30-40 cyclical, surge like but not sound.

I bought my first 4WD TRD Sport 4 Runner a couple weeks back. From the first day I bought it and in 2wd and while cruising at light throttle at 30-40 mph I hear a cyclical surge like noise maybe feel it a bit. The RPMs don’t seem to be changing at all when it’s happening. If I hit gas or brake it seems to go away instantly. What I mean by “surge like” is it seem to wha….wha…wha…wha.. like every second until I hit gas. Its faint but there for sure. Anyone else have this problem? Is it the nature of the 4 runner? I haven’t switched it to 4 hi yet so not sure if it does it in 4wd.

Sorry. It’s such a strange noise that it’s hard to explain.

 

If it goes away in 4WD, it's most likely the needle bearing. I just bought a '22 and 170 miles in, it was returned to have the front diff replaced, known issue with some of the 4rs'. My dealer sucked and it took 11 days to get it back, after several calls to Toyota to put the pressure on them.

 

Seems to indeed go away in 4wd. Noticed sound actually is most pronounced coasting from 40 to 0.

 

This is unfortunate. I mean I noticed this driving it home from the dealer with 5 miles on it.

 

Same here, I picked mine up the day before Thanksgiving and noticed it the next day but had to wait until Friday to bring it back. Good luck, I hope you have better luck with your dealer than I had with mine. Do a search for "needle bearing" on this forum and you will find lots of stuff on it. That's how I became aware of it. There is a wealth of knowledge on this forum and is much appreciated.

 

Is this an issue with newer units or across the board? I have a 19 but have not noticed it.... yet

 

It can be, I've seen several threads on it in the forums. It does not affect the Limited because of a solid bushing they put in for the AWD, so I haven't had to deal with it on either of mine.

East Coast Gear Supply actually came up with a fix for the Tacoma crowd and then it carried over to the 4runners as it's essentially the same diff. A lot of the Taco owners opt to fix it themselves if out of warranty, and the 4Runner crowd is a mix of DIY or take it to the dealer. I'm not sure if there is a TSB enacted so that it can be fixed regardless of the mileage on the vehicle.

Several Videos on YT about it. ECGS actually put out their own video for the install. 10th video down on the page.

 

Any tips on dealing with the service department to get this addressed? It appears that I might have the same issue with my 22 SR5 Premium I just got a couple months ago. Noise goes away as soon as I put it into 4wd. I am an hour away from my dealer so I am hoping to avoid any nonsense where they tell me they can't hear it or some TSB doesn't apply, etc.

 

Tip one:

take them for a ride to hear it. They won’t if you just drop it off.

Tip two:

Make sure to show them the sound goes away when you flip it into 4WD.

Tip 3:

Make sure to make a point to ask them not to mess up your steering knuckles and grease boots with a big hammer taking your tie rod ends loose. (I’m dealing with this one now)

tip 4:

give the front end a quick look for quality work before you leave the dealer.


When I put it in 4wd with the tech in the runner and the sound disappeared I could see the light switch flip on the techs face. It’s the gold standard.

 

Thanks for the tips. Kind of sad that we have to deal with these issues on brand new vehicles. I am starting to wonder if I was too quick to cancel the extended VSA warranty now ...

 

No, I still think you did good. I don’t see anybody having any better luck getting it resolved under the VSA.

Now, a third-party extended warranty that would let you take it anywhere, and possibly cover the cost of the ECGS bushing solution, is an interesting situation I haven’t seen anyone in yet…

 

NOPE! You got warranty.