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Whining noise at 40-50 mph solved? (updated on 8/26/10: TSB is out)

608K views 1K replies 189 participants last post by  Kremitch 
#1 ·
Went to Dealer for oil change and mentioned the whining noise again. The guy told me they need to change the ECM to solve this problem but they need to order the parts. Sounds like he knows what he is doing (They stated the noise was normal one year ago).
Brought my RAV4 in today and had the ECM changed. The noise is much faint now though it is not completely gone. Is there a TSB for this issue came out yet?


Updated on 8/26/2010: :p

The TSB is out. The number is T-SB-0192-10 (cerdit to hsvcara), and the link is:

http://www.mediafire.com/?11dr5qdpxgq0y74 (cerdit to ghen)

the canadian version:
http://www.mediafire.com/?fcd8p419qnuoga6 (cerdit to hans_gregor )

Hope Kelly will put it in the "TSBs" soon.
 
#3 ·
Re: Whining noise at 40-50 mph solved?

xurav4 said:
Went to Dealer for oil change and mentioned the whining noise again. The guy told me they need to change the ECM to solve this problem but they need to order the parts. Sounds like he knows what he is doing (They stated the noise was normal one year ago).
Brought my RAV4 in today and had the ECM changed. The noise is much faint now though it is not completely gone. Is there a TSB for this issue came out yet?
First time I've heard that. What was the part #?
Are you sure the noise went down? Try again on a hot day with well warmed up engine/tranny. The noise sounds like mechanical/lubrication issue rather than electronics.
 
#7 ·
mpeg said:
had the same problemon v6 2008 limited. the change of 4x4 ecu did not solve the problem. The dealr changed the drive shaft. (alignment problem of the drive shaft. Now it's perfect.

Good luck
Please expound on this. Was the old one faulty? Is this the right front half shaft or were both replaced?. We could really use some more information please.
 
#10 ·
i think i have the same problem with the v6sport. I have 21k miles. Around 30-40mph around 1500rpm it makes this whinning noise. If i let go the gas, it fine. If i go greater speeds its fine. Sometimes its very little and sometimes you can clearly hear it. I brought this to the toyota dealer. They told me they called toyota techical board or something and they said its normal. My fear is that i drive alot and i'll hit 36k in no time and this wont be covered in warrenty. Plan to bring it again and have something changed out.
 
#12 ·
Drive-train / Transmission whine?

My car has been making this whine for about the past 9-months. It is now getting more noticeable. It just randomly comes & goes; however, once I take my foot off of the accelerator it goes away. I have concluded that it’s not the fuel pump because that was an issue with the 2006’s I believe, and if it was the F-pump it would be happening a lot more frequently. The sound is a combination of a whine & a vibration – it is definitely beyond the normal squeaks & rattles that are associated with this car. I am bringing it to the dealer this coming Friday to have it checked-out. I just know that it’s not going to make the noise when the technician is in the car. I am really concerned about the warranty issue since I’m around 32K. I know that the drive-train is up to 5years/60K; however, with my luck it will turn out to be a part not covered under warranty. I’ll post an update once I get back from the dealership.
 
#13 ·
Re: Drive-train / Transmission whine?

RCB1701 said:
My car has been making this whine for about the past 9-months. It is now getting more noticeable. It just randomly comes & goes; however, once I take my foot off of the accelerator it goes away. I have concluded that it’s not the fuel pump because that was an issue with the 2006’s I believe, and if it was the F-pump it would be happening a lot more frequently. The sound is a combination of a whine & a vibration – it is definitely beyond the normal squeaks & rattles that are associated with this car. I am bringing it to the dealer this coming Friday to have it checked-out. I just know that it’s not going to make the noise when the technician is in the car. I am really concerned about the warranty issue since I’m around 32K. I know that the drive-train is up to 5years/60K; however, with my luck it will turn out to be a part not covered under warranty. I’ll post an update once I get back from the dealership.
This whining noise at 40-50mph is quite repeatable. It faints in cold and loud in hot weather. If your noise just show up once in a while, it is a different noise.
 
#15 ·
Re: Drive-train / Transmission whine?

