Engine Chatter

[Bigfoot]

My truck has a noise I can best describe as a quiet "chattering" sound that comes from the engine bay only when accelerating when the engine is between 1400 and 1600 RPM. At higher RPMs the sound may persist, but if it does it's covered by the regular engine noise. The sound is repeatable, but only when the truck is in gear, not in N or in park.
A search turned up dozens up noise threads, and I believe I've read most of them. I consider myself mechanically inclined, but my engine knowledge is lacking, so I'm having a hard time diagnosing this. The dealership offered to take the truck off my hands for a day and hunt for the noise, but the prospect of their mechs taking my truck apart hunting for a noise is not appealing.

Proposed sources seem to be:
Valve noise
Timing chain
Wheel bearing
Engine knock/detonation
Loose exhaust

Any help in differentiating between these noise sources would be greatly appreciated. This may be a normal noise, but I was unable to duplicate when I test drove another T4R at the dealership.

Thanks and sorry for the long post!

 

[philsey]

So, how would you describe your engine's sound at idle vs this "problematic" sound?

This is not a quiet motor. Many have described it as diesel-like at idle. Mine is - kind of a quiet tickety-tick - which is totally masked by normal road noise. The techys here can tell you exactly why, roller-rockers, FI, etc.

If yours is repeatable, obvious, and unlike another new one, I'd have the SM go for a drive with you, and see what he says and go from there. I'd want it documented. Be prepared for the SM's "hearing" difficulties.

ps: This could be something as simple as a vibration. You sure it's coming from the engine?

 

[Bigfoot]

Thanks!
Not at all sure it's the engine. I probably should have been clearer in the thread title. It's happening at particular RPMs, so it could some sort of vibration caused by resonance. It's definitely outside, not inside, and it happening only in gear probably points to the driveline more than the engine.

I came from an 09 Tacoma, so I've spent some time behind this engine/tranny combo. This noise is new to me, but I also know that the Taco is still using the old 1GR. Not sure how dual VVTI would play into this.

At idle, the "chatter" isn't present at all. It's just the normal 1GR sound I've been hearing for years. While accelerating at about 1400 RPM, the chatter/clicking starts. It immediately goes away if I release the accelerator or if I push past roughly 1600 RPM.

I was able to get the dealership to acknowledge the noise, however their only solution was to rip the truck apart to find it. Instead I had them note in the service record and decided to do some more research on my own. I can live with the noise (it's not loud), I'm just concerned by a new vehicle making abnormal sounds.

 

[JayceeP]

I find I can hear a noise I can only describe as chatter... except at idle. It's not irregular and seems to be what the 4Runner sounds like. Just not what I am used to I guess.

 

[Auntie Soshul]

I find I can hear a noise I can only describe as chatter... except at idle. It's not irregular and seems to be what the 4Runner sounds like. Just not what I am used to I guess.

Same with me. It concerned me for a short while until I got used to it.

 

[Bigfoot]

Yeah that's kinda what I'm leaning toward. What's still throwing me off is that I drove another 4Runner and couldn't duplicate the noise. At any rate, I still have 57,000 miles to figure it out under warranty.

Thanks!

 

[ATL4R]

I'm just throwing this out there, but it could be the torque converter. Put your truck in 4L and see if it makes the same sound around 1500rpms. I believe in 4L the torque converter remains locked. Could possibly help narrow down the problem.

Gentlemen,
I've been a lurker for a while trying to soak up all the great info on the forum. I'm the lucky owner of a 13 TE, and this site was great for research before buying and now that I have my truck.

On to business- My truck has a noise I can best describe as a quiet "chattering" sound that comes from the engine bay only when accelerating when the engine is between 1400 and 1600 RPM. At higher RPMs the sound may persist, but if it does it's covered by the regular engine noise. The sound is repeatable, but only when the truck is in gear, not in N or in park.
A search turned up dozens up noise threads, and I believe I've read most of them. I consider myself mechanically inclined, but my engine knowledge is lacking, so I'm having a hard time diagnosing this. The dealership offered to take the truck off my hands for a day and hunt for the noise, but the prospect of their mechs taking my truck apart hunting for a noise is not appealing.

Proposed sources seem to be:
Valve noise
Timing chain
Wheel bearing
Engine knock/detonation
Loose exhaust

Any help in differentiating between these noise sources would be greatly appreciated. This may be a normal noise, but I was unable to duplicate when I test drove another T4R at the dealership.

Thanks and sorry for the long post!

 

[harper7]

There was a heatshield on the drivers side of the engine ,right down below the exhaust manifold in the back of the engine compt.that used to vibrate and make weird vibrating noises at certain lower rpms on mine when it was new.

It was loose and I tried to tighten it up but the bolts were too long( badly designed) and ended up taking it off when I put my headers on years ago.It is silver with like dimples in it, about 3" by 8" long. Not sure if they fixed that as it was on a 2010.

 

[INDYMAC]

Can you correlate the noise to your "ECO" green light going on and off? I've heard that the VVTi cam phasers can cause a rachting noise. The RPM's that you mention would seem to be in the ECO mode range. Maybe a 30 grade engine oil would take care of the noise.

 

[Bigfoot]

I tried in 4LO and wasn't able to duplicate the sound yesterday. Unfortunately I didn't have a very long dirt road to do this on, so it was hard to get up the RPMs and keep them up for more than a second or two. I need to go back and try again somewhere I have more room.

I haven't had a chance to take a look at that heat shield. Thanks for the heads up, I'll try to check it today.

As for the ECO mode light, I'll have to check that too. I turned it off right after I bought my truck. I was under the impression that all it did was track the position of the throttle sensor in accelerator pedal assembly rather than actual fuel consumption, which seemed kinda useless to me.

My knowledge of engine mechanics is limited to some basic theory, so I'm a little out of my league on this. After spending some more time under my hood, I think I may be hearing the same noise at idle, albeit much quieter. It does seen to be coming from the top half of the engine. I was leaning toward some sort of valve/cam noise being the culprit, but I suppose it could be injector tick as well. I don't really know how to differentiate b/w the two. I'm gonna check the vacuum sensor valve that's been the source of some other noise complaints as well.

If this is valve or injector noise, it should vary with engine speed right? The noise I'm hear doesn't vary and is only in a limited RPM range. That would seem to point to a some piece rattling, but this sound is vary mechanical and unlike anything I heard from my Tacoma.

 

[99 Problems]

I have a similar issue with my 99'.

When shifting into a higher gear and accelerating I get a chatter noise under 1500 rpm's. I'm worried I have an engine bearing that's starting to fail. I'm going to get it checked out by a mechanic and see what they say...