[SOLVED] Howling noise between 35-45

KUDOs to bob1946 who was instrumental after I brought this issue up and "whined" about it again and again. Bob found he too had this howl and solicited emails from everyone on the forum with this exact issue together offline . I would take online notifications while Bob handled the off line communications as we got closer to a solution, which sort of came from from "unofficial" insiders at Toyota.

We knew the trolls would not let us do or communicate what we had to in the forum. If we said it's the lower control arm we would have been laughed out of the forum....So best solve the issue offline.

That is what we did after Toyota claimed it was a mechanical "normal characteristic of the truck" and closed the service tickets,

We stayed in communication trading "fixes" and driving with various parts removed, taped, and unlatched. Until the Holy Grail was found by someone unknown close to Toyota...the "Ocarina" attached to the wheels.







It was an especially big deal to me and and Bob as we were both ready to dump the truck because of it. I worked with my dealership who let me drive as many new Tacos as I wanted. All exhibiting the same.....

I was trying to find one without the noise and could not. But my dealer hung in there as I passed all information to the Service Manager's boss, After a few hit and misses a foolproof solution was found , my dealer was very happy and passed it off to the region ( who were already aware) for a probable TSB,

FYI This was the exact sound we all had . A howling behind the normal noise.
https://soundcloud.com/user-737046934/tacoma-440hz-noise


There are quite a few forum members that have this issue and have gotten together off the forums so we could mass email anything important and dispense with the "noise" of those who are having different unrelated noise issue and the trolls who have taken a shit in every noise thread.

The fix:

For those who want to solve their issue, get under your truck and look at the lower control arms. The left one seems to be the culprit but I did both sides.

Once Bob sent me the picture of this part without explanation, I thought "damn this RESEMBLES AN OCARINA"




I noticed "There are a few holes there wind is passing over". The holes were causing essentially a "musical instrument" to play under the truck at certain wind speeds measured at around 440HZ (A).

The fix (until Toyota comes out with theirs) is simply to tape the top and front two bottom holes up.......... It is that simple The howling will be gone.

This has been a long journey and effort by a few of us to solve this problem ourselves. Once Toyota said it was "driveline", I went on a tear to solve this or sell the truck. Even looked for Zerk fittings. Then went back to make sure we covered all the wind noise basics.

Instead of Toyota claiming it's " a normal characteristic" as they did to Bob , I,and others. I believe without admission, they are now resolved to issue a TSB after they decide on a final fix.

There are a lot of ways to solve this using foam, RTV etc But I would rather wait to see Toyota's "fix" before getting it all sloppy. Plugs could be the best way,

 

@TacoBella, now that's what I call due diligence and not accepting BS from the trolls, or even Toyota. Nicely done.

 

Everyone thought you were making it up.

 

Sincere gratitude to bob1946 and TacoBella. My noise was severe and I was starting to regret selling my 2004 Tacoma TRD for the 2016. The fix eliminated my noise.

 

When I brought this up initially I was trolled to death. But Bob1946 got involved and stayed in contact with the others he recruited He led me to a possible part as being a possibility, When I saw that part I immediately thought of an Ocarina because that's what it looked like hollow and all.

I knew then we were on the right track as I always heard this as coming from the front with the window down.

Wasn't the mirrors, or doors. When I got under the truck a blast of wind came through and I heard the noise for an instant. The rest was experimenting, with weeks of foam, tape, and lots of 2 mile 40MPH drives,

 

Congrats gentlemen, I bet it feels pretty damn good to get to the bottom of this at last!

 

Good job.

 

Good job. Glad my 4 cylinder didn't have this issue because I would of been beating myself up for trading my new Colorado off.

 

I'm glad to hear that you guys solved it. Congrats and now if my 16 ever gets the noise I have you to thank.

 

I bet the ridgeline wont have noises.

 

Great work guys. I have the noise, but it is pretty quiet for my truck and doesn't bother me much. I'll still take advantage of the final fix when it comes out.

Now can you get started on the 2k RPM vibration I have in my steering / gas pedal?

 

drive above 2k rpm

 

Believe me I was looking at the Ridgeline as a replacement. I would rather eat a few thousand than live with something very annoying.

Still gonna test drive the Honda though......

 

Were people with TRDOR also reporting this issue?

 

Nice work.

 

Yes.
When it stops raining here, I will tape it up and check it out.

 

I noticed this noise today on the way to work. Thanks for the work figuring it out. Any chance you could put a circle on the holes that are to be taped for us simple minded folks? I'm not sure what, "tape the top and front two bottom holes up", means.

 

Look at my pic. Its from the front back. See the red tape? Under that tape are the holes you need to cover. I don't know how to make it any simpler than that,

 

Just to be sure, 1 up top, two on the bottom?

 

YEP..Some are just doing the lower front two. I decided I did not want the blow across a bottle effect on the top hole in case I ever remove the airdam so I taped it up as well.