Buzzing noise center dash area

Just wanted to confirm before taking my truck to another dealer. I have this weird, sort of faint buzzing noise coming from the top part of the dash up near the center speaker. I suppose it could also be coming from the engine but it doesn’t seem like it. It’s almost like an electrical buzz. It comes on as soon as you start the truck and doesn’t increase in volume at all.

I had the dealer listen to it and they said it was normal. It def doesn’t sound normal, so it looks like I’ll have to drive to another dealer soon for a second opinion. My thought is that it’s perhaps a speaker cable, or bad speaker. Anyway, just curious if anyone else was having this issue.

 

Let me ask you - are your tires getting worn out?
My Coopers now have 55K miles on them and are getting towards the end of their life.
I get a "buzz" as well, and I think it's coming through the steering wheel column, from the front tires.
Slight rhythmical buzzing, in tune with the tire hum, between 45 and 52MPH...

My current solution is simple - speeding!
(till I get new tires)

 

No, it’s not the tires. It starts buzzing as soon as I turn the truck on and doesn’t increase in volume as you drive. Again it’s more so like some type of electrical buzz. I’ll try and get a video of it, but not sure how to upload it here (I’m sort of new to this forum).

 

Upload the video to YouTube then post a link here.

 

Sounds like it is most likely the whine from a speaker cable….don’t have aftermarket speakers or amp running?

 

Well, here it is. Not sure if y'all will be able to hear it. I can hear it because I sort of know what to listen for. Kind of like a faint cicada. Also, my apologies for sniffing during the video lol. The pollen here is AWFUL right now.

 

That's what I'm thinking. I just posted a (not so great) video of it above. As far as I know it's not after market, but I suppose it could be. I just bought this truck about a month ago.

 

I know it's a pain, but can you take another video but this time start the recording before you turn the truck on? Does it do it if you don't start the engine? If so, just turn on the truck without starting the engine (two pushes of the start button without foot on the brake).

Hopefully the giant cicada hatch they're expecting this year isn't starting in your truck.....

 

Easy way to check might be to pop off that speaker cover and disconnect the speaker. See if the sounds remains

 

I just checked, and no need to take another video. The sound doesn’t come on without the engine started. I wonder if that rules out something electrical? I couldn’t hear anything with the hood up and the engine running, up near the center portion of the firewall. It def seems to be coming from that center speaker area.

 

Is it possible you're hearing the piped in engine sounds? If you don't have the premium JBL system then it can't be that but thought I'd check. I turned mine off right after getting the truck so I don't remember what it sounded like.

 

Welp, I found the issue. You were right - most def the speaker. In the video below you can hear it as I plug in, then disconnect the speaker a couple of times. So back to the dealer to inform them now that this is in fact NOT a normal sound. Ugh...

 

Glad you found the problem.

 

Update: Well, the sound has been identified but the techs said it was consistent with another model on the lot. Apparently they compared the sound to another Tundra of the same year and said that one was also buzzing.

So now I’m kind of second guessing myself. On one hand, it seems pretty crazy this would be a normal noise for a speaker to make. On the other, I’m wondering if maybe I have super human ears or something lol. The service advisor did say they would order a new speaker and we could go from there. Getting a feeling this particular dealer doesn’t exactly have the best service department.

 

Do you have the JBL system?

 

Yes

 

Tell the dealer to turn off the ESE feature. That buzzing probably has something to do with the piped in engine sound

 

Interesting. I’ll ask them about that

 

Definitely not normal and I had the same problem. The cicada sound is exactly the description I used as well. Told the dealership on first attempt to fix and they said they could hear it too, but that it was normal. On second attempt, had the dealership turn off the pumped in engine sound and the active noise cancellation in hopes the sound was related. Neither worked. After leaving the service department frustrated, I did the same thing you did and disconnected the speaker and the sound went away. Swapped the speaker from the driver's side with the center dash speaker and the buzz remained in the center dash despite the swap. Ended up driving around for a while with the center speaker removed to get relief from the buzzing sound, but lost much of the vocals on many songs, so that wasn't a long term fix.

Here was my fix - It turns out that my wife's Lexus GX uses the same size speaker with same connector in the center dash. Swapped the center speaker from the Lexus (non Mark Levinson) and the buzz went away. Once installed in the GX, the JBL speaker pulled from the Tundra did not buzz anymore. Not an acoustic engineer, but it is my impression that the JBL speaker is sensitive enough to pick up on some sort of interference coming from the electrical system near the center dash. The less sensitive speaker from the Lexus does not seem to pick up on whatever is causing the ruckus. My ears cannot pick up on any difference in sound quality with what may be considered the inferior speaker from the Lexus, but the relief of not having a cicada stuck in my dash is marvelous.

Hope this helps!

 

Thanks for the info. I don't imagine you have a link to that speaker in the GX? I had actually tried to search for a replacement speaker but wasn't sure what to look for, seeing how it's connected to that harness and is a bit of a strange size.

 

My apologies as I do not have any solid links, but the thread below on the GX forum has some great info.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gx-2nd-gen-2010-2023/764950-diy-gx460-stock-speaker-upgrade.html