Just so you guys know I'm still struggling to get Toyota to acknowledge this issue. I made a recording the other day of how my car sounds when it's at its best. Quite often it sounds much worse and yet Toyota says this is normal. It sounds worse when the car starts roughly, which often happens after the car has been parked for a couple hours. It sputters as it starts instead of starting as smoothly as it did in the video below.

Take a listen for yourself:

It sounds almost identical to the sample video in my first post.

 

My car did that for a few days when I would first turn it on, while the cold oil light was on and it kept that annoying noise until the oil heated up, then after a few days it started making a knocking sound as I drove and increased with rev's. The dealership replaced my cam assembly and a bunch of other stuff cuz it was still under warranty

 

My issue is nowhere near as serious as yours. My tC is most likely only in need of a VVTI intake cam gear. It's a known design flaw that requires ~$200 in parts and ~2.5 hrs in labor to fix--not "cheap" but not too terribly expensive either. It's a known defect which is why Toyota has an obligation to fix it under the powertrain warranty.

 

I have a 2011 Scion tC and my car has started making this noise about 20,000 miles ago. Given that my car has about 29,800 miles, the noise started at an early age. I'm definitely going to take my car in and try and see if they can repair it. Toyota is REPAIRING all of the affected TOYOTAS (Camry, Sienna, RAV4, Venza and Highlander) but aren't repairing the Scion. Keep in mind, the Camry (2011) and the Scion tC (2011+) have the SAME EXACT ENGINE. I just submitted a comlaint to the NHTSA and recommend everyone who has this problem do the same. It won't help much complaining on a forum while hoping it appears on the NHTSA TSB announcments. The more complaints to the NHTSA, the faster (hopefully) Toyota will issue one on the tC and other 1ar-fe and 2ar-fe engines on Scions.

 

Here is a PDF from TOYOTA themselves confirming the issue and repairing them for the said vehicles with the exception of Scions. :/
http://www.rav4world.com/tsb/2010/T-SB-0146-10.pdf

 

You won't get anywhere with Toyota on this. It took me many months to get them to replace the VVTI cam gears, and a week later, the noise returned. The design is faulty, plain and simple. My advice to you is if the noise bothers you enough, get rid of the car. Toyota will never address this issue because they simply do not care.

 

looks like the above video is the same TSB that you mention. Forgive my ignorance but I dont seem to hear the wierd rattle/noise because my 2011 TC sounds like that during startup. I've played the three videos over and over to verify.

I searched startup video scion tc in youtube and found this:


and it does sound like all the other startup...OR maybe my hearing is getting bad that's why i dont notice any difference. :D


I wonder if anyone can post what a "normal' engine start-up sounds like with an open hood?

 

The reason why they have not replaced it is because it is only noise at this point. When they get these parts to start failing only then will they address the issue. To me it sounds like normal opperation, thats how the car is designed. They might not address this car in the TSB, simply because they internals and the tune of the engine are not the same as the other veh. They probably had different supplier for parts. They could have number of reasons, but if it does not cause drive issues, or performance problems to were it throws off a code. They wont change it.

 

If your car were making the noise in question you would not call it normal operation. It's easy to say it's no problem from your chair over yonder across the great expanse of the internet.

So much speculation in this post, and not one fact. The FACT of the matter is, the part numbers between the tC and the Camry VVTI cam gears are *identical* and yet there is a TSB for the Camry and not the tC. The EXACT same issue is fixable on a Camry but not a tC.

Don't expect much interest from me on this subject. I've moved on and away from Scion cars.

 

Well my TC is also making the noise on start up but not to worried about it. I know that is common issue on these cars but like i said before, what Toyota/Scion wants is failure. Noise concerns, they are not to worried about them. I have heard my fair share of engine noises, and this does not worry me what so ever.

 

Well this sucks. Well since we (tC2 owners) really can't have Toyota fix this problem, what is/are the possible malfunctions engine wise if this isn't fixed? Or is it simply JUST a noise with no possible malfunctions? I don't really mind the noise, what I mind is the possibility that my engine with eff up in the future BECAUSE this wasn't fixed. Then to have Toyota say that it was "customer negligence" for not having it fixed.

 

Toyota makes no mention of the intake cam gear noise issue causing any serious problems. The noise is an annoyance though and can certain scare off future buyers when it comes time for resale. On the other hand, when the exhaust cam gear fails it has been known to come apart inside the engine. If that happens the MIL will illuminate so it's a more serious issue.

 

I am having the same issue with my 2011. It happened right after I changed my oil. I won't be able to convince a buyer for my car that this is normal. If they don't fix it, I'm going to the local media.

 

I cant' hear it in the videos, are you referring to cold piston slap? thats a common on many cars. Typical slap starts when the car is started, then quickly fades. so if it goes away when it warms up, its just what it does. Cars last many hundreds of thousands of miles. Subarus are notorious, GM etc.. just nature of the beast. once everything warms up and


"GM's Piston Slap

Here is their definition:

Piston slap is nothing new to piston driven internal combustion engines and compressors. It is the secondary (sideways or perpendicular) movement of a piston against the side of a cylinder bore where the primary movement of a piston is intended to be parallel (up and down) to the cylinder bore. All piston driven internal combustion engines and compressors have a certain amount of piston slap.

Excessive piston slap occurs when the clearance between the piston and the cylinder bore is too great. The piston to cylinder bore clearance becomes too great either through wear, mismatched pistons and cylinder bores at manufacturing or, a combination of both. The audible noise associated with excessive piston slap is due to the perpendicular impact of the piston against the wall of the cylinder bore. Audible piston slap is typically loudest when the engine is first started up. The pistons then expand with heat reducing the piston to cylinder bore clearance thus, reducing the perpendicular impact of the piston against the cylinder wall and its resulting noise."