csmonte

So, I've brought this up a long while back and it was not as loud, only seemed to happen when cold/cold weather. So few thousand miles later it seems louder and more frequent.

The Problem:

turn the car on, put it in reverse tink as it gets its load on the drivetrain.
I've been really paying attention and I'm pretty sure it makes the noise but a tad quieter when first giving gas after putting into drive. (kinda sounds like a loud pop of your knuckle)

The car is lowered on Tanabe NF's with stock wheels, and stock everything else. Originally I thought tranny into reverse. I am wondering now if its a ball joint or something right there in the axle.

With this info there has got to be someone else with the same issue. My car isn't that low and I/we don't drive it at all hard.

any opinions, or relations?
thanks

I'm worried that the dealer won't fix with non TRD springs, and non Toyota installation. The car now has 41k on it so out of bumper to bumper but we did bring it in before and of course they couldn't hear anything.

engifineer

Likely could be a CV joint. If so, if you put it in first, turn the wheels and take off it should click repeatedly. Boot possibly was torn, grease is gone in the joint and the joint is toast.

TrevorS

iTrader: (1)

How many miles? Check the CVJ boots for tears or other damage (there are four, though the outer are more likely to become damaged). If an outer CVJ has become contaminated with dirt and water and hence damaged, it's usually easy to hear a clicking sound while moving slowly and turning fairly hard to either left (for hearing left CVJ) or right (for right CVJ). The clicking will be from the appropriate side of the car. A parking lot's a good place to try this, but definitely do a visual inspection of the boots as well.

mixD

If the boots look ok you may want to look to make sure your bolts for your lower control arm and front sway bar are tight i just got an 09 and put df210 springs on and noticed a click like noise. took it in to the dealer with my extended warranty and they found the lower control arm nuts were loose and the sway bar bolts were loose and they replaced my struts and strut towers and the noise went away. i asked them about the bolts and they stated they get xb's in all the time for the sway bar and control arm bolts so you may want to look there as well.

TrevorS

iTrader: (1)

Interesting! The sway bar links have to be disconnected from the control arms in order to change springs, but not the control arm itself from the frame -- wonder how its fasteners would come to be loose ?

mixD

yeah i have no idea they fixed it all under warranty for me but they said it happens alot and they are not sure why :/

csmonte

thanks a lot for the reply's I will take a visual of the boots and try some tests in a parking lot. any other opinions keep them coming.


and on a diff note "stated they get xb's in all the time for the sway bar and control arm bolts so you may want to look there as well."

CONTROL ARM BOLTS!!!!are the nuts, I would say recall this for a tighten. that is not safe. Lets not take another hit like the throttle on the prius. Anyway thanks again for the nice feedback. I'll post results when I get a chance to check it out.

TrevorS

iTrader: (1)

I haven't yet had any problems like this with my 2008, but since plenty of people are changing struts and springs, I wouldn't be the least surprised if it has something to do with the way the work was performed. For example, not re-tightening loosened bolts/nuts to factory spec with a torque wrench.

ScionFred

iTrader: (1)

My 47k 08 XB makes the same noise every time I engage reverse. Just normal drivetrain (CV joint) wear IMO. You should hear the noises my 93 Subaru makes after 178k but despite the fact that numerous components could be replaced to bring it back to "new" feel, there is nothing seriously wrong with it.

csmonte

little update on the noise. I did a test like many asked and drove in a court with wheel maxed and varied acceleration and turn speed, both ways. I didn't hear the sound. It is still really noticeable though. Most always when colder but still here after things are warmed up, just not quiet as consistent.

AEMotoring

i have this same exact noise coming from mine, looks like i will have to check my bolts, i did do the install on mine with df springs, maybe the vibrations made the bolts/nuts loose, hope it fixes it, if not i guess into the dealer it goes

csmonte

yeah, mine has the NF's which I installed. when mentioning about the control arm bolts, are we talking about the lower control arm-to-body(front subframe/engine cradle what ever its called) bolts? Were not talking strut-to-control arm right?

I don't know how it would make a click from it. I guess maybe if it had slack because it was loose and the click was from the axle receiving the torque and clicking it one way or the other...that's an idea it I'm even close to being on the same page.


As far as the dealer...I was worried they might not cover, considering they are not TRD's and weren't installed by them in the first place. I have 42k on mine.

AEMotoring

yea i hear you, thats what im worried about as well, lol i dont even drive the car hard at all, so i cant see anything breaking on it.

AEMotoring

Any update on this?

AEMotoring

well i took mine into the dealer today and picked it up today, they said there was nothing wrong, no defects anywhere, but what they noticed was a lot of dirt and grime from where the calipers move (could be road grime, or car wash and dirt gets trapped) , so they did this lubrication for the calipers (65.00), so when i think about it i guess it makes sense unless they just got me for my money, lol when the car is cold any left over grease is hard, so seems like the caliper not moving freely? and when the car is hot the grease loosens up and starts lubricating again.
so ill see what happens tomorrow morning when i leave for work cause that's when it happens the most.

ScionFred

iTrader: (1)

Sounds about right to me. $65 to spray some brake cleaner and lube on the caliper slide rails. If you let your car sit for a few rainy days with the parking brake on and then hear and feel a pronounced "snap" after releasing the parking brake and starting to move, they can fix that too for about $65.

OTOH you could accept these trivial noises as normal and save your money until you hit ~100k miles and start hearing noises that actually indicate possible component wear failure. Please note that this does not include the scraping/schreeching noise of brake pad wear indicators on the rotors that can occur as early as 50k miles or possibly less if you ride the brakes a lot.

xbscion

So Fred, what's the fix for the parking brake? My rear brakes make a snaping noise and you can feel a slight bump after a rain and I don't use my hand brake. I replaced the rear brake pads with ceramic and new rotors, greased up the slides and still this happens every time it rains.

I don't leave the hand brake on since my car is in the garage and still the rear brake pads stick.

Thanks.

AEMotoring

update: no knocking this morning

ScionFred

iTrader: (1)

Park your car in a garage. Seriously, I think the problem is related to surface rust on the rotors but that's pretty much unavoidable if you park outside. It doesn't hurt anything so I just live with it. Sorry I can't be of more help.

TrevorS

iTrader: (1)

You can expect some brake misbehavior following rainfall, it's due to surface rust. This is especially true if your handbrake was applied. Run a few miles and exercise your brakes a few times and that should clear. Regarding your CVJ's, they shouldn't normally make noise, but as long as the boots are undamaged (no rips, tears, or other injuries) I'd expect them to be OK. If they pass the low speed hard left and hard right turn test and the boots are visually fine, I wouldn't worry about them. At worst, you can always pay to have the apparent offender repacked with grease.