Squeak in Front "Suspension" finally fixed by dealer

My 2018 TRD Sport is still new to me with 8k miles, and has had a squeak that I diagnosed as from somewhere in the front suspension. I could only hear it on slow speed rolling bumps, and I actually only heard it on the driver side (but of course I was always the driver). I found I could replicate it just by bouncing on the step bars. I reported it almost immediately, but lived with it till my first oil change. And, of course, the dealer declared it not replicatable. I took it back a couple days later and spoke to the service advisor, and he told me I should bring it in when the tech who couldn't reproduce the sound was in so I could demonstrate. I did, so on third visit, he walked to my truck in parking lot for a ride along to listen. As we approached, I said, I can create the sound by bouncing the truck, and demonstrated. He said "oh, that sound". So, I took him a quick spin around the lot and demonstrated the crap out of the sound. Set an appointment for yesterday, dropped it off, got a call late yesterday. Found the problem, it is the driver side body mount, and they do not stock. Could I leave it over night. I did, and went back today and am happy to report it is indeed fixed.

This is not a complaint, I am happy the dealer staff, both advisor and tech were persistent and found and replaced the source of the squeak.



This is a stock picture of the parts:

Not sure how such a thing would "wear out" in 8k miles? Actually had been squeaking for at least 5000 of those 8k. I suspect it was scored, split, or otherwise broken on assembly.

Happy with the sounds of silence at low speed again.

 

Thanks for sharing what the fix was. Glad the dealer found the issue. I saw some other threads that mentioned Toyota may have updated the body mounts with a new redesigned part. Some people also swapped for polyurethane mounts instead of rubber to get rid of the squeak .

 

I did have to take my materials science engineering course twice (and it was over 10 years ago now...) so take this with a grain of salt, but I'm pretty sure these are going to fail all day every day based on the tolerances when your truck was assembled. Many of the 16/17 Tacos that I've sat in/driven all make the noise (though not from the factory), it's just whether or not the owner cares. Essentially there's more shear stress on the mount than what it was designed for (examples of folks here doing the fix themselves and not being able to realign the mount for install). The sleeve/mount itself wears through the bushing and before you know it you've got metal on metal creaking. Those with poly bushing replacements (not factory) will see a longer shelf life on their bushings, but may be moving stresses elsewhere in the body.

OA

 

Thanks, I guess. I'll search for other threads on the topic out of curiosity, and to see how others diagnosed and fixed it. Not that this is a clear indication of anything, but the service advisor at the dealer said he has never seen a failure of this part before.

 

I have a 2018 Tacoma with 12K miles. Making noise from the front for about 5K. They just found out after two trips that the Body Mount was causing the noise. On order, I told them to keep the truck until it was fixed. The noise made the truck sound like it was 20 yrs. old with the creaking. Was driving me nuts.

 

Appreciative for this post, everyone. Same situation on my end. Started at 5k, three appointments with Toyota. Same “can’t reproduce the sound bs.” To their credit, it can be hard to reproduce at times, and frankly, sometimes I can’t figure out what exactly causes it most.

Tried to move on with my life and live with it but lately, with the cold, it’s a total nuisance 5k miles later.

Taking my truck AND THIS THREAD to Toyota!

 

Same issue on my 2020 at 30,000 miles. Thankfully I found this posting and told the dealer about it and they fixed the issue. My only complaint is I was hoping for it to be fixed under warranty but they said there was most likely some type of front end damage and the front fender was replaced and cause the undue stress on the mount. So I had to pay 420$ for them to have it fixed. Happy the squeak is gone but not happy it cost so much. Also the car fax did not say anything about it having any damage. So I don’t know if I believe the story about the front end damage. I feel like they just told me that so they didn’t have to fix it under the warranty.

 

Mine failed on my 2021 with 8000 miles

 

Im going to jump on my side steps to see if I can replicate my odd suspension squeak that way. 21 with 6k miles.

 

I hear a creak in my front end when going over a bump.
Could this be it I wonder?

 

Could be. I could hear mine more going under 5 mph over a speed bump or turning into a drive way. It had a squeaky metal grind sound

 

Interesting. I hear a squeak when I get in and out of the driver side (my big body moving in and out haha). Could this potentially be the same issue you had? I have a 2021 TRD-OR. It just had its 10k mile service.

 

Good info here. My 1000 mile 2022 pro squeaks off road. Now I have something to check.

 

After switching to the polyurethane bushings I got 1.5 years of quiet, when the squeak returned it ended out being something much more expensive to fix than a $50 rubber bushing. Yes there are other factors at play here but I'm positive the stiffer body mount wasn't helping.

 

Had the same issue at 10k miles or less. Was the body mount bushings. Dealer replaced all four corners - apparently it is a common problem if they aren't properly aligned or are overtightened on assembly. At 22k miles now and no issues since - hoping it won't return.

 

@YodaTacoTime How were you able to get the dealer to replace them under warranty? I have my truck currently at the dealer for this same noise. But they won’t want to cover it thru warranty and I have 22k miles on my 2020 TRD sport.

 

@2020Tacoman I went in and showed them the noise. I had to go back twice, but once it got to the point I could easily recreate it, they knew what it was. Point them to TSB T-TT-0490-18.

https://www.tsbsearch.com/Toyota/T-TT-0490-18

 

@YodaTacoTime Does the year matter though because I have a 2020 and on the TSB it says 2016-2018. But it’s worth a shot

 

@2020Tacoman Sorry, I just tried to quickly google for it. Try looking around a little, there should be a TSB related to it. I have a 2021 and they took care of me without any issues.

 

Has anyone tried replacing the body mounts themselves? Mine is squeaking too and might replace them myself instead of having to fight my dealer.