Drivers Side Front Popcorn noise

[FrontRange4Runner]

Hey guys, so the GF called me on the way home from work saying that the 4Runner was making a weird noise. I just got back from driving around and this is a new one for me.
- At any speed from 2 mph up and on smooth roads or bumpy there is a noise coming from the drivers side front that sounds exactly like your popping a bag of popcorn under the floor boards. It is audible from inside and out. I looked around and all of the suspension pieces seem to be in order. It has been very cold here and there is ice everywhere under the runner so my best guess is that its rubbing or hitting on something. I cleared the running boards of all ice which didn't help. Also, I can rock the Runner back and fourth while it's turned off and it will make a popping noise that's similar just slowed down a lot. Has anyone else experienced this before? I have a ton of work to do right now, but maby later tonight I will have time to do some searching. Figured I would start with the quick and lazy way

 

[LandCruiser]

You have ice blobs gluing the body and frame together, when the body moves independent from the frame, the plastic body panels are popping along with the ice. Mine does it when it's encrusted with ice. Don't try to kick th eice off, it might tear the body panels off.

 

[eddiebx]

opcorn: opcorn: opcorn: opcorn: opcorn: opcorn:


I'm with landcruiser, either ice, or maybe a trapped pebble moving around? Doesn't sound like anything that's a big deal since you said you can reproduce it while it's off and just rocking it a bit.

 

[FrontRange4Runner]

Cool I was hoping it was ice and not something more major. Unfortunately it wont be warming up for a few days, but hopefully it goes away when it does. I have not tried to kick any off because the ice is so solidly on there I would probably break my foot in the process of ripping off my mud flap. I could do without either at the moment, so I'll let it melt a bit first Thx for the thoughts.

 

[Intruder]

A couple of the malls around here have heated underground parking. Whenever I want to get rid of ice I just go there and wander around for a while or watch a movie...

One other possibility I can think of is that if they used balancing beads to balance your tires the moisture in your tires might have frozen to the beads and the sound you hear is them rattling around.

 

[Jeremy556]

Can't speak for anyone else, but I just try to ignore any noise when it's cold. I live down 12ish miles of unmaintained roads, which means a combination of snow, ice, and lots of mud, which usually end up refreezing in the fender wells and suspension components, especially clogging everything around the lower shock mount in the front, and all of the rear links, spring area, and shock lower mount.

Damn, that is a long run-on sentence, but I'm not going to fix it.

 

[Jeremy556]

A couple of the malls around here have heated underground parking. Whenever I want to get rid of ice I just go there and wander around for a while or watch a movie...

That's where your ride belongs, no?

 

[cbreze]

Or if you have your own garage all that frozen crap falls into a gunk pile on your cement floor every night.

 

[LandCruiser]

A couple of the malls around here have heated underground parking. Whenever I want to get rid of ice I just go there and wander around for a while or watch a movie...

One other possibility I can think of is that if they used balancing beads to balance your tires the moisture in your tires might have frozen to the beads and the sound you hear is them rattling around.

You Canadians sure have it fancy.

Here in CO I'm just happy when the parking is covered and free of ice.

Which is never as of late.

 

[Intruder]

That's where your ride belongs, no?

Hey, sometimes I need to use the locker to get over those parking blocks. And I need all the extra room of an SUV to fit my Coach bags...

You Canadians sure have it fancy.

Here in CO I'm just happy when the parking is covered and free of ice.

Which is never as of late.

Rich city where we get 6 months of winter a year and temps as low as the -30s without wind chill. All those BMW and Audi drivers need somewhere to park where they won't have to scrape the windows before they leave.