94 Camry - Suspension Thump - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

TexanF250 · 02-24-2009, 02:34 PM

I recently purchased a 94 Camry in need of work. The car has very nearly 200K miles on it. While driving, I get a thump or thud probably 50% of the time when I hit a bump of some sort in the raod. Doesn't always do it but more often than not. I suspect it is bad struts but wanted to get some feedback from those with a longer history of ownership of one of these cars.

Thanks

***ASG14*** · 02-24-2009, 04:21 PM

It;s likely the strut MOUNT. It;s extremly common in our cars. It can also be the sway bar link or sway bar bushing. But 80% of the time, it;s the mount. Likely need to replace all 4 struts and mounts.

TexanF250 · 02-24-2009, 04:57 PM

That's what I thought but I wanted to get some confirmation before dumping $300.00 for parts.

Tedders · 03-02-2009, 09:27 PM

Don't forget to get the stabilizer bar links, about $42.00 from Pep Boys. Get the Japanese made ones, not the US made ones; the former are stiffer (from hard experience).... I had a terrible rumble bumping and replacing those made that sound go away.

Good luck; at 200 grand, lots needs replacing, but the car is sweet!

Tedders

Drive laughing!

TexanF250 · 03-02-2009, 10:19 PM

Appreciate the post. I will take a look at the stabilizer bar links also.

The sound actually a series of rapid fire thuds/thumps - almost like a loud vibration but it only lasts a second or two when it does it. At first I thought that I had a loose piece of plastic under there but I checked everyting and nothing is loose. I plan to start on this problem tomorrow.

The car was actually purchased by my 8 year old daughter for $150.00. The intent was to replace the clutch that was shot, let her clean it up and flip it. Any more of this, and I may have to drive it for a while to recoup some of the money I am pumping into it for repairs.

Mike Gerber · 03-03-2009, 01:21 PM

Is the noise in the front or the rear? If it is in the rear, in addition to what ASG14 suggested, don't forget to check the rear lateral control rods. You have 2 on each side running from the center of the car out to the sides. It's usually the rear one of the 2 on each side that goes out. That's the one with the rear wheel adjustment built in to it. It's usually the rubber bushing that goes. You can check by raising the rear wheels off the ground and grabing the tire and wheel at 9:00 and 3:00 and see if you can move it front to back and in and out. If you can, you may even be able to duplicate the rattle noise you are hearing. Just one more thing to check.

Mike

TexanF250 · 03-03-2009, 04:47 PM

There is so much damn noise under that car it's to tell where it is coming from. Appreciate the suggestion for the rears. I have hte rights front off right now and working on that one.

Has anybody used any of the heap struts for sale on ebay? If so, any thoughts comments??

I realize there are beter ones out there but based on what I found, even the cheapes of the cheap will be much better than I have under there now.

Tedders · 03-03-2009, 07:24 PM

Yeah, the rapid fire bumps & thumps sounds exactly like my shot front stabilizer bar links. They were just replaced by me this past weekend and the noise is allll gone. It's an easy job: two nuts on each one, and you need to use an Allan wrench to hold the center of the bolt so it won't turn when you try to unscrew the nut. Took me about two and a half hours because I had to cut one bolt off, the nut was so frozen onto it.

Do it and you won't regret it.

Tedders

Drive laughing!

TexanF250 · 03-03-2009, 07:54 PM

I will get to the stabilzer link bushings next. Right now I am in the middle of the strut project which I think will do wonders. The original strut will not even push back any longer and half of the rubber parts are missing.

The car has almost 200K miles on it (196,587 to be exact). What I had on the car was the remanants of the suspension it left the Toyota Plant with in 1994. All that is left of the bellow is the material where it is tied to the strut swupport at the top. There is supposed to be some sort of rubber stop in there but it is gone (at least it is on the driver's side. I purchased new strut's (Mpnroe) and I purchased the bumper and bellows kit. The Monroe plastic bellows kit looks nothing like the original rubber one. Not a real big deal, I can figure out how to attach it but my question is in regards to the bumper. How does it go on and in which direction. The tip doesn't want to slip over the end of strut rod very easily if at all. I wanted to get some feedback before I force anything.

Question:
Where do I get the lower insulator This is the rubber piece that the bottom of the coil spring sits on.

Thanks

TexanF250 · 03-04-2009, 11:05 PM

Got the struts on they make one hell of a difference. I ended up having to buy the lower insulators from Toyota for $27.00 each. OUCH!!!

I chose to cut the remanants of the bellows off and reuse the top insultaor that was formed intot the old bellows. Apparently Toyota offfers the top isulator as an individual part but they wanted $35.00 a piece for them. I passed.

I also reused the top mounts. Turns out that they were not the problem at all. They looked good and I saw no reason to replace them Apparently when they are bad, it is readily apparent that they are toast.

I choe to leave the reat wstuts alone for right now. It's a 15 year old car with almost 200K miles on it and I want to keep the investment down on it.