Odd Noise After Starting
 

Hey guys, first off I just want to thank the YT community! The reading and tech tips (ISR, Deckplate) have been extremely helpful and big change to the attitude of my rig :great:

Now to my problem: I left work yesterday like always and started my 4runner. Only to be greeted with a whirring noise (I have a broken antenna, but this wasn't it!) It sounded like a fan or pump free spinning at high RPM, but rather loudly (it dronned out both the antenna motor and the sound of the engine). My first thought was "oh @#$%", so it tuned to car off and the noise continued (or at least i turned the engine off). Peeked under the hood - nothing out of place. Started the '4R again (note: this noise was still continuing), and listened undedr the car and it sounded like it was coming for the front of the tranny/oil pan area. Put it in Reverse, and backed out of the parking spot, no problem, still had the noise, then pulled back into the spot. I had no problems the other 3 times I started the car yesterday (and had just run to the bank an hour or so before this). Once the engine came up to temp the sound went away. Drove the 80 miles home, and back to work today and around town at lunch with no issue what so ever. Any thoughts from the experienced 3rd Gen crowd here? I have my camera today and will try to get a sound clip if the problem comes back up again, as it will probably help the diagnosis better than my description.

Well, I dont know what the sound would be, but, we had a similar problem with my friends Jeep...

The starter was shorting out somewhere and would not turn off. We had to change out a selinoid, but, I couldnt imagine this happening with a Toyota.

Hopefulyl someone else will know :)

SC, you bring up a thought I hadn't had. I did have problems starting about 2 weeks back. Turn the key to crank and nothing. Happened one morning and again that evening and the next morning. No problem since, though when I have some free time I am going to replace the contacts in the starter so it will def. get a good look over then. And as much as I don't want to ever hear that noise again, its kind of like the starter when I really prefer problems to stick around so I can diagnose the real problem and fix it!