Someone please help me find whats wrong with my car!

[Amir Ghadiri]

2013 FRS
Manual transmission
Lowered approx. 2"
Approx. 9k miles.

So I was driving and noticed a clicking noise coming from the rear end when under acceleration. It was present in all gears from approx ~1k RPM-redline. The problem was not present in neutral.

It sounded like a broken CV joint, but today I put the car on a rack and the CV joints were fine.

I replicated the problem (clicking) with the car in the air and found the engine, transmission, differential, driveshaft, and exhaust shaking violently when under acceleration. it appeared to be caused by violent shaking. The problem was still present through all rpms, but most voilent from 1-2k. Again, problem was not present with the car in neutral.

I was able to replicate the problem with the belt removed, so that rules out a few possibilities.

I was also able to replicate the problem with traction control on, traction control off, and VSC sport.

No traction control or check engine lights on.

U joints have minimal play, seems to be within factory specs.

Carrier bearing was fine.

I also removed the bracket holding the exhaust at the front pipe in an effort to relieve some of the stress, but this made no difference.

Any ideas what could be causing the problem?

At this point I figure its either my ring & pinion or an imbalanced differential.

I'm hesitant to take it to the dealer because they have denied warranty repairs for my transmission in the past.

Update: Was driving the car to the Toyota dealership and finally had a part failure. Car is inoperable and had to be towed. While pushing the car to the side of the road and loading it onto the flatbed, the clicking noise was still present.

Update: Toyota has had my car since Tuesday night and hasn't been able to figure out whats wrong.

[ame]http://youtu.be/mFkhlxg8_v8[/ame]
[ame]http://youtu.be/blcSrObfTB0[/ame]
[ame]http://youtu.be/ctEqRdz1OvE[/ame]
[ame]http://youtu.be/3a0n6RM0t1g[/ame]

[civdaddy]

That kind of shaking screams driveshaft at me. So you had your clutch changed at 5k miles? Who did it?

[civdaddy]

Do you work at a car shop?

[endless_pain]

Have you checked the motor mounts?

[Amir Ghadiri]

Originally Posted by civdaddy

That kind of shaking screams driveshaft at me. So you had your clutch changed at 5k miles? Who did it?

4400 miles, just under 5k miles ago. Toyota replaced the clutch and transmission under warranty because this happened.

[Amir Ghadiri]

Originally Posted by civdaddy

Do you work at a car shop?

Yes.

[Amir Ghadiri]

Originally Posted by endless_pain

Have you checked the motor mounts?

First thing I checked after the axle. They were fine.

[mfbmike]

Originally Posted by civdaddy

That kind of shaking screams driveshaft at me. So you had your clutch changed at 5k miles? Who did it?

I say the same.

And holy shit that clutch lol. wtf happened

[Amir Ghadiri]

Toyota just called, broken rack & pinion. Needs a new differential, total cost $3800. Warranty coverage denied.

[civdaddy]

Reason why I asked about you working at a shop is sometimes co-workers like to play "jokes". Some wheel weight stickers on your driveshaft can cause your symptoms.

[draggin_az]

why was it denied?

[BRZPDX]

did the clicking come from a particular side (drivers/passenger side)? I had this issue after auto-x, pre-FI, and by tightening the axle nut, it stopped clicking. This seems like a very common issue with lowered cars and rear axles giving out.

Sucks to hear it was your rear diff, but before jumping to an expensive conclusion, I would check again if the clicking is audible from one side more than the other. The symptoms sounds just like what I was experiencing, and I was able to replicate it on the rack as well. The noise was clearly coming from my driver side however.

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by Amir Ghadiri

Toyota just called, broken rack & pinion. Needs a new differential, total cost $3800. Warranty coverage denied.

What does a rack and pinion have to do with a differential?

Details on the denial? Agree that the videos and such looked like a screwed up driveshaft the third video has a shot of the transmission which looks pretty stable, I could understand mods being to blame as that would overstress the drivetrain but other than that...

[Amir Ghadiri]

Originally Posted by civdaddy

Reason why I asked about you working at a shop is sometimes co-workers like to play "jokes". Some wheel weight stickers on your driveshaft can cause your symptoms.

That would do it huh

I did take a look at the differential but couldn't find anything on there.

Also, the problems first occurred approx. 100 miles into a 200 miles drive, so I suppose that rules out the possibility of a co-worker playing a joke on me.