Chirping noise from engine

Yesterday, I started up my truck as I was loading the bed with my work tools. A few minutes later, I heard a slight "chirping" noise. First thought was it was a bunch of birds in the background as I was at a barn doing some work, then realized it was the truck. Opened the hood but could not exactly tell where the sound was coming from. Drove home about 20 miles away and it was still making the sound.
Started off this morning and didn't hear the noise until I arrived at my destination and could hear it slightly again. This evening, again I was packing up my tools and allowing the engine to warm up and within about 5 minutes, it appeared again. By the time I arrived home, it was fairly steady, only not in gear while at a stoplight. As soon as I gently accelerated, it became steady again, loud enough to be heard with the window open at low to moderate speeds.
Wondering it there may be a belt or pulley bearing making the noise or something else I should be concerned about. About to call the dealer to have them look at it, but hate doing so because of the hassle of dropping it off so they can have it all day and tell me "unable to duplicate owner's concern".
Any ideas or suggestions?

 

Can't tell for sure without hearing the noise but I'd guess belt or pulleys (or both). If you don't hear it until the engine warms up, you could try running the truck until it gets warm, shut it off, quickly pully off the serpentine belt, and then check again. If the noise goes away that probably kinda sorta maybe tells you it's something belt/pulley related. Diagnosis this way is free if you know how to pull the belt and do your own wrenching.

 

Thank you for the suggestion - worth a shot.

 

@ARNIE R. Grab a spray bottle with a little soap in it (windex will do in a pinch) and spray the belts to see if it goes away, even temporary. If it does then you need to change the belts. If not you are probably looking at the pully and of course the belts while you're at it.

 

I believe the high pressure fuel pump could be the culprit, Start here....
https://www.google.com/search?q=fue...ndroid-att-us&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

 

Yes, I recall many, many years ago, we used to take an old bar of soap and hold it against the edge of a squeaking belt to make it stop. Might try that today.

 

Hmmm. That doesn’t sound good. I had the TSB fuel pump recall down months ago. Is this high pressure one a separate unit?

 

If you took it in for the recall I doubt you'd need to go that far right now. Start with the basics, sometimes the pully itself needs adjusting with no replacement.

 

I noticed that the chirping seemed to increase slightly as the RPM’s increased so it appeared to be speed reflated.

 

Yes. The high pressure fuel pump is in the engine bay, separate from the fuel pump in the gas tank.

 

I dunno, still think you should look into the pully as a start. They can 'chirp' with RPM increase since it's wobbling a little: high pitch in high RMP, drops when RPM's drop.
If you had the recall it might be worth checking to see if both fuel pumps were checked (assuming you took it in?).

 

I would honestly just let the dealer deal with it. It's safe to assume it's drivetrain related so it'll be covered under 5 year/60k mile warranty.

 

Are your tools heavy? Im thinking carrier bearing is going out. The additional weight putting the driveline at an odd angle may stress out a worn part even further

 

Lol, pretty big leap bud. Also the carrier bearing does not move unless the truck is moving. Probably the HP pump but could be the belt or idler. Sure it’s something simple.

 

Only 150-200 lbs max. Did some more testing today. At fully warmed up idle, it is mostly quiet. As soon as I push the revs up past 1K, it starts getting louder. When driving, you can hear it change pitch as it shifts thru the gears.
Made an appointment with the dealer for Monday morning. I’ll let them deal with it since it is still under warranty……I’m getting too old for dealing with this kinda thing myself.

 

Yeah it is lol I've had a similar chirping due to cb but can't really guess too accurately without hearing it

Gotcha hopefully it's resolved soon!

 

You paid for the warranty, good time to use it. Will be interesting to see what they say, hope you give an update when that happens.

 

It is called angry sparrows if when moving and in that case would be failing universal joints

 

As I suspected, the dealership stated that they did not hear anything so they could not confirm my issue.

Being only in the mid 30’s today, I figured that would be their response.

I specifically advised them that the chirping starts after the engine is totally warmed up and the ambient temperature at which it starts is about 45-50 degrees plus, so they would have to make sure the truck was inside their nice warm work bay to be tested. Plus, the RPMs had to be about 1100 and above.

Claimed they did so and still nothing.

Told me to “bring it in to any Toyota dealership” as soon as it starts up again so someone can come out at that moment to hear it. Ha-ha - good luck on that happening at a convenient time and place.

So, I have to wait til the next warm days……..ain’t life fun.

 

I had the same issue, it was the high pressure fuel pump... and like you just mentioned the engine needs to be good and warm for it to happen. I had to go to the dealer for a separate issue and mentioned the chirping, the guy knew right away what it was. It was replaced under warranty.

I noticed ambient temp didn't matter as much, it was definitely noisier in the hot summer but an hour drive from my house in the mountains in CO to the dealer in Denver at the end of December (below freezing for sure) was enough to get it going. Mine was noisy at idle inside the service bay so it wasn't RPM dependent for me. Just go on a nice long drive until you hear it before you try to go in if you can