Wood Pecker noise coming from inside dash by steering wheel

130

Asked by Joe_2008Sienna Jun 06, 2015 at 11:58 AM about the 2008 Toyota Sienna XLE AWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Intermittent Wood Pecker noise coming from inside dash by steering wheel. Last about
one minute. Does not affect the car operation otherwise. Hard to pinpoint lexact location
of noise because it is so intermittent. Concerned that something critical might be
developing. Anyone out there experience this before? Thanks. Joe W.

11 Answers

This is really tough because there are no affects on performance...everything works. But there are a ton of relays and modules up under there. For what it's worth, click to size up

17 people found this helpful.
220

Anyone figure this out? My 2006 Sienna started doing this recently. Today, I even heard it after I turned the car off, removed the keys and was standing in the garage.

22 people found this helpful.
270

Just had this start on my 2007 Sienna. Took it to a mechanic. He listened to the noise and then started pressing buttons on the dash. Found out that the rear defrost was on. When he turned it off no more clicking. Its either a relay or a module for the rear defrost in my case. And I believe that is somewhere under the dash panels.

27 people found this helpful.
130

Thanks Andy : it helped me to fix it, in my case I just toggled the rear defrost

13 people found this helpful.
70

Thanks Andy. Same issue in my car. I toggled the rear defrost and the noise stopped. In my case, the noise occurs when the rear defrost is on.

7 people found this helpful.
160

The front defrost is what stops the woodpecker noise for my 2005 Sienna. My 12 year old daughter figured it out today. Now, what does that mean and how do we fix it?

16 people found this helpful.
190

The are 2 actuators that are candidates for your woodpecker. The lower one is pretty easy to get off and replace... unfortunately my woodpecker is in the upper "air outlet control servo motor" which I have not figured out how to remove without complete under-dash disassembly. And new replacements are Unobtainium. Anyone have any ideas?

17 people found this helpful.
Best Answer Mark helpful
30

I have the same issue on my brand new 2019 Sienna XLE. Toyota is saying this is normal operation which is unacceptable since my van only has 10K miles and this started at 5K miles.

3 people found this helpful.
130

My woodpecker was in the upper "air outlet control servo motor" also. I took it to Toyota and paid them $600 to fix it twice. It is two plastic gears inside the servo becoming out of alignment when the defroster is set to one of its extreme positions. The plastic gear teeth do not fit each tightly but rather slips across one another with a resounding wood pecker sound. This is an engineering defect that Toyota will not admit to because it is not a safety issue but merely a nuisance.

13 people found this helpful.
50

Had the same problem on an 04 sienna, I found that cycling through the different modes to the bi mode got rid of the sound.

5 people found this helpful.
100

its the vent door actuators. there are many in the sienna and the noise you hear is that its installed incorrectly or the motor lever is out of place in the track. you need to have them lined up just right. i think the sienna has 4 of these and one is tricky to get at. of course the one i needed to do. some lower dash disassembly is required but not hard. best if you are smaller in size. remember to shut power off before plugging in the new one or you need a 10A fuse too.

10 people found this helpful.

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