Serious knocking noise coming from rear of car when hitting bumps, need help! - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

Nevalite · 11-14-2008, 09:32 PM

Hey,

I have a 1992 I4 Manual Camry and the car has started to make some really odd noise when I go over bumps. The best I can describe the noise is that its a hard knocking noise. When I hit a bump it sounds like something is knocking on something else. When I'm driving around and theres no bumps everything seems fine, no noise at all. But as soon as I hit a good enough bump (pothole, some sewers, big cracks, pulling into driveways) the rear of the car makes a scary noise...

Its obviously coming from the rear suspension but I honestly dont know the back end of the car well enough to figure out what it is. I took a peak underneath and theres no obvious broken parts of anything.

What could it be? Is it going to be expensive to fix? Is it dangerous?

Thanks

jakep99 · 11-14-2008, 09:44 PM

mine too! lol seriously, im going to get mine checked asap.

***Eye8Pussies*** · 11-14-2008, 09:48 PM

that noise is usually a rear strut mount going bad. our cars have a tendency to do that...and they make some pretty bad noise too.

CamryWilly · 11-14-2008, 09:56 PM

+1 eye8pussy

Had the same problem on mine...

samarai912 · 11-15-2008, 12:33 AM

you can check the nut that holds the strut mount. for some reason they tend to come loose. just grab a 15 or 17mm( cant remember) socket and check to see if its loose. if loose then tighten, if not its time to replace.It can save you time and money.

Nevalite · 11-15-2008, 01:44 AM

How much does a rear strut mount cost to change usually?

samarai912 · 11-15-2008, 01:46 AM

I dont know......never had any else work on my car

Nevalite · 11-15-2008, 01:54 AM

Alright I just did some researching, looks like rear strut mounts cost about 40$ each. Seems like a fairly simple thing to change, is there a guide up anywhere on how to do this?

Thanks

samarai912 · 11-15-2008, 02:03 AM

heres one. its for the front but the rear are identical. except you have to pop off the rear dash to get to the top mounts. its easy.

link: DIY: Gen 3 front struts

Nevalite · 11-15-2008, 02:05 AM

Yeah I was just checking that out, thanks.

I'm going to look into doing this myself

One question though, if I don't change these even though they're making this noise, is there any risk of more damage? What exactly do they do?

Thanks

project92camry · 11-15-2008, 02:19 AM

yea its a 85% chance that its the rear strut mount.. there shouldnt be no serious damage to your camry other than your ears. that crap is annoying. try not to hit big pot wholes so the strut doesnt fall out of place, but that varys on how broken your mount is.
heres a link for one on ebay
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/CAMRY...spagenameZWD1V

Nevalite · 11-15-2008, 07:41 AM

Well that's good to know.

How can I check the strut mounts to make sure thats really the problem before I go ahead and change them?

Is there like a rubber pad in there that I can check if its worn down or something?

Thanks

project92camry · 11-15-2008, 08:56 AM

if u look at the link i showed you the thing that goes bad is the bearing in the middle of the mount. the top of the strut bolts through the middle of it and after yrs of impact the bearing goes. you can check by pushing down on the car near the top of the mount and listen if its comming from there.

***ASG14*** · 11-15-2008, 10:42 AM

^ The rear does not have a bearing, only the front's do. I've replaced bad front struts/mounts in a couple camry's, and in all of them the bearing was actually fine (but replaced anyway as preventative maintmence).

Also, as for clunking, check the rear sway bar link and sway bar bushings (the bushings are just a look at inspection to see if intact).

But yeah, I'll give 90% chance to a broken mount, 10% sway bar related.

*Edit
Also, if you get an aftermarket mount, get KYB mounts. I would not trust anything else due to quality and issues I personally had.

bill buttermore · 11-15-2008, 04:30 PM

If you can't reproduce the noise by bouncing the rear end up and down, and don't see any play on the struts as the car is bouncing, then, as ASG14 mentioned, check for worn sway bar bushings or end links. Have someone bounce the car while you watch the end links for play. It these are tight, suspect the bushings that attach the sway bar to the body. These bushings can appear to be okay at first glance, but if they are not tight on the bar, the bar vibrates against the hard rubber when you hit a bump and resonates through the body. The bushings are about $15 from NAPA and are easy to change out. I have had to replace more sway bar bushings than strut mounts to stop clunking over bumps on Camry and E300.