Metallic Rattle

https://youtube.com/shorts/8F1C4F7Jpcc?si=vLJSE6je0SM0Lipw

My truck has been rattling like this for about a year. It only happens while decelerating I believe. I’ve checked all of my heat shields and none are loose. I’ve removed various skid plates and it hasn’t fixed it. My exhaust rattles a tiny bit when I tap it, but I’m not sure that’s the issue.

Any ideas?

 

loose or broken engine mount?

 

NONE! No idea! And I've got that EXACT same rattle. Typically only happens when decelerating and turning to the right at slower speeds. But that is it exactly.

https://i.imgur.com/kqCXsp2.mp4

I've spent hours under that truck looking at every heat shield, skid plate, front rotor shields, mounting brackets for everything, feeling places I couldn't see, etc. I've tethered the exhaust and other potential loose items and driven it, and the noise remains. Removed the spare and zip tied all loose components with the carrier. Noise remains. I CANNOT find it!

Sounds like it is coming from possibly the right rear area, correct?

I'm doing brakes this weekend, so will pull the rear drum and see if something is loose in there? Last thing I can think of to check.

It is almost non-existent with smooth running tires, but when I'm overdue for a rotation on the ST Maxx's and they're running rough (or I'm off roading over washboard type roads) I get it quite a bit.

If you locate the source, please come back and post or PM, and I will do the same. In the almost 6 years I've been living with this, your post is the first time I've seen another on Tacomaworld with the same issue. Thought it was just a glitch in my truck and a one off kind of thing. But your rattle and my rattle are unmistakably one and the same.

 

Sounds like the front body mounts. Look that up. Seems to be common. Had mine replaced at around 7000 miles

 

I had a rattle that drove me nuts and checked the heat shields and went on to thinking I had a loose torque converter because of the location of the rattle and how it seemed to be worse during shifts. I am also hearing impaired, so I am never entirely sure of what I am hearing. I took my Tacoma over to my nephews and he put it up on his lift. First thing he did was grab my exhaust and shook it hard and there was the rattle. It was a bolt in the heatshield beside the transmission rusting apart. It was still intact but coming loose. He had a stainless clamp and put that on and no more rattle. That was 2 years ago on my 2017. Toyota CSRs told me this is a pretty common problem and easy to fix at home in most cases.

 

Sounds like a brake drum issue…..broken shoe retainer pin or spring

 

I replaced mine with the energy universal bushings when the truck was still almost new when I installed the C4 bumper and Kings because I was aware of the issue with the body mounts. So I replaced them before it became an issue. I still only have 45k miles on the truck, and this rattle started almost from the start once I installed the Cooper ST Maxx's and got some miles on them. Rare at first, but increasing with tire wear and rougher running tires. New tires, or properly rotated and smooth running tires on the truck, and the issue disappears except in some off roading situations.

OP, what is your suspension set up? I'm on Kings with 650lb coils up front, and am I'm still on stock springs in rear, with a 1" block, with King shocks with compression adjusters. Just want to rule out the possibility of that being a common issue between our trucks.

Also OP, what are your tires like? Rough running AT's or MT's, or smooth running tires?

It is a very distinctive two-part rattle, and is very consistent in the noise it makes. OP is the only other person I've seen post about it in the many years I've been following the forum. I always open up the "rattles" posts here to see if someone else had the same problem. This is the first time that search came back with a positive match.

If you listen closely to both our videos, it is the same distinctive, "two part" (for lack of a better description) rattle.

At one point I thought rear leafs. But I had oiled mine, and also stuffed rags between the leafs and pads at the end of the leafs trying to see if that was the issue, with no let up.

Only thing I can think of as I have checked everything else I could possibly of or see. I'll pull the rear drums this weekend when I'm in there doing the front breaks and see what I can see. I've still got quite low miles on mine, so I've never had the drums off. They may have been pulled off at some point by the dealer during a service inspection (always serviced at dealer by the time the rattle appeared as it was still under warranty), but not sure.

 

You say "My exhaust rattles a tiny bit when I tap it, but I’m not sure that’s the issue.". Why not secure it and see if that fixes it? I had a new car one time and it rattled from new. Dealer couldn't fix/stop it. I crawled underneath and part of exhaust was loose. I secured with metal clamps and zip ties and it never happened again. Can't hurt to try.

 

I'd personally (on mine) suspected something inside the muffler. But I tethered it tight for a drive, and no change. I've otherwise beat on it with my hand, and zero noise. Hopefully when I pull the rear drums this weekend we'll have an anser.

 

I'm on full stock suspension with stock tire sizes. Tires are goodyear ultraterrains. I'll be doing front brakes next month so let me know if it really is the rear drums! I swear the sound is coming from the front, but my wife who rides on the side of the rattle swears it is coming from behind her. I am more inclined to believe her rather than myself.

Also, I replaced the front body mounts myself quite sometime ago and it is a completely different sound than the squeak that was from those so I am almost positive it is not those.

 

Well, no luck. Pulled the rear drums when I was doing the front breaks today, and everything inside the drum seems tight and secure.

I'm going to do an oil change probably tomorrow and spend some time under the truck, but I can't imagine there is anything under there I haven't tried before. My last best guess is something inside the muffler or some obscure loose mounting bracket for something I just can't find.

Short of that for now, I don't have the issue (except certain situations off road) since I'm running smooth and balanced tires, so it is really tough for me to troubleshoot much further until it happens again. When it does I'll pick up a go pro and place it under various areas of the truck to see if I can better localize where the noise is coming from.

If I ever do find anything, I'll post back on this thread.

 

Hey man, figured I would update you as I finally got rid of this damn noise. The noise progressively got worse and I could not find it anywhere. I finally caved and took it to a shop (I wanted to get diff fluids flushed and tranny fluid flushed anyways). They found the problem for my truck in the driver's side brake drum. They said there was a spring in there that was totally jacked up. I ended up having them replace the rear brakes and front brake pads and the noise is gone. The mechanic said he thinks someone maybe drove it with the parking brake on. I know for a fact that truck has not been driven with the parking brake on, but I went to pull on my parking brake when I parked like usual and it is way tighter and moves about 50% as far as it used to move. I am sure that is due to the new brake hardware, but my only guess is I have been yanking on that parking brake way too hard every time I parked and I must have broken the spring. Not sure if it is the same issue for your truck, but from the videos it sounds identical.

The funny part is I removed the drum from the passenger's side because I was so convinced it was coming from that side, but never thought to remove the driver's side drum to take a look. When the mechanic told me it was the driver's side I actually did not believe him and completely expected the noise to be there when I drove it home from the shop.

 

Okay, mystery solved, great info, thanks! I was sure it might of been the drums because I checked every other damn thing under the truck. Mine looked okay when I pulled them off, but clearly I missed something.

Next time I do the brakes, I will pull everything out and replace it.

 

Loose hardware, ac line, engine mount maybe?