Chatter Noise - Please Help

[RichardLee]

Hi Guys,

So... last time I had any issues with my 99 Ltd, I came here and received a lot of really good advice. Now, about a year later, I am having some issues again and I decided to come back here before anywhere else.

I am experiencing a fairly severe 'chatter' noise from the undercarriage upon light acceleration at low speeds. When I accelerate heavily, the engine noise drowns it out so then it's hard to tell. It almost sounds like something is broken and stuck in a wheel or the driveshaft, almost like a playing card in the spokes of a bicycle, only more metallic and rough. I can also hear the sound as I coast to a stop. The speed of the chatter is directly related to vehicle speed only, engine speed has no affect at all and neither does braking. However, at very low parking lot speeds, the sound only appears when I lightly accelerate, at least it gets much worse when I do. As soon as I let off the gas the noise is noticeably reduced, even if the vehicle speed stays relatively constant.

All I have been able to do so far is to check the transmission fluid, which was a hair low so I added a half-quart or so, which had no noticeable affect.

I took it to the local Toyota dealer, but they were going to charge me $60 to look at it, and I currently am flat broke.

Also, it's been between 0 and 15 degrees here lately. I hadn't noticed the sound until it dropped down to these temperatures about two weeks ago.

Any help at all, even wild speculation, would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks in advance!

Ric

 

[kball]

I'm thinking cv's or driveshaft. Does the sound change when you turn? When it warms up to a nice high of 15 (brrr!!) get under there and grease the drive shaft and see if that helps.

 

[RichardLee]

Thanks kball... The only other problem I've ever had with this vehicle was last winter. It was a squealing noise upon coasting that actually ended up being a dry section of the drive shaft. After liberal amounts of grease hand-applied, the noise was gone.

Now, a year later, I do hear that same squeal wanting to return, but now I hear these other scarier noises too. I guess maybe every winter I'll just need to pull the drive shaft and lubricate it manually? Doesn't seem like something that should be part of routine annual maintenance... Also, it seems like wishful thinking to think that could be all it is. I'll try that within the next couple of days and update this thread, but until then I'm still open to other suggestions too...

Thanks again.

 

[RichardLee]

Also, no... turning doesn't seem to affect the sound.