more problems (resolved)

[hari-bhari]

ok well i put the car up on a jack today and took both front wheels off. i wanted to try and investigate that creaking noise i have been experiencing, but i couldnt reproduce it. but now ive got another problem.

when i put the car in first (still up on jack, and wheels off), i let off the clutch and allowed the wheels to start spinning. the passenger side spun fine, but the driver side spun a little bit, then stopped and crept along really slow, and then spun again, and stopped and crept. it just repeated as if something was preventing it from spinning at one certain spot. so i gave it a little gas and thats when i began to hear clunking. so i let off the gas, both hubs were spinning normally, but with each rotation, there was a clunk clunk clunk sound. i put it in second, hubs spun faster, clunking got faster. i tried to find where it was coming from, it seems to be midway between the driver and passenger side, and at the bottom of the engine bay, but that's all i could figure out.

i called toyota, he said if it was tranny, i would be covered under powertrain, but if not, id have to pay an 85 dollar diagnostic plus whatever the cost of repair. i thought the axles and stuff were covered under powertrain as well?

please help me out guys!

[hari-bhari]

shitt now the abs light is on

[bronzemaxell]

shitt now the abs light is on

if the noise is heard when the wheel rotates, probably it is the rotor cover plate touching the rotor, check the clearance for both wheels

were you able to identify where the noise came from? engine, transmission, or wheel hub?

if abs sensor is broken, i was told it cost more than $125 each, hope u didn't touch da abs line

[bassthrive]

check the CV boots for tears/leakage while you have it up on the jacks

[hari-bhari]

what exactly is the cv boot. is that the rubber cone where the axle connects to the wheel?

[hari-bhari]

shitt now the abs light is on

if the noise is heard when the wheel rotates, probably it is the rotor cover plate touching the rotor, check the clearance for both wheels

were you able to identify where the noise came from? engine, transmission, or wheel hub?

if abs sensor is broken, i was told it cost more than $125 each, hope u didn't touch da abs line

could i have broken the abs sensor by just jacking the car up, taking the wheels off, and turning on the engine? i didnt touch anything else at all...

when i installed my cai, we took the driver wheel off, and i didnt get any abs light afterwards.

[hari-bhari]

shitt now the abs light is on

if the noise is heard when the wheel rotates, probably it is the rotor cover plate touching the rotor, check the clearance for both wheels

were you able to identify where the noise came from? engine, transmission, or wheel hub?

if abs sensor is broken, i was told it cost more than $125 each, hope u didn't touch da abs line

hmm i wish i knew more of the technical terminology. the sound is definetely coming from somewhere underneath the car, not the engine bay, and its somewhere about halfway between the driver and passenger side.

[hari-bhari]

ok well a bit of good news. the abs light shut itself off after driving a few minutes.

but i put the wheels back on and stuff, and its so weird, when the car is down on the ground and moving, no clunking. but up on jacks without wheels, definete clunking...

[TadS]

Yeah the outboard boots are the big rubber cone things by the steering knuckle. There is also an inboard one by the differential. Usually it's the outboards that get torn up, although I had to replace an inboard boot on my car. If one of your boots is torn the best tell-tail sign is that it will throw exceptionally nasty CV-axle grease every wear around the joint. They can get torn by road debris, or just crack with age.

[hari-bhari]

both of the outboard boots look great. ill try and check the center one

[Jetfixer]

It's not a good idea to spin the wheels like that. What you were seeing was your differential doing what it normally does. These cars do not have a "positraction" or other form of locking differential. They have a standard differential which will allow the wheel with the least drag on it to spin and let the other wheel stay put. For instance if one wheel was on ice or mud, the car would not go very far because the wheel that is slipping would just spin. Without either wheel on the ground, the pass side will spin first since it has basically a straight shaft from the trans to the wheel. The drivers side has more drag due to the friction of having the intermediate shaft to turn also. That's why your drivers side was just occasionally hopping. Since you have ABS you could have totally screwed the ABS computer. What do you think it was trying to make of the fact that 2 wheels were spinning and two weren't? The sound you heard was probably the ABS trying to balance out the bizarre condition it was seeing, especially if your car has trac control.

[hari-bhari]

hmm that is an interesting angle. well the abs light is actually off now, thankfully. but there is definetely clunking with each rotation, even with the wheels back on and the car on the ground. i dont think its normal

[hari-bhari]

ok a little update on the situation to see if anyone has ideas. the clunking happens even when the car is not in gear, for example, just rolling down a hill. it happens once with each rotation, so as i go faster, more clunking. after about 35-40 mph tho, i cant hear it. i also dont really feel any bumpiness while driving the car either, its not making the car shake as far as i can tell. and finally, if i hit the brakes, the clunking disappears while the brakes are on, and returns when i release the brakes.

any ideas guys? i called toyota and they said its not covered under powertrain warranty most likely even tho i only have 37k miles

[hari-bhari]

i took it to my mechanic who said the sound is coming from the transmission. thankfully im under powertrain warranty, whew. but seriously, who ever heard of a tranny going out at 37k! this is toyota, cmon!!

[quikz]

my guess 2 things wheels,rotors,brakes,cvboot,anything in that area, or tranny i dout that its gone. try changing the fulid.