2 faults with the Aurion Engine control rod

[challengethemasters]

2 faults with the Aurion Engine control rod

1. The cheap bushes have a 100,000 life cycle, according to Toyotas tech

2. 14mm 6cm bolt at rear is 10mm with but should be 11.5

When the rods bushes split it sounds like the shaft sound others experience, as the force of the engine at start up and acceleration are actually knocking backwards and forwards, left and right, you will probably think the rear/front control arm bushes are absolutely worn or worse!

also the last bolt is ***** poorly engineered, the 14mm (10mm thread) is actually thinner than it's meant to be the diameter of the hole is 12mm! If you was to give it a push you can hear it knock, also at acceleration, at hard stops etc.

one I unbolted the rod I first noticed at a glance that rear bolt had suffered a life worse than death! it was quite worn around the non threaded.

I jumped on the forums and noticed another member had similar related issue with his Aurion, I pm’d him and asked whether the bolt is a snug fit and when he bolted the replacement up does it still knock, and in fact the diameter was 12mm too and still knocks, no replacements bolts where given!

I just got an after market Engine rod from the US and noticed the bolt marries up almost perfect and they supplied grease to pack in before bolting on, also the bushes are polyurethane as well as it only costed $110

I’m quite happy with he replacement which only cost $82 US there is no knocking and at start up a whole lot less vibration, so all in all a good fix but could of been avoided if it was corrected or noticed while the car was still in warranty!!

Perhaps Toyota needs to recognise this fault and escalate it to the engineering team to be looked at?

Edited April 3, 2012 by challengethemasters

[Adamsy]

2 faults with the Aurion Engine control rod

1. The cheap bushes have a 100,000 life cycle, according to Toyotas tech

2. 14mm 6cm bolt at rear is 10mm with but should be 11.5

When the rods bushes split it sounds like the shaft sound others experience, as the force of the engine at start up and acceleration are actually knocking backwards and forwards, left and right, you will probably think the rear/front control arm bushes are absolutely worn or worse!

also the last bolt is ***** poorly engineered, the 14mm (10mm thread) is actually thinner than it's meant to be the diameter of the hole is 12mm! If you was to give it a push you can hear it knock, also at acceleration, at hard stops etc.

one I unbolted the rod I first noticed at a glance that rear bolt had suffered a life worse than death! it was quite worn around the non threaded.

I jumped on the forums and noticed another member had similar related issue with his Aurion, I pm’d him and asked whether the bolt is a snug fit and when he bolted the replacement up does it still knock, and in fact the diameter was 12mm too and still knocks, no replacements bolts where given!

I just got an after market Engine rod from the US and noticed the bolt marries up almost perfect and they supplied grease to pack in before bolting on, also the bushes are polyurethane as well as it only costed $110

I’m quite happy with he replacement which only cost $82 US there is no knocking and at start up a whole lot less vibration, so all in all a good fix but could of been avoided if it was corrected or noticed while the car was still in warranty!!

Perhaps Toyota needs to recognise this fault and escalate it to the engineering team to be looked at?

Yeah this issue should only occur if your service centre is not checking and tightening all engine control rods/accessible mounts during a service. Toyota even released a bulletin to the dealer network to take particular attention to said rods to ensure there properly tightened

[httttt]

Interesting topic.

Adamsy, any more information for us DIYers? Like Torque?

[450HP/tonne]

also the last bolt is ***** poorly engineered, the 14mm (10mm thread) is actually thinner than it's meant to be the diameter of the hole is 12mm!

Bolts don't rely on a close fit to do their job, that's what a dowel is for - the tightening torque (38 Nm in this case) is what does the work.

[Adamsy]

Interesting topic.

Adamsy, any more information for us DIYers? Like Torque?

