My '92 extended cab 3.0 has started making a noise (click for video) when getting up to about 60 MPH. It's inconsistent, doesn't happen every time I hit that speed but my God it is annoying as hell, and loud. The sound is coming from the dash area, maybe the steering collum or the control cluster, it's hard to tell exactly. My first thought was that it could be coming from the speedo cable and wondering if anyone has encountered anything like this and might be able to help.

 

Sounds like the speedo cable...
you may need to lube it.

 

Agreed that it is likely the speedo cable and it could very well be dried out & in need of lube. However if it were me, if I were keeping the truck, and since I'd have to take apart the dash to get at it, I'd rather just get a brand new cable. No telling what else is going on with that cable after 29 years, especially if it's making noise.

 

You could quickly unscrew the speedo cable from the transmission and take for a test drive and see if it solves it.
I agree on getting a new cable if this turns out to be the source.

 

Brilliant sir, well done!

 

+1 on verifying first before replacing anything.

 

It turns out that my truck has the digital speedometer sensor so there isn't a mechanically driven cable that could be making the noise. The service manager at my local Toyota said that after 1990-1 they started using the digital sensors instead of the mechanically driven cables. I'm stumped as to what else it could be in the cluster making that noise. Is there a mechanism inside the cluster that drives the needle itself? Any other guesses besides the speedo cable would be appreciated.

 

I'll pitch in my experience. I have a donor 94 (3vz) 4runner that I am using the transmission from. It does have the 3 wire plug on the extension housing. In fact I used the 94's instrument cluster for my dash. And also had to add the wires back (up to engine harness and back into firewall) for ECM.

Sure it has an extra 10k on odometer, I will worry about what that does to resale later! (snork)
Seriously though, my 95 4runner was buillt Oct (?) of 95. It does (did) have the cable (was also an auto) that ran from output shaft up to cluster. The cluster on that (aslo an SR5) had an extra clump that the cable physically connected into (on the rear of cluster obv). There was where the pulse generator for ECM was also.

So a 94 with pulse, and a 95 with mechanical cable.

 

Sounds like a high pitch bad alarm sound that might bad? ABS?

 

On the 3.0 there was a seal at the firewall where the steering column passes through. When that seal went bad all kinds of engine noise came up the column like a tuning fork. Check that seal. If it’s bad in any way replace it. You’ll be shocked how much noise gets reduced.