Clunking from front end

[aardvark]

Just recently I've noticed that our /07 KX-R has been clunking a little bit from the front end. It's not so much an audible noise, but a feeling through the steering wheel. It's nothing major, just a faint clunk as you turn the wheel around low speed corners, eg: when driving in car parks.

Any ideas? It's not due for a service for a while.

[Blackkluger]

its a common problem, its the intermediate shaft, they then to fail in this respect, they wont break but i had mine changed under warranty and if yours is an early one it could still be under warranty???

[aardvark]

Cheers mate. The wife told me I was imagining things, so I've ignored it for a few weeks.

The delivery date for my car was the 31st August, 2007, so tomorrow it's one day out of warranty. I'll be jumping up and down if they say they wont fix it!!

[Turkey Galoot]

intermediate steering shaft 'clunk' anyone experienced and resolved this?

Ken.

[boleh]

Any '08 or later experiencing this problem?

Mine is early '08 and I *think* it has this problem.. not so sure. Sometimes when I put in reverse and back out from garage in the morning there's a distinctive THUNK. Hard to tell where its coming from. Same issue?

[aardvark]

Well, Toyota came to the party and fixed mine under warranty. Very happy!

[wilsact]

Any '08 or later experiencing this problem?

Mine is early '08 and I *think* it has this problem.. not so sure. Sometimes when I put in reverse and back out from garage in the morning there's a distinctive THUNK. Hard to tell where its coming from. Same issue?

Mine does this, as well as the clunk on slow left turns (2007 KXR) I have mentioned it at every service, and got the usual 'we were unable to find it'. They are going to change the intermediate steering shaft at the next service, under warranty (has now just run out)!!! Finally!!! They still claim that the loud clunk when reversing is just the brake calipers releasing, so will be interesting to see if the replacement intermediate steering shaft also makes any difference to this. Anyone that has this clunk on slow turns needs to keep onto them, as they will only replace if you really whinge.

Will report back with results.

Edited September 16, 2010 by wilsact

[idisc]

Without hearing it, its a bit hard to say what it is.

But if it is a clunking/clanging noise from the wheels when you brake after reversing out of the garage, then this is common to all cars and it is the brake calipers.

What happens is that the brake calipers have a bit of play in them, so if you are coming to a stop from driving forward, the calipers will slide forwards under the braking force. When you change direction (say going in reverse) the calipers are still in the forwards position; applying the brakes will now make the calipers slide to the rearward position, making a clang/clunk noise as it slides into place. it will only ever happen once on each direction change.

The way to test it is:

- drive forwards (doesn't need to be fast, even a walking pace is sufficient), come to a complete stop.

- put the car in reverse, and drive in reverse, and then apply the brakes. It will have a slight clang. if you move in reverse some more and apply the brakes it won't clang anymore as the calipers are already in the backward position.

- put the car into D, drive forwards and apply brakes, it will clang again.

Any clunking/clanging on turning is nothign to do with the calipers, so wilsact, I think you may have 2 separate noises there.

[sammy]

wilscat i think you'll find that _kit_ is right on the $ with what he is saying. Because i have the same noise in the same circumstances as you have detailed.

The first time i came across this noise was with our previous RAV and i must say it caught me by surprise because all my other cars have never done it.Now with the Kluger same thing as the RAV, i presume its a characteristic of the brake calipers used by Toyota. But as i said, not a characteristic of all cars or calipers.

Edited September 16, 2010 by sammy

[bisdake]

Hi,

Just experienced that faint clunk on my kluger when turning left. Just wondering how long did it take to fix/replaced this intermediate shaft?Was it just for one day?

[CROCO]

HI EVERYONE I HAVE JUST POSTED A THREAD WITH A SIMILAR PROBLEM MY KLUGER I BOUGHT SECOND HAND A MONTH GO AND HOPEFULLY TOYOTA WILL FIX IT FREE OF CHARGE I DID GET EXENDED WARRANTY BUT SAYING THAT ITS NOT NEW CAR WARRANTY.BUT AFTER READING OTHER POSTS AND THREADS IM NOT SURE WHATS CAUSING THE PROBLEM.I DID HOW EVER SPEAK TOO TOYOTA SERVICE DEPARTMENT THEY DID SAY COULD BE THE STEERING SHAFT BUT WHERNT TOO SURE