Comments: 1-15, 16-30, 31-45, 46-60, 61-75, 76-90
1998 Toyota Avalon front strut knocking noise @ approx 50k miles. This also applies to the 1995 and later Camry. I pulled the strut assembly out, disassembled, and inspected. The strut mount for this year comes in three pieces; strut mount, bearing, and upper spring seat. I noticed that the three pieces didn't fit together snuggly like a pressed bearing would and that there was a lot of play when unit was assembled. I took a hammer and carefully snugged up the bearing cup around the bearing and the spring seat bushing that inserts into the bearing. No more play. Reassembled and test drove. No more strut knocking noise. Also, no more ABS pulsing when braking hard. Cost of repair: $0.00. WARNING: strut springs are dangerous... do not disassemble unless you have the right tools and knowledge.
99 Camry 4 cylinder CE. Bought used with 31K. Not until around 70K did it start exhibiting this problem. The front end makes so much noise in the mornings and when cold. Ridiculous. My first and last Toyota. I see no reason to fix this though. I can put up with the noise and it would appear there is no safety issue. Haven't even had this checked out by a mechanic--why pays $ to find out what is obvious--Toyota isn't owning up to its problems and is losing customers as a result. I'll buy a Honda next time.
My new tires have completely worn bald on the outsides, but are great in the middle and inside. I thought it had to do with the struts since I had this noise. Guess I'll go get it all aligned and forget about the noises.
Trevor Rees in MD.
I have a 1998 Toyota Camry LE V6 with 126,000 miles. I have the same loud clunking sound coming from the front passenger side of the vehicle. It sounds like something is loose in the suspension/wheel area. It is loudest in the morning when I first start driving. It doesn't happen all the time, but when it does happen it sounds like something is about to fall off the car. I've taken it to the dealership twice. The first time they weren't able to find anything wrong with the suspension and didn't hear the sound when they test drove it. I even drove around with the guy, but wasn't able to recreate it for him. At his suggestion, I left the car overnight so that they could drive it first thing in the morning. They told me that they still couldn't hear what I was hearing and told me that the suspension looks fine. With all of the information about this problem on the Internet and the service bulletins, I can't figure out how a Toyota dealership wouldn't seem to be able to diagnose the problem. I think I'm going to just take it in and have them replace the struts and strut mounts and hope that solves the problem.
2003 Avalon
Wheel bearing goes bad at 3895 miles
Headliner starts rattling at 11,500 miles
-it has been worked on or replaced a total of five times
Air conditioner control computer went out
A/C condenser got the pin hole leak
left side mirror had to be replace
Front end rattles, supposedly in the cowling, fixed twice
Total: ~ $5000 in repairs and associated costs in about six months. The car is about 17 months old.
It is a hard pill to swallow.
1998 Toyota Avalon XL - This car has been garage kept and only has 60K miles on it.. Noticed the rattle in the right front around 52K miles, at around 58K the left front started rattling. Also the right rear window stopped going down.. Took it to the Toyota dealer and was told that my rack & pinion was bad, upper strut mounts bad and rear window motor bad.. Fortunately everything, but the strut mounts were covered under warranty ($2K +). Well a month later the rear window stopped working again and the rattling is terrible from the front end. Took it to another Toyota dealership and they told me that my front and rear strut mounts are bad, all my struts are bad, and my front tires are worn out.. Total price tag (not covered under warranty) $2400.00.. My comment to the Service manager was don't you find this somewhat strange that my shocks are gone at only 60K miles. This car has been babied and very infrequently carries anyone, but my wife to work. My Acura on the other hand has 126K miles and has yet to see the inside of a garage except for routine maintenance. This will be my last Toyota as soon as I sell it. Looks like Honda or Nissan will be next vehicles of choice.
1999 TOYOTA AVALON XL -- I purchased the car new in December 1998. The rattling noises appeared in mine also shortly after purchase (about next winter). I tried several times to have the work done under warranty, but no luck. I had purchased an extended warranty and after the original Toyota warranty had expired, the dealer said they would validate replacing both front strut assemblies. I do not remember precisely which components were replaced, but it sounded like entire units were rather than individual components. For a while, sound improved, but now the rattling has returned, especially when I drive over bumpy surfaces. The car has performed well and is very reliable, but this suspension noise issue is galling, and will influence my next purchase.
Following up this thread and my comments posted Dec. 29, 2003 regarding front and rear suspension noise and rattle on my 98 Avalon.
I cured most of the front suspension noise by tightening down the nut that connects the strut rod to the strut bearing mount assembly. Both my nuts were very loose and not torqued down properly. The remaining occasional noise in the front suspension was due to worn sway bar bushings.
I completely eliminated the rear suspension noise by replacing the worn sway bar bushings. I used "Energy Suspension" polyurethane bushings front and back.
I do plan on replacing all four struts with "Tokico" brand, Toyota front strut bearing assemblies, Toyota rear strut mounts, Toyota sway bar end links and all control arm bushings with "Energy Suspension" polyurethane bushings.
WC.
I have Avalon 98 XLS and 99 XL. Both have the rattle problems from day one with me. It is very anoying sometime. So far it does not give me major mechanic problem though. Recently, my Avalon 99 has a road noise at 40 and 60 miles/hour. If the speed higher or lower, the noise will disappear. The noise sound like "wheng...". It is pretty loud. Does anyone have the same problem there? It happened suddently when I took a long trip and it is with me since.
