"New" Tundra owner in Montana

Hello!

My name is J.D. I am a Realtor in the Flathead Valley area of Montana, and a 6 year US Navy veteran. I recently purchased a 2012 Tundra 5.7 with 205k miles on it. I have owned a couple Tacomas before, but this is my first Tundra! Really looking forward to making it my own and getting it out into the great wilderness and mountains that we have in this state.

Any advice or recommendations are welcome! I am currently dealing with a chirp/squeal that seems to be somewhere in the serpentine train, and recently it has started knocking/rattling when running. I'm thinking it might be the water pump?

Looking forward to learning as much as I can about these rigs and how to maintain/repair as much as I can myself.



Thanks!
J.D.

 

Thanks for the advice! I was going to start with new belt, tensioner and pulley and see where that got me. I'm hoping it's something that simple!

 

Welcome. I would get a mechanics stethoscope and try to pinpoint the noise. Could be many things. I had an alternator that made strange banging sounds-it was the bearings.

 

Thank you! I might give that a try, I'm somewhat mechanically inclined but not great at some of the finer workings.

 

I got mine at Harbor Freight but any auto store has them for $10 or less. I thought my pulleys were bad and once I listened to them with the scope, and then put it on the body of the alternator it was very apparent that was the source. Replaced it and all is well. Really a key tool many don't talk about.

There are better ones but this has served me well for tracking down noises.

 

That's good to know! I'll give that a shot before I start throwing parts at it.

 

Welcome from LA (Lower Alabama)!

 

Welcome from NY.

 

Welcome from NC

 

Welcome… From MT!
Mine squeals really bad when’s it below zero, but only for about 10-20 seconds. And has since I bought it 7 years ago.

 

Welcome from Nevada

 

Welcome and greetings from Minnesota. Nice looking truck. Congrats.

 

Welcome

 

Heeeyyyyy! What part of MT?
I didn't notice it when I test drove it (of course), but now it is constant.

 

Welcome from So Cal

 

Welcome!

 

North Central..
Lots of good advice here. Like others said It’s probably the idler/tensioner pulley? Probably due for a belt change so do both? Once you get the belt off you’ll be able to spin the culprit by hand and figure out which one is the problem for sure?

 

That was my plan. I'm going to swing by the local parts store and get a belt, tensioner and pulley. See how it goes from there!

 

Go Dayco tensioner and Goodyear belt.

 

Welcome