HVAC vent whistle (2023)

My 2023 Capstone went in the other week for the dash lighting up like the fourth of July (every sensor, every audible alarm, every warning and error.)

During that lengthy stay, the dealer came out the other end saying the part for the interior whistle noise was still "on backorder" (have had it in a few times for this.) Seems/feels like this is all legit, but the length of time this special order on back order has been taking is mind boggling.

Could be inventory problems leftover from the government lockdowns. Could be Toyota legitimately ran out of parts for the new generation truck that costs an arm and a leg. Or could be simply Toyota didn't think of it. Or, could IT be this is not going anywhere?

 

Or contribute a small fee to block same Karen’s from the group.

 

I took mine in yesterday for the 10K service. Recalls and I mentioned the whistle which I'm not that wound up about. Imagine my surprise when I went to pick the truck up and they had disassembled the lower right passenger dash to access the diverter flaps. He refitted the flaps and I don't hear it anymore but they weren't satisfied with the fix. They ordered an HVAC assembly under warranty. 2 days to instal it which concerns me some but what they did next was outstanding. The technician sent a complete video of the service and it showed the flap and where the whistle is with audio. Included with the video was a run through of the checklist inspection. First class stuff. They went beyond the extra mile. I've had many high end cars and never had a full video log of them finding an allusive problem. Rare in current time.

Compare and contrast to the Ford Dealer that would have done the "we can't find the problem" refrain. Those asses were so overwhelmed.

 

my dealer does that too, sends you videos of all the work etc,

pretty cool

 

Very cool. I'd post the disassembled plenum and flaps video if it wasn't for the Gen2 guys. It looks to me like 50% of the time it can be fixed by tweaking the flap.
Porsche, BMW and Benz. No videos although the BMW dealer is stellar.

 

What dealer is this?

 

Asheville Toyota.
I've been using the heat last night and today. Even though the tech isn't satisfied it's 80% quieter than it was.

 

I did a little research on it. It's an app called TruVideo a lot of dealers use focused on check in to log damage and all that. That I've seen. I've also seen it used to do a walk around when looking to buy a car. This guy made a 5 minute video including making sure he got the light right so I could see the airbox.
You could also tell he loved his job. In a time of shrinkflation, entitled lazy people and kooks it was a solid experience.

Also, I like that you can use the two freebie oil changes when you want as opposed to being right on the number like BMW.

 

Brought my truck in for recalls, had two technicians looked at the issue, all Tundras have the same whistling noise so it is normal operation. LMAO

 

Classic lol can confirm I have it. Pretty damn annoying in a 75K truck to have a vent whistle. I drove a new toyota crown loaner that was SILENT. So Toyota knows how to do it. What a bummer.

 

Same here. It does get quieter when I turn on air circulation mode on. But totally sucks for such expensive trucks

 

Unacceptable. I plan to start calling about this weekly and write Toyota Corp on legal letterhead.

 

Let me be more detail on this. Tech took off the vent cover, sent in an endoscopy camera to see if there is any debris causing the sound. Vent was nice and clean. Then they compared with other Tundras which all have the same issue more or less. Had a chat with the service manager, he leased two Tundras, one has noise from rear vents like mine, the other one the noise is from the driver side upper vent. They think it might be the vent duct or the vent fins design flaws. They will pass the issue to Toyota warranty representative. Until Toyota engineers look into this and come up with some redesigned parts, the problem remains no cure.

 

My 2023 Pro has a significantly higher pitched noise when in top vent only mode. When I switch it to floor and top vent it completely goes away. Bothers me a little but I usually don't run it in the offending mode anyway so will live with it now. I don't want the dash torn apart.

 

My “whistle” is 80% better since the tech fiddled with the diverter flap. If someone can send me a screen recorder that works on iOS I’ll post the video of what he did.

 

u guys have awesome dealers and you need to understand how lucky you are….all of the ones in my area are trash. I wish I could have a good dealer that I could trust. I have literally owned 17 Toyotas in my life. I need some good dealer karma

 

ya, I don't take that lightly, to have a really good dealer it so awesome, they take care of everything, no bs.

that was a major consideration when I was shopping and flirting with getting the GMC AT4 6.2 refresh or F-150 Powerboost Platinum.

I also bought a 2023 Sienna 25th Anniversary AWD model from them as well, so easy to deal with

 

For some reason I can't get it to grab the TruVideo.

 

I have this sound also. My dealer "confirmed noise while driving with heater blower motor on. Recommended to replace heater core box assembly and will need a picture of the date code on heater box."

Watching to see if Toyota comes out with anything with a common fix.

 

I have same issue on my 2023 SR.

 

I have said before and I will say it again; I had the whistle, after about 10k it disappeared. A few others have said the same thing.

 

I wish mine went away!!! Painful....she's still whistling strong.

 

I'm at 16,500 miles. Still there

 

300 miles on my 2024. I’ll be following this closely so I can give my dealer the vest info about it at my 1st service visit.

keep it up guys! You’re hard work and efforts payoff by helping others than need to address the same things.

 

I'm 3 weeks after the Toyota tech adjusted the diverter flap. The whistle is 80% gone. Even though they have a new airbag on order it's not worth screwing around with. I'll leave it as is.

 

At least my dealer was not lying. Even the 24’s has the same issue. LOL… Toyota really needs to come up with a replacement parts.

 

May not be everyone else's issue but I had that on my 09. I can't remember any details about how I got at it as the truck moved on from me a couple years ago and I looked into this a few years before that. But I think there's a fan in there when you get the filter out and it had leaves that made it past the filter trapped in it. The fan hitting leaves and debris fast enough created a frequency that sounded like a whistle and when I cleaned that area out most or maybe all of the sound went away.

 

600 miles on mine and the 2 times I noticed the whistling is in AUTO, and Top vent only. Seems to be coming from front passenger side. If I put the fan speed over 50% definitely gets worse. Headed to dealer end of week.

 

Where is this unicorn dealer located?

 

Fwiw, I have a 2024 Tacoma and I have this whistle. Top vents only fan 1/2-3/4 on. Sounds like a tea kettle getting up to temp. If anyone has had this resolved I could use any info available. I suspect the Tundra and Tacoma hvac systems are similar or exactly the same parts. I may have to call that Asheville dealer someone posted a few replies back.