Engine noise (not crickets) and almost dies out when stopping
 

Hey guys,

So a few weeks back my car was making a weird noise in the engine bay. Didn’t think anything of it at first because I remember reading about the “cricket noise” issue with the fuel pumps, so I went on continuing to drive my car. I started to get concerned when I could hear the “cricket noise” and also hear the other noise. The noise sounded like a clicking sound coming from the motor. It started to get worse and my car almost idled out and dies when I come to a stop. I took it to Tracy, CA Toyota and had the service dept. take a look at it. Of course it would not perform the issues while at the dealership and they claimed that what I was describing was normal and blamed the cause on the fuel pump. Because I own a 2015 with the latest and greatest, the service tech stated that there was no need to do anything. I left the dealership and it still continued to perform what I described above.

I was convinced that there was more to this so I took it back to the dealer. I opened my hood and started to explain the issue again. Right in the middle of my explanation, the car performed the noise and almost died out. It was late in the day so the service dept. asked that I bring it back so they could spend a day on it. I took it in last Tuesday. The issue happened on Tuesday they stated and wanted to run further tests. Tuesday became Wednesday, Wednesday to Thursday and Thursday to Friday. The service rep calls me stating that they noticed I had an aftermarket HID kit on the car and blamed the issue on that. I flipped!!! She was stating that if they prove that the vehicles behavior was due to the HID kit that I would be charged for EVERYTHING. Keep in mind that I purchased the car in Nov. and it only has 3000 miles. I don’t want to get into the details of all the crap she was feeding me, but they disconnected the HID and the car was still performing the issues. Now they believe it has something to do with the vacuum system and I still don’t have my car. :cry:

Any ideas on what this could be??? :iono:

wow.... seriously?

fuck that dealership

Yea, tell me about it. I about had a heart attack at work. That's the second dealer I've had issues with. After this, I'm also going to cancel my extended warranty that I purchased.

Keep in mind some cheap HID kits can cause serious issues, so I could agree with them there. Now the smart thing would have been to disconnect and confirm that before saying anything...

What can cheap kits damage? JW

^Second? From my understanding, HID kits use only marginally the power necessary to charge compared to OEM and than use about half of what the OEM bulbs use to stay ignited. So if anything, they are better for the car. Correct me if I’m wrong.

http://www.caradvice.com.au/278125/h...v-led-v-laser/

typical...there have been several post of Toyota/Subaru dealers finding any reason they can not to do warrantee work. Ridiculous! Keep us updated on what they find! Good luck!

I'll answer you both at the same time. Because of the way the ballast works, it can create a lot of EMF interference that can mess with all kinds of things. It can also cause feedback though the electrical system.


This is why it's important to use a reputable vendor and not Ebay or DDM (the masters of cheap HID crap)

Ok so I just picked up my car. The issue was a vacuum line that was not on all the way. I got home and was hearing the "crickets" pretty bad, but I guess as long as my car is better.

Also, does anyone else experience thier idle dropping slightly when turning your headlights off manually at night? With or without HID.

The problem is back so what they did is not correct. It was not a vacuum line so I have to take the vehicle back to the dealership once again. Anyone else have any ideas?

Turning off shouldn't drop the idle. Turning it on might as it puts more load on the car but it's not a significant load.

During the day when they are off, I'm experiencing the car almost dying out.

What RPM do you currently idle at?

Around 700

700 is in the normal range for idle, could you describe how it dies? Does the RPM's fluctuate at all? Or do they just decrease and die abruptly?

Edit: Is it similar to the video here? http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47600

Could be the same issue.

Thank you for that. Yes, my car is performing the same behavior.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/tracy-toyota-tracy

They don't have too good a review and they seem to be baiting there google reviews too. I wish service advisors were all actual car people and not total jerks looking to skimp on warranty services

Update -

Well guys, after a long process of taking my vehicle to the Tracy dealership on several different accounts, I have contacted Toyota to replace my vehicle. They have tried everything that they know of and I was finally advised to contact Toyota and open a case for replacing the vehicle. They have checked several times on the engine, disconnected/connected items, replaced parts and nothing seem to solve the problem of the idle issue. I’m hoping to get a call on Monday to start the process to lemon the car :(

I wanted to ask, would you guys get a replacement vehicle or go with something different? The wife wants me to look at a Lexus, but IDK. I have tons of parts that ordered that I haven’t even put on the car yet so if I like the car stock, I’m sure i’ll love it tuned. What do you guys think?

Every mass produced car is going to have some lemons. It sucks you got one, but personally I'd try again.

move on..too many posts about issues...come back in a few years when the bugs are worked out.

If you like the car, I would go with the same thing again. For every complaint you see here about problems with the car, what you don't see are posts from the tens of thousands of owners who have had no trouble from the car at all, because we have nothing to complain about. I'm 34K miles in with no issues. Someone posted a couple of days ago with more than 60K miles and no issues.

It's a complex machine with thousands of parts. Those parts are built in factories by machines with millions of parts, operated by people who are human. The parts (and the parts making up the machines that make them) are made from materials mined and refined or manufactured using machinery with yet more millions of parts. After making it through all this manufacturing process to a finished product, the cars are loaded onto other machines and moved through a fairly complex shipping process of loading and unloading and loading again and unloading again, being handled by humans and machines along the way. Then they finally get to your dealer, where they are prepped by humans, some of whom might not have even finished high school.

I find it astounding that any of these machines work at all, considering the multitude of opportunities for failure. A lemon here or there is not really a big deal. Return it. Get another one. Enjoy.

Query:
Did you try taking it to a different shop? I didn't see anyplace where you aid that.
More than once I have had an issue one place could not figure out too save their life but another guy fixed in 5 minutes.

Great point! I have not at this point. The dealership has summoned a "field tech" to assist with the investigation. Not sure if that is a positive or negative, but when I was on the phone with Toyota they inquired about that.

Can you get a full refund? Just curious. :offtopic:

I get a slight dip in the throttle for a BRIEF second when turning them on. When turning them off, RPMs normally go up then settle back down at 650/700.

Not a full refund, but I can cancel at anytime than it is prorated.

That is normal in every vehicle as the AC unit needs a lot of juice to turn on. The experience I'm having is all the time running just at idle. I'm not turning anything on or off and the idle changes very dramatically to the point that it has shut off the vehicle.

Finally got a call from Toyota and after everything they put me through, parts, rental, several people stating they couldn't figure it out, they deemed the vehicle issue to be normal!?!

Ask if you can trade with one of the other "normal" cars on the lot. They're all the same after all.

As of right now, No. Toyota has deemed the issue to be normal and will NOT do ANYTHING to attempt to solve the issue. I had the dealer advise me that it was NOT normal, the dealer had a field tech advise them that it was NOT normal, but Toyota will not listen. As of right now, I'm just dealing with the motor idle issue. I plan to flash my ECU when I mod my vehicle more to see if that resolves the issue. I too have an automatic and am not sure if anyone with a manual is experiencing this issue?

That's why I don't even mess with hid aftermarket lights etc etc of any kind

Toyota had my vehicle for a week and removed the HID system ruling out that the issue is being caused by something different. The HID system is not the issue.