ruhroh

2007 GX470 - Just noticed a distinct whining/humming sound similar to tire hum you would have with aggressive off-road tread tires. Seems to come alive around 20mph (or at least that's when I can hear it) and gets louder with the increase in speed. As I slow the sound goes away. Only does it while moving and not in neutral with engine rev.

We bought the car at 59k and it just hit 70k . Only oil changes, tire rotation have been done since we bought it. The tires were new when purchased so they have about 10k on them. No noise when we first got the car so I tend to think it's not related to the tread.

I was planning to do the front/read diff and transfer case drain/fill. Wondering if that may be the cause.

Something else - at low speed in tight turn (i.e. backing out of garage, pulling into parking spots) I do feel some roughness - almost like the differential is locked. Not sure if that is an indication. Was thinking it may be a wheel bearing but there is no clunking when turning.

Thanks for any suggestions.

RCsGX

It could be your trans, front / rear diff, bad wheel bearing, bad cv joint, bad tire....it's anyone's guess really. Your best bet is to take it to a shop and have them look at it. Most shops, including Lexus / Toyota dealers will inspect it for free and you'll have an answer within hours.

ruhroh

Thanks RCsGX for the reply. Was thinking about that as well. It would be good to get a list of needed repairs - see if I can tackle some on my own to help keep costs down.

RCsGX

I figured it would be easier for you to get a definite answer from a dealer / shop as opposed to us guessing having you chase down the wrong part time after time and nd like you said, you'll get a print out of everything that's wrong so you can fix it on your own.

When you find out the cause please post back and let us know. Hopefully it's nothing serious.

keemhonk

I had similar issue on my 2003 70k , humming noise specially around 30mph. Went to dealer, got the wheel bearing replaced. Or you can lift the car with all the tires of the ground, put it in gear, and find the humming noise coming from whether left or right wheel

ruhroh

I'm thinking that's what it is based on reading the forum. I'll most likely take it to the dealer to confirm. I like working on the car so may tackle this. The DIY doesn't look too difficult.

Thanks for all your posts. I'll update once I confirm the issue.

vxphan

yes, agreed it's a bearing. I had the same issue, replaced wheel bearing at dealer for $450

ruhroh

Well - lived with the problem for a while now. Took it to two independent shops to diagnose. One was a good shop near my office that does oil changes and specializes in transmissions as well. They didn't know what it was. Took it to another shop - does maintenance and also good for tires. They said front wheel bearings were fine - no play at all. They thought it was the right rear tire with some tread wear issues.

The sound persists so I took it to my nearest Toyota dealer (Lexus is much further away). They diagnosed the problem as a right rear wheel bearing - quoted $850 to replace the one side.

I think it is a wheel bearing and wanted to check into doing the repair myself. Found an OEM set online and now looking a DIY online. Anyone done the rear wheel bearings? Can you point me to a site with information on the work?

Thanks!!

jimutc

I used this guy for my front wheel bearings:
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/sale-t...ml#post1489467

Awesome quality and assembled perfectly. Took me about 30 minutes per side...make sure you have torque specs and a torque wrench. It cut my whining noise down considerably (mine was at 104k when I bought the truck, and it needed some TLC). For your information, most wheel bearings will start to make noise LONG before they fail. The whining/humming is the sign of a failing wheel bearing. If you wait until they fail, you could have more issues! Like insurance claims because you lost control! That's when you can "rock" the wheel up and down.

When you take those old bearings out, you will be able to feel the difference in smoothness between the old and new.


The rear ones are a PITA. You have to remove the axle and press them in and out. If you are somewhat mechanically inclined, you could take it out yourself, buy new bearings from that guy (above), and take the entire thing to a shop for repair. That's what I plan on doing. My rears are now at 105k, and they are making a little noise, but not too much. My new front bearings cut down on noise about 80%.

Additionally, I'd replace these in pairs, unless you are 100% sure which one it is, especially the rears when a lot of the labor comes from removing the axle.

ruhroh

Thanks jimutc - I pulled the toyota manual for the rear bearings and it looks to be more than I want to tackle. I found another independent shop that will do the rears for $350/side. So I'm going to jump on that. The fronts don't look so difficult so I will use the source from your reply above.

Thanks again for the help. I'll let you know how it comes out after its all done.

LexyRus

Our 2011 Rx 350 does the same thing, but even at idle speeds!

ruhroh

I had an independent shop do the work - right rear wheel bearing for $575. They put it on the rack and listened to each hub. Narrowed it down to the right rear. On our GX the whine/hum was at just about all speeds but seemed to really kick in at 20-25mph.

djscott12

l just purchased a beautiful 2007 GX470 last weekend with 101K miles on it, impeccable service history and the timing belt was done at 90K. I did not notice the hum however until the next day after purchase I was thinking it might just be tire road noise from the semi-offroad tires that I wasnt used to. It also make you think the engine might be revving high but the RPM's looked great on the tach. So anyway, thanks to this thread, I became suspicious of the bearings. I went back to the dealer where I bought it. The GM did a quick road test where at about 40MPH he alternated quick left and right cuts and he honed in on the right front bearing...on the left cut the hum went away and the right cut it became more pronounced. In any case, while he did not offer to repair for free, he did give me a great deal at $185 for the whole job.