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

I know what it says. It's identical to what the third gen has occurring now. They could argue that.

Supposedly there will be a another TSB coming soon. But when it will be released. Who knows. Repair procedure is the same.

 

I work for a fortune 50 company that provides equipment and service solutions around the world. If one of my customers came to me with a TSB that applied to a different piece of equipment than what they owned, I'd just nod and say ,"uh huh", "hmm", or "that's neat". Bottom line is this TSB and $5 will get you a $5 footlong from Subway. The Toyota dealer is only going to do what the mothership allows.

I'm not saying you're wrong though, just know that. It's clearly an issue that has plagued Tacoma's for a long time.

 

Has anyone wrapped their rear diff in sound deadening material with any degree of success? It looks to be just butyl rubber? My 2 hour 55 mph drives for 2 years are looming and I need to figure something out. I would like to retire someday so trading it in on a full size, while appealing, doesn't jive with my life plan financially.

 

Obviously the tsb doesn't apply, but that's not the point I would try to make. My argument is that the howl noise wasn't considered normal before, which is why there was a tsb, so how is that same issue now normal? Can't have it both ways.

 

Just did my 10k. They trouble shooted the whine that they confirmed at the 5k service. Service rep said it could be a wind noise, asked me what I thought. I told him I thought it was driveline related as I can play with the throttle and it comes and goes. He said that doesn't sound wind related.

They diagnosed it was a differential whine, acknowledged they havent seen this issue before so they contacted Toyota on what to do. They were advised that they are aware of the problem, there is a TSB in the works and they couldn't do anything until it was released. All I can do is check back periodically or mention it at the next service.

Noted "TSB in work" is documented on my paperwork.

 

By chance do you have a picture of the paperwork stating a TSB is in the works for the differential noise?

 

Just added to initial post

 

Still doesn't matter. That's something else and doesn't apply to you is the point they are going to make.

 

Mine has a howling noise, I guess, at anywhere from 45-60 mph when feathering. It kind of sounds like an airplane and the sound is not present at other speeds. Noticed it since around 400 miles after I read about it on here...I'm a paranoid 'fella so if I read about things I tend to create the issue, but I think this one is real! Also at all speeds it sounds like a gentle air stream (hissing?) coming out of the rear during acceleration. I'm coming from a 2015 Jeep; also had a 2000 Jeep XJ for 7 years and that made all sorts of horrible sounds, so I don't really know what is normal or not.

2017 SR5 DCSB; 975 miles on the odometer.
10/17 production date stamped on the door sticker, if that means anything.

 

Update: I just got back from my dealer. Didn't ride along with the foreman in my truck nor another 2018. But I was okay with that. Here is why.

One of the main techs came out and asked if I was ready to take a ride in my truck. I said nope, lets go take a ride in one of your 2018's on the lot first. I want to see if they have this "normal" sound like mine. At first he kind of drug his feet about being able to get one to drive and what not. I was thinking oh great here we freaking go... He then stopped, looked me in the eyes, and said, "Let's go outside." I was like alright this is weird haha

I expected a bunch of excuses, but nope! He told me he knew what to do to get the sound and that this is far from the first case. Corporate made them aware in November (I think of 2016) and they started replacing a few diffs shortly there after. He himself did a few. Not a single one of their replacements completely got rid of the noise. They all still had it after the replacements. I can't remember how exactly he put it, but he made it sound like Toyota decided to stop having them replaced unless they were way louder than normal or actually confirmed damaged (my words not his, but thats how I took it). Pretty much Toyota would not be covering these replacements anymore since the new diffs don't always solve the problem. I took that as the dealer would be stuck with the cost.

He did say I should call the Toyota corporate number and express my concerns (I'll do that tomorrow). He also said a TSB is for sure in the works. No ETA from Toyota though. He thinks it will just be sound deadening material as this is most likely a harmonic resonance of some kind (I still don't think that, but whatever).

I ended up chatting with him for about 15-20 mins. He said he would love to throw another diff on, but he honestly didnt think it would help and he wouldn't be backed by Toyota. He told me to make sure to call if it does get worse though. If it doesn't he said to have it checked at the 5k service again. He said to make sure I make that clear so my truck doesn't get placed in the quick service line and actually gets tested again.

All in all not what I expected, but that tech made me feel better that he understood my concerns.

 

Thanks for the update! At least the tech somewhat leveled with you. Seems like he knew the dealership couldn't bs you anymore and just came clean. I would say Toyotas tactic with the TSB is going to be a " band aid" fix at best. Adding sound proofing material will just mask the sound from the cabin. They know what the root cause and if you look the old TSB-0057-13 in the archives Toyota replaced differentials but usually did not explain what caused the failure. My guess is since they already got hossed with the leaking differential recalls, they're not going to come clean about the poor gear setups in these differentials.. A gasket is one thing... Imagine replacing hundreds if not thousands of differentials??

Read this thread from 2014. Sounds identical to our situations.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/noisy-rear-diff.354666/



"I have a 2013 TRD Quad Cab, 4L, 6SPD Manual Taco.
Ever since my 2nd oil change (16000km) the rear diff whines when I coast off the throttle around 90-100km.
The dealer told me repeatedly that it was normal, until my last service (68000km) when I finally dug in and wanted a ride in another Taco to prove it was normal.
They finally had to agree to replace the rear diff,

Has anyone else had this problem? I tried searching with no luck."


Post # 9.

"Have the same issue. Went through two rear diff replacements under warranty, still didn't fix it.

Was just told by the dealership that it is very common and Toyota is working on fixing it. It will be released in the form of a recall.

They didn't give me any time frame at all though...."

 

Nice post. Good information to know!

 

Yeah, I could tell I wasn't the first customer that came at him like this. I got the feeling he was tired of having to deal with it. He even said he had no clue what was taking Toyota so long. Now that I think about it, I think he meant November 2016 and not 2017 (I'll edit that above) when Toyota corp made them aware.

I agree with you. Sound deadening material would just be a band aid fix as this is probably the same issue with the second gen (whatever that actually was). I am going to request a ride with the shop foreman at every service at the very least. If it gets louder I'll be back in much sooner. I am also going to try to request the same guy (should have got his last name ha).

 

The REAL issue is Toyota just released Turd gen, they most likely have a contract with Hino which they are obligated to fulfill. So they'll continue pumping out trucks with shit diffs until the next generation. Unless they can quietly figure out or stop the bad quality control. At this point it sounds like they're more interested in adding sound proofing material instead of actually fixing the issue. They must be getting a great deal for cheap shitty differentials to keep doing this for nearly 15 years.

BMW 335I did the same with a faulty high pressure fuel pump. They settled in some cases, but continue to produce said cars with the contract till it expired and was scrubbed from the production supply chain.

Toyota is dragging their feet because they know its another fiasco.

 

192 pages and no one's paid an independent shop yet haha.

 

Whats wrong with sound deadening? So long as the noise is just harmonic and not damaging...

 

Nothing. Noise does not mean a problem. It just is annoying. Every vehicle has sound deadening all over it because... you guessed it... vehicles and mechanical components make noise. I'm not defending Toyota, they should do something. But to say something is wrong because it makes a noise is just not right.

 

I posted a few pages back that this was an option. So is dynamat. So is trading. So is lemon law. I guess complaining without doing something is an option, as evidenced by some of these posts.

 

Lemon law is the best route. Trading you'll loose. Eventually the exact issue will be known with a petition for discovery on other invoices that had their differentials replaced.