staaaboi

Hello all,

Just wanna say thank you in advance for reading this and for your inputs. Also I am new to this platform and trucks in general my other vehicle is an IS250.

I have had my GX470 for a couple of weeks now and I am hearing a "grinding"-ish kind of sound from the transfer case lever. It drive perfectly fine and I am able to go from H to N to L when in neutral.

Have any of you experienced this before or any idea what I should check. Taking it to my local Toyota dealer for a timing belt and I'm going to mention it next week when it's there.

Here is a video of the sound: https://streamable.com/qc7aef

ALAN553

it will grind when you move it through H>N>L, however...unless you are going rock climbing...it should be in H 99.9% of the time...

staaaboi

Okay, I figured that but thank you for clarifying. But do you think that sound it's making while I am parked is normal is normal?

ALAN553

couldn't tell from the audio..looks like shift is in Neutral? does it make noise while driving?

staaaboi

The shift is in High, I did not have the best angle on the video. So I just had my girlfriend come listen to the sound with me and we determined the sound was acually coming from the AC control unit and not the Transfer Case lever!!

Tested all possible setting on the AC and after turning on Auto the sound stopped. I am so perplexed LOL

ALAN553

there are servo motors that open and close vents, ie recir/flow through...sometimes the gears get stuck that control flaps....you can hear the motor clicking, common problem...first test recir vs flow through...see if noise changes...that will tell you which one...its to the upper left behind glove box....

coachstu

The grinding is pretty common with the GX. I have an 03 that did that. I changed the transfer case oil and now it no longer grinds when shifting to low. But as mentioned, you will rarely if ever need to shift to low. I only do it periodically to make sure it doesn't lock up.

UPDATE: I actually watched the video. That has nothing to do with low gear or 4 wheel drive. Sounds like a servo motor. I have a similar sound coming from middle of dash.

chiph9

Yeah. Servo.

But you should look into changing the transfer case gear lube as part of a 4x4 service. Front + rear differential fluid, transfer case, and grease the fittings on the drive shafts every 30k miles for everyday driving. More often if you tow or go off-road a lot.

Chip H.