# 90 Toyota with terrible noise when cold

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/90-toyota-with-terrible-noise-when-cold/82312>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Tags:** noises, toyota\
**Created:** [November 21, 2013, 12:47am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/90-toyota-with-terrible-noise-when-cold/82312 "2013-11-21T00:47:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![lorenelynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@lorenelynn](https://community.cartalk.com/u/lorenelynn)\
**Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 12:47am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/90-toyota-with-terrible-noise-when-cold/82312/1 "2013-11-21T00:47:08Z")

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My awesome 1990 Toyota Pickup (6 cyl., supercab), fondly named Ol’ Rusty, has a measly 245,000 miles on it and still running strong. The one problem is that when it is very cold out such as this morning (-10F), I get a terrible noise coming from under the hood just in front of the steering column. It sounds like a belt rubbing, but I can’t find it. It happens when I start going faster than 20 mph and goes away once the engine is completely warm. When it’s happening, the speedometer jumps a bit. Interestingly, if I warm the truck up for 10 minutes or more so that the engine is completely warm, it still happens when I first drive the truck. Is this something I need to worry about or can I continue to ignore it like I have been for the last 3 years?

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**Author:** ![jesmed1](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/jesmed1/32/2097_2.png) [@jesmed1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jesmed1)\
**Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 5:23am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/90-toyota-with-terrible-noise-when-cold/82312/2 "2013-11-21T05:23:10Z")

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The speedometer cable is going bad. You can ignore it, but it will become increasingly annoying until it eventually breaks. Save your sanity and replace it.

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**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\
**Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 3:50am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/90-toyota-with-terrible-noise-when-cold/82312/3 "2013-11-22T03:50:42Z")

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+1 to Jesmed’s comment.  
I think it is pretty clear that this aged truck’s speedo cable is about to go to auto parts heaven.  
Replace it now and you will have a much more peaceful ride.

I can vividly recall riding at turnpike speeds in a friend’s Pontiac Tempest ('61 or '62 model year) when the speedometer needle suddenly began wildly fluctuating between zero & 120 mph, along with an…interesting…mechanical noise. After a couple of minutes of that wild action, the speedo cable snapped and the speedo then read zero until he got the cable replaced.