'05 clunk when braking
- Thread starter grover
- Start date
Register to hide this ad
Is the clunk while breaking or after you have come to a stop and release the break? If this is the case this may be normal. The 4runners are known for having a slight clunk just after coming to a stop when you first release the break after medium to hard breaking but his is in the drive shaft, it’s more rear of the car then front.
Do you get any clunking sound if you push up and down on the front of the car? You may want to jack up the front end and grab the wheels and try and move them back and forth to see if there is any play. Also, have you pulled the wheels and inspected? My first thought would be a ball joint or maybe a shock. But that is just a guess. You will need to do some investigation.
Do you get any clunking sound if you push up and down on the front of the car? You may want to jack up the front end and grab the wheels and try and move them back and forth to see if there is any play. Also, have you pulled the wheels and inspected? My first thought would be a ball joint or maybe a shock. But that is just a guess. You will need to do some investigation.
ATXsmoke-a-thon
New member
I have the same problem. Whenever I am braking downhill coming to a stop and hit a little bump in the road i hear a loud popping noise from the front of the car. Also it sometimes happens whenver I have the wheel fully cranked turning into a parking spot and almost always happens whenver I am reversing out of a parking spot at full crank. Not sure what it is but I'm not too worried.
chaz
New member
this might help for the turning issue. http://www.toyota-4runner.org/general-discussions/39739-drivetrain-binding-turning-sharp-turns.html
hbrooke28
New member
I have this same issue with my 05 SR5. I notice it most when i am backing out. I had it checked out and it appears that it's coming from my front passenger side brakes. They told me that there is no safety issue, its just the hardware associated with my brake pads. They told me next time i get my brake pads replaced to have the hardware replaced too to eliminate the noise.
Who knows, but i'm happy they found the problem and that there is nothing to be worried about.
Hope this helps.
Who knows, but i'm happy they found the problem and that there is nothing to be worried about.
Hope this helps.
Big_John
New member
Cold squeak
Driving an 03 v8, 76k on it, on really cold days when making sharp left turns ( like driving around a culdasak or in a parking lot) I can hear a rather loud squeak. IT doesn't have the same sound a as bad bearings but from the same general area in the front end. There is no sound when turning right.
any thoughts, or this just paranoia?
Driving an 03 v8, 76k on it, on really cold days when making sharp left turns ( like driving around a culdasak or in a parking lot) I can hear a rather loud squeak. IT doesn't have the same sound a as bad bearings but from the same general area in the front end. There is no sound when turning right.
any thoughts, or this just paranoia?
I am assuming that the clunk sound is a one time clunk when you start breaking or during breaking and not a “clunk, clunk, clunk…” kinda sound.
For a quick and dirty shock check, just start pushing up and down on the front of your rig on the left side and then on the right side. Your listing and feeling for any sticky movement or clunk sound on the first push. If it’s a bad shock you usual can feel it stick and then release or hear some noise when doing this.
If everything seems fine there, I would then jack up the front end. Start with the drivers side since that is where you think the sound is coming from. Get the wheel a few inches off the ground. Make sure you have it on a jack stand don’t rely on a jack to hold it up. Grab the top and bottom of the wheel and pull on the top while pushing on the bottom, then push on the top while pulling on the bottom. Like trying to rock the wheel top to bottom. You are checking for play in the joints. Use your muscles and really try and get it to move. If you can feel play, chances are it’s a ball joint. Could be a loose or worn bearing also, but you should be able to workout where the play is coming from.
If you don’t have any play and everything feels solid I would then remove the wheel and start inspecting all the linkage. I don’t’ know if the 4runner’s have wear indicators on the ball joints but take a look at the joints and see if they look okay. Check the dust cover for any leakage and see if there is grease in there. Some guys like to stick a pry bar between the control arm and the steering knuckle, at the ball joint, and try to force it around to see if there is play. Play here indicates a bad joint. I would then look at the tie rods and check for grease leakage or if anything needs grease.
Here is a youtube clip showing this method. He’s got a really bad joint:
YouTube - I think it's time for new ball joints!
Hope this helps. If you find anything let us know. Or if you don’t…
great, thanks for the info.
i pushed down on the front and end and didn't hear anything. another thing i noticed is that there is no sound when going over a speed bump. now it seems to be 2 clunks when i'm braking and it doesn't happen when i first hit the brakes, it's after i've slowed down a bit and am almost coming to a stop.
any ideas on how much toyota would/should charge if it's a ball joint?
thanks again for the help.
i pushed down on the front and end and didn't hear anything. another thing i noticed is that there is no sound when going over a speed bump. now it seems to be 2 clunks when i'm braking and it doesn't happen when i first hit the brakes, it's after i've slowed down a bit and am almost coming to a stop.
any ideas on how much toyota would/should charge if it's a ball joint?
thanks again for the help.
UPDATE: took the T4R into toyota yesterday to get it checked out. at first they told me they couldn't find anything wrong with it. i told them to check again and to take the truck out for a test drive and leave the driver's side window open so they could hear the clunk. they did that and said they could definitely hear it. i guess the tech didn't have the window open when he took it out himself. they had to keep it overnight since it got so late in the day. checked it out again this morning and apparently, one of the calipers had seized and that was the cause. just needed to be taken apart and greased. since they had to keep it overnight, i'm only being charged for the parts and shop supplies (no labor) for a total of about $50.
hope this helps out someone else.
hope this helps out someone else.