RCB1701 said:
My car has been making this whine for about the past 9-months. It is now getting more noticeable. It just randomly comes & goes; however, once I take my foot off of the accelerator it goes away. I have concluded that it’s not the fuel pump because that was an issue with the 2006’s I believe, and if it was the F-pump it would be happening a lot more frequently. The sound is a combination of a whine & a vibration – it is definitely beyond the normal squeaks & rattles that are associated with this car. I am bringing it to the dealer this coming Friday to have it checked-out. I just know that it’s not going to make the noise when the technician is in the car. I am really concerned about the warranty issue since I’m around 32K. I know that the drive-train is up to 5years/60K; however, with my luck it will turn out to be a part not covered under warranty. I’ll post an update once I get back from the dealership.
I went for a 20 minute test drive with a Toyota technician today. I could only get it to make the whine once for about 5-6 seconds. I think the cooler weather today had a lot to do with it. If it was hotter it would have made the whine more frequently. The tech is going to call Toyota in CA to see if they are aware of anything. In the meantime, I am to start documenting the variables when the whines occurs (i.e. speed, temp. etc.). Hopefully on a warmer day I can take the tech out on another test drive.
 
#16 ·
mpeg said:
had the same problemon v6 2008 limited. the change of 4x4 ecu did not solve the problem. The dealr changed the drive shaft. (alignment problem of the drive shaft. Now it's perfect.

Good luck
Interesting, you said the same thing on the rotational noise, drone and vibration threads:
http://rav4world.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=21123&start=18
http://rav4world.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=193916&highlight=#193916
http://rav4world.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=214826&highlight=#214826

So, which noise DID you have: whining or rotational or drone?

I love disinformation on internet forums, don't you?
:wink:
 
#17 ·
Re: Drive-train / Transmission whine?

RCB1701 said:
I went for a 20 minute test drive with a Toyota technician today. I could only get it to make the whine once for about 5-6 seconds. I think the cooler weather today had a lot to do with it. If it was hotter it would have made the whine more frequently. The tech is going to call Toyota in CA to see if they are aware of anything. In the meantime, I am to start documenting the variables when the whines occurs (i.e. speed, temp. etc.). Hopefully on a warmer day I can take the tech out on another test drive.
Not only go in on a hot day at noon, but have the diff prewarmed by driving at least several miles at high speed on hwy with AC on.
To demonstrate the noise, choose a route that allows you to drive at 40-50mph (with AC on).
I have no problem hearing mine in the 100F weather now. It was very faint last winter.
I will be doing ATF drain and fill with Redline D6 in the next 2000 miles and will report back.
 
#18 ·
Re: Drive-train / Transmission whine?

RCB1701 said:
RCB1701 said:
My car has been making this whine for about the past 9-months. It is now getting more noticeable. It just randomly comes & goes; however, once I take my foot off of the accelerator it goes away. I have concluded that it’s not the fuel pump because that was an issue with the 2006’s I believe, and if it was the F-pump it would be happening a lot more frequently. The sound is a combination of a whine & a vibration – it is definitely beyond the normal squeaks & rattles that are associated with this car. I am bringing it to the dealer this coming Friday to have it checked-out. I just know that it’s not going to make the noise when the technician is in the car. I am really concerned about the warranty issue since I’m around 32K. I know that the drive-train is up to 5years/60K; however, with my luck it will turn out to be a part not covered under warranty. I’ll post an update once I get back from the dealership.
I went for a 20 minute test drive with a Toyota technician today. I could only get it to make the whine once for about 5-6 seconds. I think the cooler weather today had a lot to do with it. If it was hotter it would have made the whine more frequently. The tech is going to call Toyota in CA to see if they are aware of anything. In the meantime, I am to start documenting the variables when the whines occurs (i.e. speed, temp. etc.). Hopefully on a warmer day I can take the tech out on another test drive.
Now that it's warmer the whine is getting louder and more persistent. - more so @ 65MPH. I have another test drive scheduled with a technician in a few days. I hope the whine will last longer than my first test drive with the tech. I will update later on.
 
#19 ·
Re: Drive-train / Transmission whine?