I have a slight "clunk" on the driver's side of my 1996 Avalon when backing out of my carport in the mornings. I have always done my own maintenance and can't find anything noticeably loose, thus I was reading the website. I guess I'm the lucky one. I replaced the timing belt, at 140,000 miles, at a cost of $48 from the dealer when I could have gotten an aftermarket part for $13, due to the success and absence of failure of the original, I stayed with Toyota brand on that part. I replaced the half-shafts, one at 135,000, and one at 168,000. Lifetime guarantee rebuilt from Auto Zone for $59.99 each. Changed a leaking rack and pinion seal, $6 part, but put a new boot on for $25 while I was at it.
The only strange thing was a clicking valve lifter at about 120,000 miles. Inspection revealed that an exhaust valve had loosened by.030" for no apparent reason. The available pucks were not thick enough, so I made a.030 shim and slipped it under the puck. No noticeable change after another 86,000 miles.
Yes, my Avalon now has 206,000 miles and is, by far, the best car I have ever owned. Based on everyone else's comments, I guess I would be afraid to buy a newer one, tho.
My '96 is a V-6 that thinks it's a V-8, especially when accelerating for a pass at higher speed. It will accelerate to 120+ mph very quickly when I decide to play with it on new tires (I run Perelli tires).
On a recent trip from Phoenix to Salt Lake City, we took the by-ways through hilly country and had fun driving the car playfully and got 31.5 mpg for the trip.
I wonder if Toyota went downhill after 1996?
Maybe I'll just keep this one in the family.
The scary part is that we added a 2003 Sienna to our carport a year ago. We liked the idea that the drive train was the same as the '96 Avalon, so we bought the dealer's last 2003 after the 2004's came out.
Good luck folks!
98 Avalon XLS... I enjoy this car immensely at 140K although have noticed the rattling noise everyone else is talking about for about 30K miles now. I've heard elsewhere that the rattle albeit annoying is for the most part not destructive. My driver side window quit working one day with a most impressive snap and I have an interesting jolt around the low RPM range. I fixed the window by replacing the pulley linkage (window regulator), very easy if you know what your doing in the slightest. I have heard many things on my jolt although the best one that I can reason with is a simple natural shutter of the engine at such RPM due to engine frequencies. I left it at that as the car seems to run fine on all other occasions.
I will be replacing my struts (all four) soon due to the fact that it is badly needed and will post a message with my results as to the reduction of clunks as well. After so many miles I wonder if I will miss those stupid clunks assuming I can even get them to leave...
Dalton.
Just wanted to give a quick update for all who still read this page. Replaced all four struts the other day. Very easy as long as you have access to a spring compressor. I used the cheapest I could find, Gabriel's from Auto-Zone I believe. My total came to 230 bucks and each strut was priced differently,;I saw this as reasonable. You may get Tokico's on the web for about 360 if wanting to spend more. The good news is that my suspension is noticably better and the car handles like a champ now. Bad news... same clunks and rattles in the front end as before. Does the design of the car somehow allow the strut to touch the actual body resulting in no possible way to fix, short of removing the strut all together???!
Dalton.
98 XLS. The front suspension noises are from three main areas. Strut mounts, sway bar bushings, sway bar end links. There may also be noise from the steering rack inner tie rods. I had a worn mount on the right side and worn sway bar bushings in the front as well as the rear. I replaced the following: front and rear strut mounts and sway bar end links
with original Toyota parts, sway bar bushings with Energy Suspension polyurethane ones, and 4 struts with Tokico's. This eliminated all noise except the inner tie rod noise which is heard only when the car is cold. The noise usually disappears after driving a few minutes. Toyota had a service bulletin for updated inner tie rods. I do not believe there is a safety issue here, just an annoying noise. I don't plan on replacing the inner tie rods since every thing is tight on the steering rack.
Noise may also come from worn spring seats causing the spring to contact the spring mounts. Mine were OK as were the front strut bearings. I do have a worn outer left CV joint that has some play in it, though there is no clicking when I turn, nor vibration at high speed. Other possible sources of noise are worn ball joints and control arm bushings.
WC.
My wife's 98XL had the right front rattle when cold last year, but I got her to ignore it until this year when it got colder and louder again. I replaced the strut mount, rattle gone. Now the left side is starting to make noise. Auto-zone had the right one for $62, the left is $74. Around here they let you buy the spring compressor, use it and then return it for a refund. It took me about two hours total time, but I was REAL careful to get everything lined up to prevent any future noises. On a scale of 1-10 I'd give it a 4.
I have a 99 Camry (at 60,000 miles) and I also have been hearing a noise from the front right side on rough roads and over bumps. A Toyota service in Los Angeles told me that the cause is worn strut mounts and they asked $525 to fix the problem. Reading about the experiences of others on this site, I am amazed that there is such a wide range of cost estimates for fixing this problem. I don't understand why different Toyota services quote such different prices. As a result of this and other similar experiences in the past (once a Toyota service tried to charge me a huge amount for something that is covered under warranty), I have zero trust in the honesty of Toyota services now. I think Toyota must ensure that there is uniform pricing in Toyota services and protect its customers from price gouging. Since the problem seems to be so common, it should also own to its responsibility by fixing this problem for free.
Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences.
Kamil.
I have a 98 Camry that has the common noise problem of the right front strut making progressively worse noises as the strut flexes. The Toyota dealership here in Plano, Texas quoted us around $900 to fix this problem. It seems ridiculous that Toyota does not fix this problem for free, since it is obviously a design or manufacturing defect. I will never buy another Toyota product or use the dealership again, as if that will cause a huge gouge to their profit margin. I guess Toyota has become so successful that they can afford to neglect customer service. It seems ironic, since Toyota's current market share was based on reliability and service.