3rd Gen Poll: Rear End Noise howling when feathering throttle

This problem is alot more common than one in every 300 trucks. At my dealership every SR5 longbed makes the noise.

 

My 'solution' to hearing my diff whine every day on my way to and from work is that I've learned to live with it. Honestly it doesn't bother me any more. I just pretend I'm driving a Porsche with straight cut gears on the Nurburgring as seen in my post below.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/embrace-the-whine.520049/#post-16479291

Seriously though, it doesn't bother me any more.

 

The whine I hear is not due to gear cut which in my experience would happen at any speed. Same is true of bearing noise.

I don’t know what is causing the noise and Toyota seem closed lipped about it but if I had test drove and heard this howl I wouldn’t have bought the truck.

Plus I have a warranty...

I feel justified in wanting a solution.

Also I can’t just sell the car because anyone who hears the whine won’t buy it. Value lost IMO.

 

...and my dealer sells over 400 Tacomas a year. Mine is the first 3rd gen with the noise. I used data from here combined with data from dealer to make my statement. Toyota sells 16K Tacomas a month. If you give this poll any validity then that's what the numbers work out to be. Actually I think it is even a bigger number, like one in a thousand. I just got lucky. I'll go get my lottery ticket while I am beating the odds lol. I'm not mad, just would like a solution.

 

I think your dealer is lying. Yours is not the first one their lot with this problem.

 

Agreed !

 

The mechanic at my dealership said to me Toyota is about to forever ruin the Tacoma's reputation.

 

About? Or “in the process of”

Is something coming that’s even worse?

 

Well I had my 3rd member replaced. Noise is completely gone, looked under and saw the shiny new 3rd member and as a token of my appreciation the also provided a leak. The 3rd member is leaking. Noise is gone but now its leaking.. Pretty easy fix...

 

Notice no howling on my new 2017 DCOR.

 

Nice. Happy it’s working out fo you.

Keep us updated and hopefully the howl stays gone!

 

Had the howl. Didn't really bother me, but it was there. Some days I could hear it, some days I couldn't.

Decided to install 4.88s for a variety of reasons - the howl not being one of them. Took it to a reputable shop in the Bay Area. Gears were installed and I explained to the shop about the howl. They listened to it and - like other shops, thought it could be something - or nothing. Told me they would look for signs of any damage to the the old parts.

4.88s went in. Howl went out. Shop walked me through the post-mortem of the original set. They could find nothing unusual, no wear, no tear, nothing.

I'm confounded by a lot of things that get posted here. I've driven with the ECT button on since Day 1 and this truck moves. No hesitation, no hunting, nothing. Mileage averages about 18.5 to 19 with mixed city and traffic.

The howl was about the biggest issue for me, but I noted that a TSB existed for the entire run of the 2nd gen for the same exact issue and 2nd gen owners seemed to be racking up decent miles without any pattern of catastrophic failures. A Honda Dealer had a used 2011 (95K miles) and I test drove it on Wednesday for shits and giggles. Guess, what - it howled.

I liked the truck with the stock gears...I love it with the 4.88s.

 

Right on. Its comforting to know there doesn't seem to be any damage being done.

On the 2011 was the howl in the same speed range with light throttle?

Or was it more like bad gear lash and the howl got louder with speed?

On my older truck I installed 5.29s and didn't get the lash exactly right so it just howls all the time but it gets louder as the gears spin faster. I've checked the gears a few times and it doesn't seem to be doing any damage. Noise doesn't bother me because between my m/ts and the howling 5:1 gears I installed in my t-case I cant hear anything

But I expect that truck to be loud. Not so much my dd

 

Can someone explain what the noise sounds like? I notice a high pitch whistle noise is this the sound we are talking about?

 

Any 2018 owners out there with rearend noise issue? Or know of other issues particular to 2018s

 

Yes. On my 2017 I heard it at about 62 mph. On the 2011 it was the same noise, but at around 56-58 mph. Little fainter, my truck is an AC, this was a DC.

There's a little bit of a disconnect between this forum and mechanics I talk to - and I'm not including the dealer in this.

Prior to the gear swap, I had our company mechanic and the diesel shop near me listen to it. Along with the shop that did the work, they all pretty much told me the same, thing: it could be something, but it's probably nothing.

When I coupled that with the attached TSB from the 2nd gens, I really stopped worrying about it.

 

Interesting.

The TSB is to replace the differential. Which seems to have mixed results (of people responding on this thread) at best on the 3rd Gen.

I know a diff replacement didn't do anything for my howl, except seemingly make it worse.

I wonder why the TSB isn't updated to include 2014 through 2017.

I'm with you though I really enjoy my truck. My only complaint is the howl and I'll try and fix it before I'd consider getting rid of it. At this point I'm going to give Toyota a chance to deal with it first.

 

To me it sounds like a bell resonating. I can easily make it happen on demand between 50-62 mph by lightly pressing the gas to get it off the coast side of the gear and slightly into the drive side. It's hard to miss and once you hear it you cant not hear it.

I wouldn't describe it as a whistle. Although I do get random whistle noises too but they don't seem to be consistent or easy to replicate by me.

There is a video posted here on this thread that has it pretty clear. All my videos just catch all the wind noise my truck makes.

found it https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...thering-throttle.442341/page-31#post-13082394

 

Well....traded my rearend howling 2016 DCLB Sport for a 2018 DCLR Sport. Essentially the same truck with a few minor upgrades.......hopefully I'll fall into the "no rearend noise" group this time around. Fortunately, these trucks retain their value so trading in doesn't result in considerable losses.....but still sad that it had to result in this. I weighed just eating the cost of getting the rear fixed by an outside shop and was concerned that once it was touched by a non-toyota shop it'd result in warranty issues if there ever was an issue with anything that connected to the rear. Fingers crossed.

 

Let' us know how it goes with the 18 to see if it ever starts howling.