Why does my Taco sound like a diesel?

Hi All-

New to the forum but after looking around I am pretty excited that I found such a cool site to help me with my headache..... I mean Tacoma. Actually it has been the typical Toyota - very reliable, and great value for the $. However recently I have noticed that it sounds like a diesel about 98% of the time. (I think the other 2% of the time I am just not paying attention and have other things on my mind) I have an 07 Taco 4 cylinder (of course) and automatic.

My husband uses the truck everyday as his work truck for our pool service company to drive the daily route and other repair jobs that we have to get done. So mainly in town driving, a lot of stop and go, turning the truck on and off and sometimes just leaving it running with the AC on if I happen to ride along with him that day and decide I do not want to get out and help clean pools in 1000 degree heat - or actually doing some legit work on my laptop.

Anyhow- back on point - we bought the truck a few years back at 72,000 miles it now has right around 106,000 miles (still new by my standards for a Toyota) We have done the preventive maintenance and oil changes as needed along the way. ( a few times the oil change ran way past due just to being so busy)

The ONLY thing that we have done differently is that recently we switched over to using synthetic oil. This diesel like noise is also very loud... and irritating as hell. I have searched everywhere and have found no answers to this. I have found some complaints of the 5 speed V6 Tacoma having this issue but no solid reason.

I have read that according to Toyota this is normal... not an acceptable answer. When I bought it this noise was not there...otherwise I would have not purchased it. We drove it for 35,000ish miles and then it starts... there has to be a reasonable explanation for this... as well as a solution to fix it. Can anyone here be my hero of the month and help me out here before I pull out all my hair? Thank you for reading and hoping someone can restore my sanity and help me out.

 

Before buying my V6 2011, I heard the same thing and asked the dealer what was up with it. He said (of course) it was normal.
And upon researching it here, it seems like everyone has it.
It is called the "Toyota Tick" to some.
I just turn the music up a little more to take care of the problem.
Best of luck.

 

My tacoma does something similar and stops when I turn my ac off. I got used to it and turn the radio up lol

 

I thought the idle diesel sound was more of a V6 thing. Mine doesn't sound quite like that but it ain't no Honda engine either. Just a whirring purr and a little injector tick in the background. The rattling of the manual transmission when the AC is on at idle is way louder than the engine.

The on-the-gas sound that's reminiscent of an old Jeep has something to do with the design of the resonator behind the cat, or so I've read. That sound seems to come from that area under the passenger side floorboard.

Is the AC compressor making a bunch of noise that sounds like diesel rattle?

 

I have the "diesel" sound and was told that it was timing chain slap. Knowing the 2 PO's it's been doing it for a 100k or so with no issues. Timing chain on the 2.7 was supposed to last the life of the engine and is a PITA to replace. Cheap conventional oil changes or lack of regular changes are usually to blame on worn out chain guides and a failure in the tensioner.

 

I had a 2.7 and now I have a 4.0 and they both have the Taco Tick.

 

I would look into the rear balance shaft bearing.

 

Mine makes the same noise thinking about removing it and adding the LCE delete kit. Has anyone tried this?

 

Checked your oil lately?

 

Based on your description, the only thing that has changed is you are now running synthetic oil. It's very likely that the synthetic oil has less of a cushion than the conventional you were using previously, so the normal engine noises have become louder. Most likely, this is not hurting anything but your ears (and nerves). There are many, many reports of engines getting louder after switching to a synthetic oil, and not just Tacomas. But otherwise they run just fine.
In 2007, the recommended oil grade for the Tacoma 2.7 was changed to 5w20/0w20, which is thinner than the 5w30 recommended for my 2006 2.7. So you might try running 5w30 and see if it helps, it won't hurt anything since you don't live in sub-arctic temperatures. In fact, 5w30 might be a better choice for your 1000-degree summers.
Also, It's possible that the "way past due" oil changes caused some excessive wear leading to excessive noise. I doubt it, but it is possible.
If there are no dash lights and everything still works as designed, well... I wish I had a suggestion for you. Looks like other people are just living with the ticking noise.

 

OP had 1 post almost 4 years ago. She ain’t coming back. Let this thread die