Off-throttle vibration and steering noise
 

Hello,

I've had a couple of recurring noises on my car which I'd like to get rid of, or at least identify more specifically.

#1 is a vibration felt off throttle, as the engine goes from about 2.5 to 2k. It seems to be coming from the drivetrain and makes the engine feel rough. It's most present in 3rd gear, but can also be felt in 4th / 5th (car is a manual, btw).

#2 is a "clonk" type of noise heard when turning the wheel at low speeds / high steering angles. I'm not 100% sure it's coming from outside the cabin, but that would be my guess. I had attributed it to my 18" / 225 tires touching something in the wheel well, but after switching back to the stock tires / wheels, it remains present. It's heard a couple of times as I go from straight on to full lock.

Do you any ideas where these might be coming from?

Alex

Hello alex87f …….. :)

Well, the description of those sounds could be caused a several hundred things.

Can you give us anything else to go on (like a video)?


humfrz

I don't think either noise is present enough to be heard on a video..

Regarding the engine noise, it is just some off-throttle vibration at low RPMs and what I was hoping for was to know whether or not it was a common thing with 86's.

The steering noise is definitely something I don't think is normal, but it's quite faint so as I said I don't think it'd be audible on video. For what it's worth, here's what I've been able to document on it:
-It only happens when the car is moving at slow speeds. When turning the wheels standing still, it's gone (which is weird :bonk:)
-It happens both when turning left & right

I've tried tightening the strut-to-firewall bars a little bit as an older thread I found mentioned this as a potential cause, but it doesn't seem to make a difference.

#1 seems normal


#2 I had this problem, I took out the brake pads and cleaned the old brake grease and relubed the pads. For me it was the pads sticking and getting unstuck as the wheel turns instead of sliding properly.

Hmmm that's certainly an interesting possibility. My brake disks were OK last time Toyota checked but had a lip on the outer edge that caused quite a bit of squealing & rubbing. They took out all the pads and chamfered & greased them, but it was a while ago and the squealing is coming back. The brakes seems a possible culprit..