Am I losing it or is my blower motor far too loud?

Hi, I've seen Tacoma World quite a bit in the past when I've had questions about my 99' Tacoma and I've finally made an account because of course I have a question about my new truck that's a bit more specific.

I recently bought a 2023 Tacoma and driving it home I heard a strange "whining" noise coming from under the glove box, a noise that cuts through the actual air noise coming from the vents. I'm aware that's where the blower fan motor is and the closer I get my head to it the louder it gets. I really only notice it when I'm sitting idle with no music going, and turning the fan to different levels just makes the whine change pitch. So my question, is this normal? I might be a bit ignorant with new vehicles since I bought my 99' SR5 back in 99' and have had it all these years. I know that truck never had the issue. I'm leaning towards this is an issue, but the reason for making this post is to avoid a trip back to the dealership if it's supposed to be normal. This can't be normal though, at least I hope not. It almost sounds like a faint cricket recorded chirping on a skipping CD. Thank you in advance for any info, greatly appreciated.

 

2021 - does same thing, since day 1.

 

No unusual noises from the blower fan on my 2020 sr5. You can barely hear it run on the lowest speed.

 

Outside of the noise of the air blowing through the vents, I can not hear my fan on any speed level. This does not sound normal.

 

check to make sure the cover for the cabin filter is snapped in tight

 

Remove the filter and check for leaf debris or signs of mice in there.

 

Some describe a faint “shuffling the deck” sound, definitely shouldn’t be whining

 

I'm leaning towards the AC whistle.

Edit: Realizing I missed the cricket part. Likely not whistle after all.

 

Thanks for the replies everyone. I did take the filter out and inspect it and the enclosure, latched it tight and it all looks ok. I'm just going to take it in. The noise is coming from directly under the glove box where the fan motor is. I'm not great mechanically with vehicles so I tend to hesitate on what something could be when something goes wrong. The warranty should take care of it. Just a pain in the butt. Thanks again for taking the time to reply.

 

mine makes intermittent noises as well. seems like the filter vibrates sometimes.

 

Did you ever get this sorted? I’m currently struggling with a dealership trying to get the same issue resolved.

 

mine makes noise. took it to dealer to get it replaced under warranty. they went with the all-too-common "i can't hear anything". so i guess I have to live with it. assholes.

 

They tried the same shit.

I made the foreman of the shop get in with me and he said he heard it. They put a new blower in (supposedly. My truck was only there for an hour.) and it still makes the sound. Going in again tomorrow morning to get to the bottom of it. Feel like a huge jackass but I need to have this working.

 

that's their specialty. they always try to make you feel either insane or an asshole. at least at the dealership here in Wilmington. so much worse than the dealerships in Virginia.

 

Unbolt the blower motor and make sure there aren't any debris. I had the same issue a few weeks ago after replacing the cabin air filter. Leaves had fallen into the blower motor that I couldn't clear from above.

 

Even though you have a 2023, there was a blower motor recall on earlier years. Here is the info.

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2018/MC-10149993-9999.pdf

 

Can these so called noises be related to the trucks trim? I've only owned sr5s toyota's and they all sound the same....they're very quiet till you up the fan speeds.

 

I tried to take mine apart to lubricate/grease it but there's no good way to do so. Tried a couple drops of tri-flow which helped for a week or two but then the faint clicking noise returned. there was zero debris in mine.

 

They swapped it, so I assume they checked that. But maybe not? I’ll drop it out

 

That would have been my guess. Does Toyota clip on little weights to balance the squirrel cage?