Buzzy Vibration at certain RPM's..read before buying!

Robert, Here's how posting helps:
Doobiewah goes to his dealer with a hard to pinpoint problem. Toyota is going to tell him either they don't hear it or "they all do it" (when they know this has been going on since 2005) Sharing his problem and frustration allows him to learn about others with the same symptoms (seem to be many). Also he finds articles about the problems "like the above from pickuptrucks.com)
and maybe buy backs or successful lemon law resolutions. He might find a really good dealer he can point everyone to, that knows how to solve the problem.

 

Bob that is a poor example. If you phone a doctor long distance all he/she will do is phone you in a prescription for your headache. Problem solved.

 

Ive read that in 2nd gens that leaf springs could have been related to driveline vibrations , so with that being said arent the leafsprings in the offroad version different than the sports leafspings?... Hmmmm

 

Another happy customer, vibe thing way exaggerated!

 

Everyone is entitled to their opinion; however, according to the Customer Care Manager I spoke with at Toyota, I am one of many who have brought this up and the Toyota engineering team is trying to find a solution. There are many people who never go to any forum to post or research and it is a very focused group of individuals who do. Additionally, you don't see the many PM's I get from people who do not wish to post openly about their vibration issue with their 2016 Tacoma because of some of the negative comments that get made on an open forum, both here and elsewhere. Those people don't want to get flamed openly and/or embarrassed. I'm a Mod on another forum and see it here and over there all of the time and have thick skin. I post mostly to either help people with ideas or to find solutions to issues. I also enjoy reading the flame contests that occasionally come up, purely for the entertainment value. To each their own as to why they post what they post....

 

Well said Doobiewah, Part of this forum is the Rah Rah, but most importantly should be to share information and problemsand solutions.

 

But you don't own a Tacoma and don't intend on buying one so, why are you on this site?

 

Concealed carry buddy.

 

I've driven 3 2016's now. The dealership I work for let me take a 2016 access cab off road home for the evening, probably put about 50 miles on it. No issues. I drove a DCSB sport automatic transmission, however I suspect I didn't drive it enough to encounter any vibrations. The 16 manual transmission sport I bought doesn't have any issues.

I'll be curious to see how this concludes for you, op. As a technician, and speaking from the technician side, sometimes there are problems on vehicles that we have no remedy for, such as yours, and are forced to blow it out the door with something like "no problem found" or "operating normally". In your instance, if the tires are all properly road force balanced, there's no TSB's, and our Toyota tech line is busy scratching their heads, our hands are tied. That doesn't mean we don't care and don't want to resolve your issue, we just have no course of action.

I'll continue following this thread to see how things end up for you.

 

Well, I can definitely say there are NO reports of this on M/T's at all. There also seems to be no reports on Off-Roads with A/T, only on Sports and Limiteds, with A/T. I can't speak for 4x4 versus 4x2's; however, anecdotally, it seems to be in the 4x4's. The senior Master Mechanic at my dealer found it in all 4x4 Sports and Limited's with A/T that he drove after I specifically told him where, in the rev range, he could find the buzz. Just driving around town you really have to look for it because of the nature of in-town driving. I know where it is, so I can still find it easily in-town; however, for the last week, I've been driving only in-town and it is hardly noticeable unless I look for it specifically, as you are rarely in the rev range where the vibration occurs, usually just going through it as you accelerate. It is on the highway/freeway, that you find in at 2100-2300RPM, in any gear, and the aforementioned 3500RPM that I recently discovered. If you find an area where you can get in this range and stay there for any length of time, you should find it. It is even more noticeable when there is a slight pull on the transmission, such as a slight grade.

As of now, Toyota is supposedly looking at the differences in the A/T between the O/R and the Sport/Limited. I'm assuming this has something to do with the addition of crawl control, etc on the O/R, as that is the main difference there. They are also looking at the A/T programming, or so I've been informed. Hard to say as Toyota acknowledges the issue; however, refuses to say if it is a design issue. They do acknowledge that it is not acceptable and are seeking a solution.

I, unfortunately, missed a call yesterday afternoon from the Customer Satisfaction supervisor, who said she'd call last Thursday with an update. I presume she has one and will give it to me when we connect, and I will post her comments here.

As to your comment on caring, I certainly understand; however, at least at my dealership, the ONLY person who agrees with me that this issue is unacceptable in a $40k vehicle is my friend, the fleet manager. The service manager, assistant service manager, and the master mechanic, all acknowledge the issue; however, look at me blankly when I ask them if this is acceptable to them in a $40k truck (BTW, I'm not yelling or being an a$$ about it). They are being waaaaaaay tooooooo neutral and it makes me feel like their support is 'lukewarm' at best. I hope you are right and they truly, actually care, as their behavior as of now doesn't give me any confidence that they do. Their hands may be tied; however, admitting to me that I have a right to be displeased and they will work with me to fix this would go a long way in making me feel that they truly care about the situation. As of now, I am suspect and feel it is up to me to deal with this alone and all they are waiting for is to see if Toyota issues a TSB. Otherwise, too bad so sad.....

 

Some dealers are better than others.

I can't imagine there being mechanical differences between the transmissions - I would suspect the trd off road has specific electronic components for handling crawl control, possibly an additional ecu. You said you notice it at a certain rpm; is it in any gear?

