Sounds like a bad strut.

 

This, actually, reminds me of my short time owned NX200. Had similar clunk in the L side tire well area.
After 2 weeks at dealership, they "put suspension ears" onto suspension and drove it around.
Their final comment was - we tightened all loose suspension bolts and it fixed it. Q: How did bolts go loose? A: they just self loosened.
So there you are. Clunk came back few months down the road, they scoped it again, told me they could not find anything, I rid of car soon after.
I have never figured what it was. I had it on car lift few times and never found anything wrong or loose.
If you have steering wheel slightly turned during that clunk, it's ISS likely. Intermediate steering shaft. Toyota, just like GM, was plagued with that problem.

 

Strut was my first thought, thanks for the input. I hope that's all it is, yet at the same time I am surprised it is bad already.

I am not too familiar with ISS, I will have to look into it. I will also have to pay more attention to whether or not my wheel is turned when the clunk happens.

Thank you two. Any other suggestions?

Edit: Now that I have read a bit about ISS, it is possible it is that, but not likely. It only has one of the 5ish symptoms. My friend has a Jeep that I bet you any money it's their ISS, you feel pops and hear sounds when you bump the wheel, and let go.

Are these struts crap? Has anyone else replaced them with aftermarket?

 

Check the sway bar linkages.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Check the sway bar linkages.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you. I do not know how to do this unfortunately. Any tips?

I just noticed on my trip to work today it did it a couple more times. It is such a nasty clunk feeling I don't like it at all. I had the wheel turned slightly left, going only about 15km/h, and went into a little dip in the road, just enough to make the suspension work. I heard the clunk from the front driver wheel area again, **AND in case this helps diagnose, I felt some gross poppy clunk feedback through the steering wheel. It also does it backing out of my driveway off the sloped curb sometimes. I don't know if it's just me paying extra attention now or not, but my car doesn't feel as smooth on the highway either. Could this be related? If I have a bottle of water on the passenger seat, I see the thing vibrating like it's sketching out.

Does anyone know where I can find the complete torque spec sheet for our Camry? Before I take it in I am going to do my own diligence and try tightening the strut if possible? Sway bar linkages if there's anything to tighten?
Isn't there a bar in the XSE V6 that goes across the struts? I have not seen it myself. I admit, I am a newbie when it comes to suspension, sorry.

I just hope it is something simple. My brother said it could possibly be a CV axle, bushing, or the strut. My poor car

 

Had a similar sound from the front passenger wheel well/tire under the exact same driving scenarios as you. Took 2 techs on a drive and the second tech said he thought the noise was from the strut. Replaced strut and all is quiet. This was with around 8k miles on our ‘18 le.

 

Thank you very much for chiming in! This will help. Probably exact same issue I have, only mine happened another 6000km later, yet still ridiculously young to be having a broken strut. I am concerned that when I bring it in, it won't do the noise it does, you know how it goes! I will have to go with them I guess.

Would this also help with my slight vibration issue I have? It seems like since I have been hearing this clunk noise, my car isn't as smooth when going 80+ km/h. I feel vibrating in the steering wheel, and can see objects moving on my passenger seat. Would they road force balance and re-align it after fixing the strut?

Thanks so much.

 

I'm assuming this is still under the factory warranty- if so definitely take it in. If you get the classic "can't replicate" take a tech on a ride. I scoped out an area close to the dealership where I could reproduce the noise going over uneven road. I took the tech right to that area and went over it enough that he was able to really get a good sense of what I was hearing. He was focused on the noise and trying to pinpoint is rather than driving. I'm old enough to have had enough of the can't replicate scenario, and so I do as much as I can to help the tech diagnose stuff. They usually want to help, but can't road trip your car for days trying to find a noise.

 

Thank you very much. I am willing to take the test drive with the foreman. I have it booked for tomorrow morning. It is hard to replicate it sometimes, I really hope I can make it happen so they can replace/repair the problem part. It happens 2-3 times per commute to work, but doesn't happen on the same bumps every time.

I am not very old, but have also heard that excuse enough times before also, and I hate it. I am sure if they jack it up and start mucking with it, they will see or hear the problem if I can't replicate it.

 

Funny thing happened on this road test- when he said it sounded like a strut I said that I was surprised. He said it shouldn't be surprising with 86 thousand miles- I looked confused and said it only has 86 HUNDRED miles. He double checks the odometer and smiled, yep he was surprised it was making this noise already too. In my case it was making the noise from new, just was letting the parts wear in a bit before bringing it up.

 

I had it dropped off this morning. Went with a test drive with the shop foreman. It happened twice right off the hop and I went "THERE!" he obviously wasn't paying attention or is numb, but he claims he didn't hear or feel it. He drove around for another 2 minutes then went back. I told him that it happens when it wants, usually over mild bumps, when braking which loads the suspension up, cornering etc. I said it doesn't happen consistently, but on my way home yesterday it happened 6 times! Of course it didn't happen after the first two clunks when we started. He didn't say much, but I told him I want it looked at and fixed, I know when something is wrong, and it is. I also don't feel safe, I shouldn't feel big thunks through my steering wheel while going over a tiny blip in the road. I hope when they jack it up and monkey around with the struts, sway bars, bushings etc they will find out what's wrong. Personally I think the shock is faulty, and only upon certain conditions (for now) it will make that god awful clunk.

