Rev 3 Tubby front and rear knocking.

[Mr2Madlad]

Hi Everyone

Have a 1994 rev 3 Turbo and I have knocking noise coming from the front and back, car has covered 70K miles.

The knocking is audiable when going over bumps and holes etc

I have personally changed myself the front top mounts and shocks for OEM Toyota billys as MOT said struts were weak, the drop down links I have replaced with some from my local scrap yard as they were near mint / pretty new but this has not cured it, I have also bought some new ball joints from Toyota but am reluctant to fit as after removing the old ones and inspecting / pulling pushing twisting etc they are nice and tight and smooth in movement, right royal pain they were to get off / out too!

I have changed for new OEM the front and rear anit roll bar rubber bushes, admit the rears were worn though - MOT never picked them up but same result knocking.

Front track rod ends are good as is steering rack as these were repaled a while back for other reason worn leaky seals and siezed rod end nut but same result knocking.

There does not seem to be any up down in out let right movement on the wishbone type araingment on the front or rear with my 5 foot long crow bar so after that I am kinda ruling them out too.

Don't want to fit the new ball joints only to find I still have the knocking issue as Toyota will not refund if they are removed from their packaging / used and they cost £120 which is allot to waist, the top ounts were dear enough and never solved the issue but fitted to new front legs anyway.

Even resorted to removing everything from boot and front trunk i.e tools and spair wheel just in case thay are causing it moving around and hitting some where, battery is bolted down so is not sliding or jumping, aaagggghhhhhhh!

Does anyone have any ideas on what it could be as I'm begining to lose all of my hair by pulling it out ?

Thanks

[sms14]

Seems too be a pretty common issue with mr2's unfortunatly mate, iv'e got the same problem myself. Im about too change my struts, droplinks and full poly bush set which im hoping will solve the problem!
Only other thing to check would be the bushes i guess

[going4the1]

There is also the upper steering shaft which can cause knocking going over bumps. It is caused by wear on the universal bush for the steering tilt mechanism. The wear creates float along the length of the shaft which gives rise to the knocking.

The fix is simple, permanent (and free)!!


1. Raise the front of the car onto axle stands.

2. Remove the lower panel beneath the steering column

3. Grab the (now visible) steering column and shake it longitudinally (ie along its length). If this produces any sort of knock similar to that heard when driving continue…………(otherwise stop and put everything back as the knock is caused by something else)

4. Remove the two piece cowling which covers the indicator and wiper stalks.
This will reveal a white ‘two-piece’ nylon bushing on the upper steering column which can only be viewed from beneath.
An exploded picture of the column is given on this link:

http://www.mr2-tech.com/bgb/mechanical/ ... eering.htm

Page SR-7

(The nylon bushing which is worn is at the 'arrow' pointing at 4 o'clock between the words "Bearing" and "Main Shaft")

5. If you now grab and rattle the steering column in the same way as before you will see that there is a small amount of float in this bushing which coincides with the knock. It is as if the two pieces of nylon part and come back together as the column is rattled. NOTE that if you unlock the tilt mechanism the gap between these pieces of nylon broadens.

6. If you now turn the wheel you will see that the ‘two-piece’ bushing turns on the column and in fact is four lots of ‘two-piece’ bushings.
Taking up the float in the bushings is the key.
I solved this by using (believe it or not) household or parcel string. Unravelling a short piece into strands allows in to be pushed between the pieces of nylon bushing with a very fine screwdriver. Turn the wheel to expose another quadrant bushing and push more string fibres into the gaps. I then applied some silicone sealant with my finger to prevent the string from coming back out. Locking the tilt mechanism to the preferred angle at this stage is advisable. I was able to put strands of string into three of the four gaps in the bushings. The forth one had no slack left after I’d put string into the other three.

7. Grabbing the column at this stage and trying to rattle it will prove the knock has stopped.
I did fix more than two years ago and there hasn’t been any knocks over any bumps since that day. I thought it would have been a short-term fix but it has turned out to be permanent. I have never altered the
tilt-mechanism since out of fear that it might affect the string.

Sorry but as I did the repair a while back I don't have any photos.

[TheBaker]

Nice post 'going4the1'. I get a knocking too(sounds like a box moving about over any uneven surface), just from the front drivers side so it could be that. I'll try it out if I can.

Cheers.

[JimmyTheKosh]

I would definately do the ball joints mate.
I had the same problem, knocking noise even going over the smallest of bumps in the road, my old ball joints seemed fine on inspection, but obviously were'nt as the new ball joints solved the problem, feels like a new car again.
Personaly id take your ball joints back to toyota for a refund and get some off ebay, so much cheaper, and if it doesnt solve your problem, you havent wasted as much money and its another possibility eliminated.
Link below

REARS: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MEWAX:IT

FRONTS: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2-FRONT-Lower-Bal ... 4a9c5f0603

[3sgte]

try changing your anti roll bar bushes

[Quigonjay]

have tried the steering components for play? rack/inner and outer track rod ends?