in a couple of cold days.

 

Yeah, I appreciate the input guys. I think the first thing I am gonna do is grease up every fitting on my driveline and see if that helps anything. I need to actually crawl under there and check everything. It has been awhile since I have greased it up or gave everything a good look over..
As far as the carrier bearing...I haven't checked yet (been really busy lately and going through a bunch of drama with the wife) but does a regular cab Tacoma actually have a carrier bearing on the driveline? I was under the impression that only the longer trucks (extended cabs) had them since they have longer drivelines obviously.

 

Mines an automatic, but I've had the random Parakeet chirp behind the center console for some time.

 

I have a friend who works at a Toyota dealer and he said its the throwout bearing. I asked him if he wanted to make a trip down to AZ and help me drop my trans and replace my clutch but I dunno if he will. I would really like to do the work myself to get the experience and knowledge and to avoid paying so much labor costs.

 

could be i had a pilot bearing making a lot of noise... Trans drops very easily ive had mine out several times. Go with oem for bearings i had to pull my trans again a week after doing my clutch due to noisy aftermarket bearings!

 

Yeah for sure if and when I get it done, I will go with Toyota parts. I don't feel right if I put other brands of parts in it. I'm really hoping I can eventually convince my friend to come down and help me. I don't think I would be able to do it myself plus I cant afford to have the truck out of commission for very long

 

I have a 2005 2.7 and have the same problem but with wet weather. It's an El Nino year and it has been raining a lot. When it's wet out, the truck squeals only in gear for the first 30 minutes or so until the truck is sufficiently warmed up.

 

I was having htese exact same conditions. squealing in winter and such. it's the carrier bearing. and take a look at your transmission mount too while youre at it. it may be separated.

 

Op youre right! Dont go looking for your carrier bearing, youll be under there a very long time.

 

Wow, I haven't looked in this thread in a couple years lol. I actually stopped logging into this forum for quite awhile until just recently when I bought my '17. Funny thing is that my 99 now has almost 193,000 miles on it, and ive never addressed the issue with the squealing noise. I did end up greasing my u-joints and everything on the drive lines though but it didn't make the noise go away. Last winter I never really heard the noise. I think it fixed itself