Fingers crossed for when I go to pick it up. I will give updates. Thx

 

Please help

So, good news and bad. Good news, they did say the strut and strut mount are bad, they need to order in the parts, have a loaner in the meantime. Yay, they didn't mess me around like I assumed they would.

Bad news, according to them, Toyota will not cover the wheel alignment and I have to pay $120 out of my pocket for them to do it. To me this seems a little whacked. The strut was faulty and is being replaced under warranty, but they aren't going to finish the job, they aren't covering everything that is required to get it running normally. In case some of you didn't know, when you pull off suspension components and install new ones, your alignment is out to lunch and needs a new alignment.

Are they trying to fleece me or is this legit? I told them that sounds ridiculous, and have they asked Toyota if they would cover it. She said they asked, and said no. Should I phone corporate? Maybe just pay for it and then put up a fuss with them later? I am happy my vehicle is getting fixed, but I should not have to shell out half a car payment on somthing related to warranty work..

 

I am glad they found the issue. I have the same issue, but the sound is so mild that I am not sure it's a problem. And it only happens at very low speed when going over a bumper or some road depression. Was your sound also very mild?


I have

 

For anyone wondering: warranty is a scam. I am so tired of this BS. Same old story, deny deny, it's normal, deny, oh it's not covered.

Alignment is not covered no matter what happens. Apparently it's a maintenance routine. The lady sounded like a typical, rude insurance agent who is trying to get out of paying. I said look, when you take suspension components off, YOU NEED to realign it before it is drivable. She said I understand, but it is not covered.
So wait, the part is faulty, you're replacing it, but only doing half the job? I need an alignment NOT BECAUSE MAINTENANCE, I need it because it is a part of the damn job to replace a strut.
"It is incidental, ma'am." Ok, what exactly does that mean.
"It means if a part fails and causes other parts to fail, the other parts aren't covered." Are you bloody serious??

So there's nothing you can do? Nope. I can put in a complaint for you but it won't change the answer. Wow.. Does everyone their hate their lives or something? Not willing to help at all. Sickening.

 

Tell them to check the alignment before they take the faulty part off and then re adjust to pre replacement settings after. Tell them you will need the pre and post reports as part of your claim in small claims court. I bet you they side a "goodwill" adjustment for the cost of the alignment.

 

Thanks everyone for the advice. Yes, I am happy they found it after hounding them. If I had just dropped the keys off and said "it's making a weird noise over bumps" guaranteed it would have come back to me as 'everything's normal'
What is annoying is that it was aligned before the failed part (under warranty) had to be replaced. In what world is that not covered. Dealing with Toyota Corp. is useless, they're all zombies with scripts and no motivation to retain customers whatsoever. Oh well.
I hope the new strut & alignment will fix that vibration on the highway. Fingers crossed.

Polusa, any time it happened for me, which was sometimes hard to recreate when you wanted to, it made a pop/clunk sound that sent shock through the steering wheel. When it first started happening I thought it was the same bumps in the road I was going over, then it started happening in different spots: turning, backing out of driveway, going over mild elevation changes in pavement, pressing on the brakes moderately hard. If it is making any kind of noise that it shouldn't, especially if you can feel it through the chassis or wheel, take it in. It will only get worse, then eventually the bill falls on you.

pUI, it is a 4T. Wish it was a J.

 

Thanks everyone for the advice. Yes, I am happy they found it after hounding them. If I had just dropped the keys off and said "it's making a weird noise over bumps" guaranteed it would have come back to me as 'everything's normal'
What is annoying is that it was aligned before the failed part (under warranty) had to be replaced. In what world is that not covered. Dealing with Toyota Corp. is useless, they're all zombies with scripts and no motivation to retain customers whatsoever. Oh well.
I hope the new strut & alignment will fix that vibration on the highway. Fingers crossed.

Polusa, any time it happened for me, which was sometimes hard to recreate when you wanted to, it made a pop/clunk sound that sent shock through the steering wheel. When it first started happening I thought it was the same bumps in the road I was going over, then it started happening in different spots: turning, backing out of driveway, going over mild elevation changes in pavement, pressing on the brakes moderately hard. If it is making any kind of noise that it shouldn't, especially if you can feel it through the chassis or wheel, take it in. It will only get worse, then eventually the bill falls on you.

pUI, it is a 4T. Wish it was a J.

Sorry about your situation. It's sad that workmanship can't be guaranteed across countries. Hope everything works out for you!

 

Hmm, they phoned me today and said my strut is now on back order. How many people are having this same issue? Hrm.

 

Here in Canada, Toyota has real problems in providing spare parts :

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/toyota-parts-shortage-1.5261302

Maybe US is also affected by the same problem.