RCB1701 said:
RCB1701 said:
RCB1701 said:
My car has been making this whine for about the past 9-months. It is now getting more noticeable. It just randomly comes & goes; however, once I take my foot off of the accelerator it goes away. I have concluded that it’s not the fuel pump because that was an issue with the 2006’s I believe, and if it was the F-pump it would be happening a lot more frequently. The sound is a combination of a whine & a vibration – it is definitely beyond the normal squeaks & rattles that are associated with this car. I am bringing it to the dealer this coming Friday to have it checked-out. I just know that it’s not going to make the noise when the technician is in the car. I am really concerned about the warranty issue since I’m around 32K. I know that the drive-train is up to 5years/60K; however, with my luck it will turn out to be a part not covered under warranty. I’ll post an update once I get back from the dealership.
I went for a 20 minute test drive with a Toyota technician today. I could only get it to make the whine once for about 5-6 seconds. I think the cooler weather today had a lot to do with it. If it was hotter it would have made the whine more frequently. The tech is going to call Toyota in CA to see if they are aware of anything. In the meantime, I am to start documenting the variables when the whines occurs (i.e. speed, temp. etc.). Hopefully on a warmer day I can take the tech out on another test drive.
Now that it's warmer the whine is getting louder and more persistent. - more so @ 65MPH. I have another test drive scheduled with a technician in a few days. I hope the whine will last longer than my first test drive with the tech. I will update later on.
Today I went on another test drive with a technician. We went on the highway for 10 minutes an could not once get the whine to trigger. I believe that it was because the outside temp was only 62 degrees – of course it did trigger on my way to the dealership @ 65 MPH when the tech was not in the car. The tech mentioned that he called Toyota after my original road test and stated that Toyota has received a few complaints about this issue on the 2006 – 2008 V6 RAV4’s; however, there is no know fix at this time, or even the cause of the whine. At this point in time Toyota seems to be declaring this issue as just an annoyance. I should be clear to say that Toyota is calling this sound a drone – not a whine. I will sit back and wait till we hit mid-summer to see if the whine/drone gets worse with the hotter temperatures.
 
#23 ·
Same problem...

I've been noticing my "drone/whine" for about a month now.

It starts making noise at about 35mph and doesn't stop no matter how fast I go. When I let off the accelerator, it quits.

Toyota technician took a ride with me and immediately said "differential."
They replaced the transmission, but it didn't fix the problem.
They reprogrammed the ECM, but again, didn't fix the problem.
They put my old transmission back in, sent me home and said, "we'll let you know if we hear anything from Toyota."

4 Days later, today, I called for an update. They said, "it's just the gears making noise" and, "part of it is the new tires I just got; they are bigger than the old ones" (that's a load of bull), and I should come back if the noise gets "really bad."

I think "really bad" is a matter of perspective - it's not really bad to them because they're not dealing with it every single day.

This is really irritating!

But ya'll may be onto something about the heat - I live in Alabama and it's definitely been hot the past month, but I still dont' think that should be an excuse for Toyota.
 
G
#24 ·
My 2007 V6 started whining in Mar/April of this year. The whining starts at 38-40 mph & can be heard every time I accelerate at or above those speeds. I put new tires on in May - but that hasn't made any difference in the noise. I live in SC so its warm most of the year, April is when the temps were in the 80's. I took it to the dealership today (47,129 miles on it) within an hour they called and said they had to replace the transmission. They had no problem hearing it! I asked about Recalls & she said there haven't been any.
I am so bummed :cry:
Please let me know if you have any suggestions. I don't want them tearing out the transmission just to put back in and tell me something different.
Tks!
 
#25 ·
glitch said:
My 2007 V6 started whining in Mar/April of this year. The whining starts at 38-40 mph & can be heard every time I accelerate at or above those speeds. I put new tires on in May - but that hasn't made any difference in the noise. I live in SC so its warm most of the year, April is when the temps were in the 80's. I took it to the dealership today (47,129 miles on it) within an hour they called and said they had to replace the transmission. They had no problem hearing it! I asked about Recalls & she said there haven't been any.
I am so bummed :cry:
Please let me know if you have any suggestions. I don't want them tearing out the transmission just to put back in and tell me something different.
Tks!
I dropped my RAV off at the dealership at 7:30am and they had replaced the tranny, tested it, and put the old one back in by 4:00....

Toyota doesn't want to pay for a $4,000 transmission if its not going make any difference. I understand that, but if the differential has been off and the gears have been shifting hard for the past month, that can't be good for the transmission.

So if they won't do anything about it now, and all of this continues, I'm afraid the transmission is going to blow and I'm sure it will be "conveniently" after 60,000 miles.

FUN!
 
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