 

Rob, there seems to be a very small percentage that are seeing it on the OR 4x4 as well.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/poll-how-many-of-you-are-having-vibration-issues.400856/

Although, I wonder if it is related to some other issue and not the specific one Sports/Limited are seeing. Either way I do hope Toyota finds a fix for it soon.
I'm still waiting on the delivery of my Limited and can honestly say I am on the fence about accepting it if it turns out to also experience this issue.

 

I have a 4X4 limited and I can't say I have had any problems....I believe I feel a very very minor vibration at 2000 RPM as do others, but Its nearly nothing and I would chock it up to normal. I had a 1996 kia sephia that vibrated itself to pieces under normal operation (lasted 12 years before selling it), and I have always found sentras and mazdas to vibrate normally as well....Its just a resonance in the engine.

Another thought is the makeup of roads is different from place to place. A lame example would be when I was 12 and had a scooter, the blacktop here was smooth enough to ride the scooter, but i took it to my aunt's in TX and you couldn't ride it because the blacktop was so rough. For a car, the ride quality wouldn't really matter that much because the wheels are so much bigger than the gaps in the composition of the blacktop....I guess the point is that the road itself could be causing some of the resonnance as well, which is why test driving multiple vehicles on the same road would yield the same results.

note: not saying it isn't the truck just stating possible causes also

 

I have a 2016 Tacoma limited 4X4, with about 500 miles on it, and I can feel a slight/tiny vibration or buzz through the gas pedal but it is just barely noticeable again almost nothing. I will keep it monitored to see if gets worse. If it dose I will let Toyota know about it and see what they have to say.
But so far I have to report that so far so good everything is working fine and I am very happy with my purchase.

 

Sorry to hear the new Gen appears to be off to a bad start. Having owned a 1986 Toyota pickup (the best, drove forever with zero issues), then a 2001 Gen 1 Tacoma quad TRD OR(pictured and 2nd best, drove forever with minimal issues(frame mainly and poor service on other items)), to a 2013 TRD SPORT Quad (worst, tons of issues and worst driving vehicle I ever owned and ZERO help from the regional rep), I came to the conclusion that TOYOTA trucks are NO LONGER what they used to be. Had so many unresolved problems with my 2013 I sold it after 15 months and have never looked back. I am never going to own another TOYOTA product EVER. They are overpriced and over rated. RESALE is for some unknown reason the ONLY reason to even consider buying a new one.

They have become too large and are now no different than Chevrolet. Too many cars, too much money and too many brand loyalists they just keep screwing as people BLINDLY think YOTA's are some awesome brand. They still have solid engines but so do ALL MAKES.

Sorry, to burst the bubbles here but I am going to hold out for the next GEN RIDGELINE. Loved my 2008 RL, it was just ugly as sin. BYE BYE Toyota, lifelong customer had enough. Glad I came back on here to read evaluations on the new GEN. I see nothing has changed.

 

Well, Toyota called and they have sent me a set of legal documents to read and sign. They say the documents are to allow the technical team to pull and download all of the information from the truck's black boxes....


They are also going to send a team to drive and analyze the problem. She said the process will take two months or more. Their concern, she said, was how I described the buzzy vibration as putting my hands and lower arms to sleep after driving any distance. This makes this a safety issue and compels them to find out what is going on.


Needless to say, I am going to be reading those legal documents quite carefully before signing; however, I am pleased that I was able to get their attention on this and truly hope this can be resolved so I can keep the truck.

 

If I switch the trans to 'manual mode' and drive it, it is there in every gear at about 2100 RPM. It gets worse when there is any, even light, load on the engine, like hitting a slight grade. You can feel it through the steering wheel and in the floorboard.

The thing is, driving around town, you usually just drive right through it, so it is only noticeable if you are really looking for it, and then it's gone. It is the long hwy/fwy trips where you drive at a constant speed that it comes up and caused enough trouble that my lower two fingers to my elbows get numb. I'm learning to either stay out of the RPM range or to constantly switch hands on the steering wheel and stretch them out/flex them regularly to prevent the problem. I can adapt for the time being.

 

I can't help but wonder if it's a torque converter issue...

 

Something I have considered, for sure. I've thought it might also be a programming issue as they program these tranny's these days for maximum mileage. Could the programming effect this, or am I stretching?

 

I was back at the dealer recently and went on a lengthy ride with a regional field technician in my '16 4 x 4 Sport AT. He documented the strong resonant vibration around 2,100-2,300 and 3,500 RPMs and took pictures of the tachometer when the vibration was most prominent. The tech drove an Off-Road on the lot and said he felt it on that O/R but nowhere near as prominent as in my Sport.

He had the dealer loosen the engine mounts, leave the engine to settle, then re-torque to spec. He drove it after and believed this improved the issue. But we then went on a second drive together and, to me, it wasn't any better. He had me drive the O/R to compare and I could barely detect anything in the O/R (it's pretty palpable in my Sport).

He documented everything, including both our findings on the different models. They're going to monitor this on all models coming into dealerships. I don't think there's anything more the dealership or techs can do for now, unless Toyota comes out with a fix. They will keep me and the dealer posted.