2017 Toyota Sienna pulsing/noise at the wheel

In My Humble Opinion
1

While passengering in the Sienna last night the car developed a weird pulsing noise at speed all of a sudden. We could hear it over the stereo and my wife could feel something at the steering wheel. It sounded just like we picked up a nail. It seems to be coming from the front driver’s side wheel but that is just a guess. We pulled over and I couldn’t see anything in any of the wheels. All the wheel well trim seems to be secure and none of the tires are flat today.

After we got started again the sound restarted at about 40 km/h. The sound stops when coasting. My wife could feel it through the steering wheel. She could not feel it through the brake pedal. The sound stopped when coasting.

I did some googling and most of the hits came from early 2000’s Siennas and had to do with warped rotors or a bad wheel bearing. There were some hits from clunky suspension or tie rods but this does not sound like a suspension problem to me.

The vehicle is a 2017 Toyota Sienna LE, D-4S V6, front wheel drive, 50,000 kms.

We will call a garage today for a professional opinion but I thought I’d try you guys as well.

2

Does it change with the speed? Does it change with the RPMs?

3

Yes. It changes with speed as if there was something stuck in the tire. Gets faster when accelerating but stops when coasting. Does not happen when braking. My very unprofessional guess is drive shaft (half shaft or a front wheel drive?).

4

The last time I experienced something like this, a wheel had gone out of balance because it had lost a balancing weight.

5

That sounds like an easy and inexpensive fix. Summer wheels were fitted in May by the dealer but that doesn’t mean we couldn’t have lost a weight in the mean time.

6

Does it get better/worse when you turn? CV joint maybe?

7

[quote="gregorio, post:1, topic:1004967”]
The sound stops when coasting.
[/quote]

That’s a big tip.
To me, that implies that there is a bad CV joint, that is binding under load. Coasting = no load.

8

I’ve since driven it, slowly and not very far. It sounds to me like CV joint or CV axle. Clicked when turning. Starts at lower speeds now. And now I’m pretty anxious driving it across town to a dealer or a garage. Oh joy!

9

Following up on this, I took the Sienna to the dealer and they immediately found one of the lug nuts on the front driver side wheel was loose. Since the wheels have only been touched by the dealer for summer and winter tires they fixed the problem quickly and a no charge. Happy ending.

I’ll take the van in to get the lug nuts re torqued this week.