Rear Diff Whistle 55-65mph

Uh oh it's @bradwhitenikki's alter-ego

 

This is partially true, but I've been doing a lot of searching on the Tacoma and the GM twins, and there is a notable difference. Granted, more Tacomas have been sold, but there many more complaints about the Tacoma and most note that Toyota is doing nothing. There have been some differential issues and even a bent axle on the GMs, but they almost always report that GM replaces the diff and the problem goes away. I love my 2nd gen and hope to get a new one some day, but Toyota has some issues with this truck.

 

• I posted this in the other diff thread a while back..

 

Did Toyota pay you to say all that? I agree with what you're saying but my point is until the cause is identified nobody knows for sure if the howl will or will not result in a catastrophic failure. It has always been my opinion that it will probably not cause an early failure of the diff. When I first had my diff looked at (with about 1500 miles on it) by the "special corporate engineers" flown in by Toyota, what do you think they told me? They said," Don't worry about it because if it fails it will be covered under warranty." My reply was, "Gee thanks but most likely this thing will continue to howl well past my drivetrain warranty and I'm not here because of possible future failure, I'm here because my brand new truck is making an extremely annoying noise that it wasn't making a couple months ago when I drove it off the lot and I want it fixed." Their answer; "well right now we're considering it a normal characteristic of the truck but we'll keep an eye on it." So here I am, almost 30,000 miles later and my truck still howls like Tijuana whore. Find one person with a howling diff who claims that they would have purchased their truck even if they had heard the howl on the test drive and you've either got a complete liar or a complete idiot. That's my gripe, it's almost like Toyota knows whats causing the howl (I can't imagine they don't by now) and has determined that it will not cause failure, so without worry of "catastrophic failure lawsuits", are just ignoring it to avoid the cost of fixing it.

 

You could also flip your point the other way and ask, how do you know the Whoo Noise wont lead to a catastrophic failure?

 

Because it occurs on decel, that's an unloaded state. If it was under moderate to heavy acelleration, then I would be concerned.

 

Well mine did it on Deceleration from the beginning now it wines on both Deceleration, and Accel, and a constant steady whine at 55 and 60 now at 15,000 miles so it's Just a matter of time now for mine to go next...

 

If I try hard enough I can get it to do it too by feathering the pedal ( slight accel) but again that's feathering. I'd still consider that a light loading condition.

If I was that concerned, i'd just trade it in and move on. It's only money and there is more important things to be doing than worrying so much.

 

Wow thanks for you're profecional Advise.. Evidently you did not read my post fully, Thanks Mr Drivetrain Engineer!! Not just on Feathering, If it has a constant steady whine all the time that's Diff Wear in my book!!

 

I have a howl at about 55 mph on light accel and light decel.

 

I just drove mine again today and my howl is getting louder. I'm at 2200 miles and it's now officially irritating. I'm not sure I'll make it to the 5K service without taking it in beforehand. This is literally the only issue I have with my truck. My tranny seems to be adjusted well now (finally) so maybe there will be a fix that won't involve a long tedious process with Toyota like the vibration fix for my second gen. That was a nightmare.

 

FWIW my 08 tundra with 170,000 miles has had this "howling diff" since day one.

Honestly, most vehicles I've driven will have a whine while decelerating. From an ATVs all the way up to 80hp tractors.

 

I am on my 31st new vehicle and this is my first howling differential but that is good to hear. Maybe mine will hold up too but if it keeps this up it may or may not be around long. Mine is getting really loud - over the radio loud.