HELP! excessive front end noise and vibrations

simpleman4life · #1 (**permalink**) 12-14-2006, 05:26 PM

I have a 2002 tacoma 4Dr pre-runner TRD V6 3.4 w/ 91,000 miles that I have not had any problems with until now. A loud humming noise has appeared from nowwhere. It seems to be coming from the front of the vehicle (more to the right side if you ask me). It is mainly noticeable at lower speeds and gets louder during deceleration; it can hardly be heard at 70mph+ with the cruise set. The truck drives straight as a nail with no vibrations when you let go of the wheel. I had the lower ball joints replaced thanks to a factory recall that I had been holding onto for sometime, but that didn't help. New tires didn't help. Shaking the tires with the truck lifted shows no slack in the wheel bearings (No grease spatters in the fender well either). Am I missing something or is this noise coming from somewhere else? Help Please! I really do love my truck...

viet2100 · #2 (**permalink**) 12-14-2006, 06:15 PM

Have you tried having techinicians diagnose it?

Headhunter308 · #3 (**permalink**) 12-14-2006, 08:13 PM

it could be ur u joint going but im not sure.if you have someone check it out have them check out the tranny.but your tranny shouldnt be going already

simpleman4life · #4 (**permalink**) 12-19-2006, 01:12 PM

I brought it to the local dealership and they found the problem. $360.00 later and now I have new wheel bearings and seal in the left front hub. OUCH! I wonder if they charged me for new grease as well. Now it is quiet like the day I bought it. Is it common for these things to go out after 90K miles and just on one side? I could have sworn the vibration/humming noise was coming from the right side. Guess they proved me wrong. I love my truck again...

john01374 · #5 (**permalink**) 12-18-2007, 11:48 AM

i have the same kind of noise coming from the left front. it's real loud the first mile or so at slow speed then seems to go away. I thought it was a flat spot on the tire but it's getting worse and I recently rotated so... BTW I only have 45K on my 2003.

hondapreludeg · #6 (**permalink**) 12-18-2007, 07:59 PM

My left went bad at 95k and it sounded like the right. The first dealer replace the right and said it was good. They must have never test drove it after that. But wheel bearings must be kind of common for these trucks becuase i have heard alot about them going.

partyman66 · #7 (**permalink**) 12-19-2007, 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by john01374

i have the same kind of noise coming from the left front. it's real loud the first mile or so at slow speed then seems to go away. I thought it was a flat spot on the tire but it's getting worse and I recently rotated so... BTW I only have 45K on my 2003.

Does your truck do it worse in the cold? Mine makes a noise that seems to get much worse the lower the temperature is(starting at like 40 or so degrees and getting progressively worse as it gets closer to like 10 degrees out)... but it goes away after the truck has been driven like 5 or 6 miles. My noise is speed sensitive, and does it in all gears while coasting or accelerating and also in neutral. It's most noticeable at speeds above 30 MPH and gets more noticeable the faster I go. As far as I can tell it sounds like it's coming from the front of the truck.. perhaps a little towards the front-right.

It did it last winter too, stopped completely in summer, and now it's back and seems louder.... It's driving me nuts!

arkansastravler · #8 (**permalink**) 12-21-2007, 08:23 AM

I would try rotating my tires and see if that helps or changes anything.

ray_gallup · #9 (**permalink**) 12-21-2007, 03:22 PM

ever drive off road or deep water?wheel bearings need to be greased more often and do wear faster in these conditions.

partyman66 · #10 (**permalink**) 12-21-2007, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ray_gallup

ever drive off road or deep water?wheel bearings need to be greased more often and do wear faster in these conditions.

Are you sure you can lube the wheel bearings? I thought our wheel bearings were sealed and couldn't be lubed.

ddnail · #11 (**permalink**) 12-21-2007, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by partyman66

Are you sure you can lube the wheel bearings? I thought our wheel bearings were sealed and couldn't be lubed.

That's what I was thinking

john01374 · #12 (**permalink**) 01-15-2008, 10:29 AM

As stated above I have the same problem. The noise is much worse when cold and sounds like it's coming from the drivers front. Starting at about 40F I start hearing it and the colder it gets the louder it is and the longer it lasts. It does go away after about 10 mins and i don't notice it over about 35mph. It was really cold last night so I had a chance to try different things to get it to go away. I brought the truck in the garage a rotated the tires again, still there, swapped the fronts left to right, still there. while driving i put it in 4WD and the sound went away instantly. Took it out of 4WD and the sound was back instantly. Does this still sound like bearings? I'm stumped and i don't really wanna throw several hundred dollars at this truck trying to find the problem. BTW I first reported this problem to the dealer around 15K miles and they couldn't find a problem.

hondapreludeg · #13 (**permalink**) 01-16-2008, 12:44 PM

I had both front wheel bearings replaced and when i was trying to figure out the problem I engaged 4 wheel drive and disengaged and the noise was the same. If it changes when you engage 4 wheel drive it seems like something is wrong with that system. Its kind of wierd that the noise goes away when in 4 wheel drive. Good luck!

partyman66 · #14 (**permalink**) 02-12-2008, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by john01374

As stated above I have the same problem. The noise is much worse when cold and sounds like it's coming from the drivers front. Starting at about 40F I start hearing it and the colder it gets the louder it is and the longer it lasts. It does go away after about 10 mins and i don't notice it over about 35mph. It was really cold last night so I had a chance to try different things to get it to go away. I brought the truck in the garage a rotated the tires again, still there, swapped the fronts left to right, still there. while driving i put it in 4WD and the sound went away instantly. Took it out of 4WD and the sound was back instantly. Does this still sound like bearings? I'm stumped and i don't really wanna throw several hundred dollars at this truck trying to find the problem. BTW I first reported this problem to the dealer around 15K miles and they couldn't find a problem.

Did you have any luck with finding your noise? Mine seems to be getting worse, and I fear that my truck is going to break catastrophically in the next few weeks as a result... but don't know what to do about it. The noise is pretty damn noticeable now when it's cold out. I'm going to try again tonight to see if it definitely only does it in 2WD, but I thought I was fairly conclusive before in my testing that it only did do it in 2WD and not 4WD... we shall see I guess. It sounds like a bad bearing noise, and it is directly related to the vehicles speed, regardless of what gear i'm in.. or if I'm in neutral.. clutch in or clutch out, and even with the engine on and off as I'm coasting from about 45/50 MPH.

ray_gallup · #15 (**permalink**) 02-16-2008, 08:54 AM

i have not had the front end of my truck apart yet did not know if the bearings were sealed or could be greased but this does sound like wheel bearings wifes rav4 did same thing sounded like the cv joints going out until the bearing came apart and destroyed the hub rotor caliper pads and seals then it was easy to figure out what parts were bad dont let it go that far gets fairly expensive [wife never told me noise was getting worse until this happened]