I have experienced similar issues with my 2005 SR5 and it has been driving me nuts but I have, at least in my case, found a real solution. My problem started as a simple bump or clunk after I released the brake pedal following a stop. I thought it was coming from the front of my vehicle while passengers insisted it was coming from the rear. Later on it transformed into multiple sounds that I would notice while driving and sometimes even turning. I thought I was having multiple issues from brakes, drive line to shocks or struts. The new sounds even sounded different more like a boink or clank.
I saw posts suggesting this noise would be resolved, albeit temporarily, by lubing an area near where the drive shaft and differential come together. To me this seemed like an odd solution but was willing to try anything. So I took my vehicle to two mechanics and mentioned this solution to them and both times received the same response. There is no place to lube in or around the drift shaft or differential, they are both sealed. Regardless they checked and confirmed what they already knew.
I also had an extensive conversation with another 4Runner owner who was able to win a lawsuit against Toyota under the lemon laws. He insisted that the noise was coming from something internal to the differential; it was called an impeller or something like that. He also said that there was a TSB for the Lexus LX which explained the issue. I was unable to find it.
But before I started down that path, I took my vehicle into a mechanic and paid for a $14.95 vehicle inspection. As which point, they told me that everything looks great with the exception of a motor mount that was going bad. Needless to say, I was doubtful this was the cause of my noise issue since they were multiple noises coming from different places with different sounds, but I decided to go ahead and get it fixed anyway. AND IT WORKED!
Here’s an explanation: Imagine when you come to a stop, momentum causes the motor and drive train to lurch forward. Normally if there isn’t anything out of whack like a motor mount, the motor and drive train and everything connected to that system would quietly move back into place. However, because the motor was displaced at larger distance than is within tolerances, things like the drive shaft would bind and not move back into place until you release the brake and or accelerate; causing this mysterious clunk.
Please go have your motor mounts checked. This has had an amazing effect on my vehicle. Not only are all the sounds gone but I have also notices that I have increased, smoother acceleration and the transmission shifts more smoothly.
I hope this post is helpful. Good luck!
I saw posts suggesting this noise would be resolved, albeit temporarily, by lubing an area near where the drive shaft and differential come together. To me this seemed like an odd solution but was willing to try anything. So I took my vehicle to two mechanics and mentioned this solution to them and both times received the same response. There is no place to lube in or around the drift shaft or differential, they are both sealed. Regardless they checked and confirmed what they already knew.
I also had an extensive conversation with another 4Runner owner who was able to win a lawsuit against Toyota under the lemon laws. He insisted that the noise was coming from something internal to the differential; it was called an impeller or something like that. He also said that there was a TSB for the Lexus LX which explained the issue. I was unable to find it.
But before I started down that path, I took my vehicle into a mechanic and paid for a $14.95 vehicle inspection. As which point, they told me that everything looks great with the exception of a motor mount that was going bad. Needless to say, I was doubtful this was the cause of my noise issue since they were multiple noises coming from different places with different sounds, but I decided to go ahead and get it fixed anyway. AND IT WORKED!
Here’s an explanation: Imagine when you come to a stop, momentum causes the motor and drive train to lurch forward. Normally if there isn’t anything out of whack like a motor mount, the motor and drive train and everything connected to that system would quietly move back into place. However, because the motor was displaced at larger distance than is within tolerances, things like the drive shaft would bind and not move back into place until you release the brake and or accelerate; causing this mysterious clunk.
Please go have your motor mounts checked. This has had an amazing effect on my vehicle. Not only are all the sounds gone but I have also notices that I have increased, smoother acceleration and the transmission shifts more smoothly.
I hope this post is helpful. Good luck!
wbwatson79
New member
I am having a hard time getting the clunk to go away right now and I never considered checking the motor/trans mounts. Do you recall which one you replaced?
brianlcain
New member
I bought my 2011 4R in April 2019. It has 140,000 miles on the clock. In the last two days I have noticed a very distinctive clunk from the driver side under medium to firm braking. The sound occurs once per revolution of the driver-side front wheel. I haven't seen this specific description in this thread but the thread seems to be more closely related than other 'clunk' threads on the forum,
Two weeks ago I had the steering and alignment geometry checked because I was getting wheel wobble under breaking. They rotated the wheels, which I believe fixed that issue. They also reported a very slight (0.002") warp in one rotor. The wobble came back about one week ago and now I have the clunk.
Two weeks ago I had the steering and alignment geometry checked because I was getting wheel wobble under breaking. They rotated the wheels, which I believe fixed that issue. They also reported a very slight (0.002") warp in one rotor. The wobble came back about one week ago and now I have the clunk.
You said you get a clunk on each revolution of the wheel. Does the clunk sound occur as soon as you apply the brake peddle and continue until you come to a complete stop? Does your steering wheel pull to the left or right while breaking? Pulling left or right during breaking is usually a sign of a frozen caliper. Notorious on these 4runnners. Though I've never heard a caliper make a clunk noise. Is this only under breaking or while driving too? Hard to say what's going on without more details.
Some things to consider:
I'll be honest and say I'd be suspect of any shop that fixes "wheel wobble" by only rotating the tires. I'm not sure what you mean when you say wheel wobble. If you are talking about a pulsing or vibration in the break peddle, possibly steering wheel, when breaking, that's a warped rotor or really uneven wear on the brake pads.
If your wheel is actually wobbling that would be a sign of improper wheel balance, bent or damaged wheel, deformed or otherwise bad tire or a wheel bearing. Can you clarify what you mean by wheel wobble?
A clunk sound could be a bad half shaft, they tend to make a clunk or clicking sound when they start binding. Usually during slow speed turning but they can also make this sound during flex. I believe the service interval on the half shaft is 100k to have them regressed and rebooted. (don't quote me on the 100k, but I recall doing mine around this time)