I'm pretty sure i posted on here before when the bulletin first was released but ill dig through my folder tomorrow and find the torque rating. Most vehicles remain tight for the life of the vehicle but it’s not unheard of for these rods to become slightly loose so is worth the 30 seconds when you have the bonnet up to check it out. I have managed to get a couple of turns on mine until it was back up to the torque rating where as when we checked pardigm’s his were as tight as a nuns .... and his car is a year older with twice as many kms so yeah some can come slightly and i stress its slightly loose were not talking do it up with your fingers loose just ever so slightly.

[challengethemasters]

This may well be there duty to check, replace but the very fact the diameter at the end of the rod is 1.5mm - 3mm bigger than the bolts provided, or stock bolts. As shown in pics. And nothing has changed since 2006 in Australia regarding this. Perhaps this why the become loose?

I wouldn't torque it up hard! there is a spot welded low tensile fine thread bolt underneath that you will thread if to tight.

I should of got a better photo of the bolt but as you can see on the right side its pretty smashed up!

Note: at all times the bolts have been tight.

Edited April 3, 2012 by challengethemasters

[Adamsy]

If that was the case then it would happen in 100% of Aurion’s and constantly and not just the very odd vehicle which needs a tighten once in it's life.

Edited April 3, 2012 by Adamsy

[challengethemasters]

The photo tells the truth!

perhaps it is on every Aurion? I'm not in a position to pull the rod of the assembly line and check the gap, all I know is what I provided above there is quite a gap,

According the the member I pm'd he also implied the gap and the knocking.

The raybestos ones has almost no gap just enough to get the bolt through and thread her up.

[N3ptuNe]

Mine was like that! and still is after replacement! please PM me the Raybestos one! OEM is crap!!

Shouldn't of ever bought a FWD Aussie made piece of noisy ****!

WTF do Aussies need a fwd for anyway Never seen snow in my life!!

[Adamsy]

We've already discovered that it hasn’t affected every Aurion. It's a VERY rare occurrence dealers find one that is loose and even they are only ever so slightly loose so it’s quite clear this isn’t an issue with every single Aurion ever built. Hence as to why Service staff are directed to check and tighten if necessary. TMCA also asked dealers to report any issues no matter how small about the 2GR-FE/U660E power train to them as this combo was once again under going valuation for the new 50 series. So once again if it was major issue affecting the vast majority of cars they wouldn’t of heard the end of it.

[Hiro]

The whole "hole is 2-3mm bigger than the bolt, the world is going to end" malarkey is a right laugh. Standard industry-wide (I'm talking all industry here, from cars to mining to construction) clearance hole for a bolt is generally ~2mm larger in diameter, so an M10 bolt goes into a 12mm hole, M16 into an 18mm hole, M24 into a 26mm hole etc and so on. Bolts generate clamping force and are strong in tensile loading, they are not designed to have shear loads placed on them (especially not on the threads), thus the holes have to be oversize, and why torque values are important (because the torque value is what generates the clamping force, which in turn generates the frictional force which resists shear loadings.

[trentmeyer23]

The whole "hole is 2-3mm bigger than the bolt, the world is going to end" malarkey is a right laugh. Standard industry-wide (I'm talking all industry here, from cars to mining to construction) clearance hole for a bolt is generally ~2mm larger in diameter, so an M10 bolt goes into a 12mm hole, M16 into an 18mm hole, M24 into a 26mm hole etc and so on. Bolts generate clamping force and are strong in tensile loading, they are not designed to have shear loads placed on them (especially not on the threads), thus the holes have to be oversize, and why torque values are important (because the torque value is what generates the clamping force, which in turn generates the frictional force which resists shear loadings.

This is 100% true.

[Adamsy]

AWESSOMMEEE so the world can now continue to spin round then?

[Hiro]

Ironically, considering how much time I spend on the forums at work, the one post that I make that is actually relevant to my work comes at 10pm at night when I'm at home :P

I should add however, that the main exception to the above rule is for shoulder bolts - they can generally be run down to clearances of 0.1-0.5mm as they are designed for shear loadings.