Clicking/cloncking from left front when turning wheels
 

Hi,

I've had this for a couple of months now. It's gotten worse since it started, but Toyota don't seem to be able to find the reason for it.

It's mostly hearable when standing still and turning the wheels, but also going at slow speed, especially when the weight balance is moved like when going over a bump, a side curb or when the road changes from slight uphill to downhill.
It also becomes very noticeable when driving over cobblestone. In this case I can also feel it in the steering wheel. Normally however, the steering feels tight and perfect.

A local non-Toyota mechanic guesses it's a defect top strut bearing. What do you guys think?

You can listen to several videos here.

Cheers,
Casper

Check your strut tower bar bolts. Should be around 11.5 lbs. I recently re-torqued mine as they were all below that # and it removed some clunking noise I was getting over bumps.

Yep, I would guess it has to do with the front strut.

If it won't tighten down (like suggested) you might have to take it out and inspect it.


humfrz

I'll try that tomorrow. Hopefully that will take away some of the clunks when driving on uneven roads and bumps.

I actually just had the 45.000 km inspection done at a Toyota dealer, where they were supposed to have eliminated these sounds as well. They said they had retightened everything that had with the steering to do, but I'm quite disappointed that they haven't fixed it.
Just picked the car up friday afternoon and already saturday I heard it again - and it hasn't gotten better. They didn't return my call today, so I'll try to contact them again tomorrow.

hmmmmm........my second guess would be that something in the steering rack is lose or binding...??

Or, maybe the electric power steering motor is acting up .. ??


That would be annoying ....... I hope you get it fixed ...... :)


humfrz

Can you confirm that you mean 11.5 ft·lb and that the bolts in question are those marked in red circles in the attached photo..?
I am also afraid that it could have something to do with the steering rack. They had actually re-tightened some part of the steering to the chassis - don't know what it's called in english, maybe tie rod..?

Yea it's the ones you have circled in red. No promises on that solving the problem but it's helped me and I've seen posted around these forums as well.

Did you ever fix this problem? Mine has the same problem.
Full stock at 20k km

Yes, authorized dealer fixed it under warranty.
After some trial and error they found it was a loose/faulty link in the steering column.

any chance those videos are up anywhere else the link is dead.

Sorry for the late response.

Here you go:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/E6oIYFsh3T8YvnBQ2

Hi All

I have recently had the same problem. However my car only started making the exact same noises described, when I installed ISC coilovers. These worked perfectly for the first...lets say 2000 km of use, then gradually started making the noises described, getting louder and louder each month. eventually the noises were so pronounced, not even loud music could solve it :) :) . Anyways, I was running the maximum camber setting on the camber bolts, and adjustable top strut housings. I'm thinking maybe this had something to do with it. I mainly occurs while steering left and right at a standstill and at low speed. (maybe I'm maxing out the angle of the lower ball joint on the lower control arm). Could this be the problem? However I tried changing the camber setting to it's neutral position (But not the camber bolt) and the same noise kept occurring.

Anyways, last week Sunday, i decided to replace the coilovers with the standard suspension. And the problem was fixed, no noise, no creaking, no clicking, no clonking.

I know now that it has to do with the coilovers so that leads me to a couple other culprits.

1) The link arm that connects the torsion bar to the coilover. (BTW the part of the link arm that connects to the coilover was rubbing against the body and left an engraving into the inner wheel well due to negative 3 degree camber). But I tried reducing camber with no avail.
2) The lower ball joint on the wheel knuckle connecting the lower control arm, is maxing out under +- 3 degree negative camber.???? Not sure if this is possible.
3) literally anything else to do with the aftermarket ISC coilovers

Anyone experience this issue??

Would you be able to point out where that loose link on the steering column was? I've been haunting this noise forever and can't figure it out...

Thanks!

So I Finally got fed up with it and found a mechanic that knew wtf they were doing since the dealer was useless.

The steering rack was bad.
$250 part and the problem is solved.
Hope this helps.
the passenger side wasnt moving freely something was seizing up inside the rack.