Strange sound when turning right

[ibfly]

Hi, everyone,

I need your help to figure out my strange noise problem.

My camry is a 2000 one with 120 K on it. I drove 500 miles to my girlfriend's house and parked my car there for 3 days without driving it. When I drove it back today, I found that there was a strange crisp noise coming from the left rear side of the car when I was turning right. The sound seems like coming from a metal component rubbing on the ground. And the sound is not continuous. I checked my chasis and I found that everything was in position. I am so confused and I really don't have a clue what happened to my car. It was just fine before I drove the 500 miles. I drove it every day and there was no noise like that before.

Could you pleae give me any comments on my problem? Where should I go to fix it?

I drove another 500 miles back today and it drove good on highway.

[BMR]

Typically a metallic clinking or clicking noise when turning hard right means the left CV joint is bad. It's simplest to replace the whole axle, and not a lot more expensive for the part. Are your CV joints/axles the originals? If yes, then that's most likely the cause. To have someone replace it for you ought to cost about $300. A bit more if you insist on Toyota parts.

[Jimnist]

+1 on the CV shaft, check for cracks or splits. If not, it just means they're on their way out.

[ibfly]

Originally Posted by BMR

Typically a metallic clinking or clicking noise when turning hard right means the left CV joint is bad. It's simplest to replace the whole axle, and not a lot more expensive for the part. Are your CV joints/axles the originals? If yes, then that's most likely the cause. To have someone replace it for you ought to cost about $300. A bit more if you insist on Toyota parts.

Thank you very much! But I think the sound came from the left rear end. If it is left CV joint, it should come from left front side, right?

[BMR]

Originally Posted by ibfly

Thank you very much! But I think the sound came from the left rear end. If it is left CV joint, it should come from left front side, right?

Ah, I missed that your noise was coming from the rear; I read your post too quickly. You are correct, noise from a bad CV joint would come from the front. Are you certain it's coming from the rear?... sometimes noises like that are tricky to tell.

I can think of a couple of things in the rear that would make a noise like that. It could be your rear brake pads/shoes are worn out. They can make intermittent metallic scraping noises. When you apply the brakes, does the noise get louder?

Another less likely possibility is the rear wheel bearing is going bad.

[ghettosled]

do you have drum brakes on the rear?

i had the same problem and it turned out to be the drum was scraping on the dust shield. for me, it only happened on occasion and only when i turned a slight left.

the drum was rusty enough and expanded from the iron oxide so i took them off and ground them down a bit. problem fixed