Tow damage?

[jaya]

The other day, I had my 2002 Sienna Symphony towed (first time ever ) I went and got it back today and verified that it had no physical damage and no personal property had been taken.

It had already been positioned for us to just jump in and drive straight out. It got driven about 45 miles today from the tow lot to my home with no problems.

When I got home we went to back it into a spot and it began making some awful noises. They sounded somewhere between loud exhaust noise and a really, really loud rattle - neither of which was something it was doing before the tow.

We were able to replicate the noise with the car both in reverse and in park by turning the wheel in certain directions. Looking under the car while it was rattling, it seems to be coming from the undercarriage, near the rear wheels but somewhat in front of them.

There did not seem to be any issues starting the car or driving it forward that we noticed. Unfortunately we NEED to use the car for a fairly long trip this weekend (apx 300 miles total) to move an elderly parent.

Looking online a wide variety of things get mentioned as possible culprits, including a heat shield, a U Joint and the transmission. I have had one car with transmission issues in the past (99 Ford Taurus wagon) and my Sienna is not behaving ANYTHING like that car did when the transmission went.

Anyone have any insight as to what this may be? I am a girl with almost no car knowledge and I would like to sound like I at least know a little of what I'm talking about when I go to the repair shop on Monday!


EDIT: I should probably add this. It has about 118,000 miles on it. The last time I drove it before Friday afternoon was Sunday night. I have no idea what method they used to tow it.

[movester]

I sure hope they towed it on a flatbed considering the 45 mile distance.
Why was it towed in the first place? what kind of work did you have done
on it prior to having it towed back to your residence?

[jaya]

I probably should have said "it got towed". It's a long story. There was no work done to it at all. It was towed and I went and picked it up.

We made a video of the noise. You can see it here:

You Tube

You Tube

Some other comments based on the myriad of questions I've been asked:

Earlier, it was rattling in Park when the wheels were turned, intermittently. We couldn't replicate that for the above video.

It seems to rattle pretty consistently in reverse. It does vary in volume when the gas is pressed and when the wheel is turned; I did not hit the gas at all in this video.

I haven't heard it rattling in Drive; however, I didn't drive it very far after first hearing the rattle. It was driven about 45 miles as I said earlier with no problems, including highway driving up to 70mph and street driving with turning.

[Black Sunshine]

Does it vibrate when rattling? It kinda seems like a motor mount issue. The engine is suspended in the frame by five mounts. When they wear out vibrations can show up.

[jaya]

There's not really any vibration it's more just the noise. It's definitely coming from the undercarriage near the rear tires. When you open up the hood there's no unusual noises/vibration.

[movester]

Could be something related to the exhaust system. If you can get your hands on a mechanics stethoscope that may help you pinpoint where
the problem is. Kind of hard to diagnose and troubleshoot without
doing that first. But with only 118,000 miles I don't think it's anything
major. Just like you I suspect something happened while it was towed.

[jaya]

Just wanted to give everyone an update and say thanks for the info.

On Saturday my husband visited his mother and parked the car on her fairly hilly driveway. He put on the E Brake while he was parked, which is something we almost never do as we generally never park on any type of incline. When he returned to the car, it no longer made the noise - and continued to make no noise for the rest of the weekend.

Today I took it to the mechanic, who test drove it and confirmed that the transmission is perfect, and put it up on the lift to verify that the heat shield and exhaust mount were both intact and undamaged. (He also stated for anyone curious that the tweeting noise is coming from my AC compressor).

His best explanation is that either somehow when towing or when they got it to the lot, the E Brake was engaged partially - so slightly that it would not trip the BRAKE light on the dash (which does work) but enough that it would rattle slightly. He feels that when my husband set/disengaged the E Brake over the weekend it released fully.

I've never heard of such a thing although I did have one "car" friend tell me it had happened to him in the past but it was a wire problem that had to be corrected. Either way the car seems to be running perfectly now!

[Black Sunshine]

Great news! Woot!