Front Left Knocking Sounds- Hocthkis Sways Installed- Anyone?

[celica001]

Man, if its not one thing thats wrong wit my car its another, always gotta have two probs....aight just recently i have a really loud knocking sound on the left front, and i can feel it down by my feet when i go over bumps, anyone know what it could be? i have hotchkis sways installed, could it be my endlinks are loose? would that cause the knocking? And btw its not a creaking sound, its a knocking/bumping sound like somethings come loose, i have my wheel off now on the one side and everything looks ok but i cant tell, the bar hasnt lubed for a while, could that be the cause? any ideas let me know! thanks!- btw- i have the stock endlinks on...-Jonathan

[nxracer]

More than likely it's the endlink.

If it won't tighten up you probably damaged it when removing it.

To prove it's the link remove it and drive the car.

[celica001]

na na na the sways have been installed for almost 5 months now, not recently. I checked everything, eveyr nut is tight and the endlinks are tight, its gotta be my shock tower or soemthing, the damn thing is ****in loud, sounds like my tire is gonna fall off or something....anyone esle wit any ideas?

[yellowGTS]

I've had this problem for a while and am still trying to figure out what it is.

If you can figure it out, please let me know. Thanks

[Blue Bomber]

If you've installed springs/struts, check to see if the nut on the top center of the strut is tight, as well as the two large bolts on the bottom. Also, make sure your endlink isn't bent. I'd say check the bolts on the sway bar mounts, but that's easier said than done. ;)

[Manny_TXtreme]

chris..i too started havin this problem after u helped me with the spring/shock install lol. at least the diagnosis correlates with what i';ve experienced

[Blue Bomber]

Originally posted by Manny_TXtreme
chris..i too started havin this problem after u helped me with the spring/shock install lol. at least the diagnosis correlates with what i';ve experienced Hmmm, did it happen right after the install? If so, it could be the springs knocking against themselves. I know the ones I installed on your car didn't have the rubber tubing around their ends to prevent this (most springs don't).

[celica001]

well nice to hear that i am not the only one. lol. the car is going in wednesday so i get to hear from the dealer that i have t omany mods, but i will see what they say and if they can locate it. i checked everything and i swear the endlinks are tight as ****ers and same with the sawy bar bolts, i didnt check the bolt in the top if the strut though, that could be it, not sure....thanks guys!

[Blue Bomber]

Originally posted by celica001
i didnt check the bolt in the top if the strut thoughDefinitely check that. It came loose after I installed my springs (didn't have a torque wrench at the time) and was making a knocking noise on the larger bumps.

[PoweredbyRICE]

i have the same problem..i just think my shocks are blown:)

[celica001]

hmmmm ok lol...it sounds like thats wat i have too, took my dad for a ride today and we definitly agree its a blown shock and/or strut bolt is loose, how do u tighten that bolt? dont u have pull the whole shock tower down or no?

-powered by rice- how long u been driving wit it like that? i am almost positive its a dead shock...sounds like TRD coilovers maybe hehe but is ok to drive like tat?

[Blue Bomber]

Originally posted by celica001
how do u tighten that bolt? dont u have pull the whole shock tower down or no?Just use a torque wrench and tighten it to 34 ft-lbs. The large bolts on the bottom also need to be tightened to 113 ft-lbs, which is a lot, and I don't think you'd be able to accurately do it with hand tools (maybe with an impact wrench).

[AM03GT]

for those of you who think you have blown struts... blown enough to hear loud crunks is pretty darn bad... push each corner of your car down and release, if its rebounding noticebly or visibly bouncing more than once, it's time for new struts...

[yellowGTS]

I know my sound is not from blown struts. Had lowering springs installed and the noise started. Then after that I had coilovers and new struts installed, still there.

Had all bolts checked and tightened with no luck. Looks like I'm stuck with a noisy front passenger suspension.

[Blue Bomber]

Originally posted by yellowGTS
I know my sound is not from blown struts. Had lowering springs installed and the noise started. Then after that I had coilovers and new struts installed, still there.

Had all bolts checked and tightened with no luck. Looks like I'm stuck with a noisy front passenger suspension. Go to Home Depot and pick up some silicone tubing. Jack the car up, slit the tubing open on one side, and wrap the tubing around the top and bottom of the springs, using maybe 1-1.5" feet of tubing for each side . The noise may be coming from the spring knocking against itself (like I said earlier in the thread).

[gnes100]

i have the same sounds i think it comes from the ball joint in the end link going bad .... i also have a lot of clickin sounds coming from my hotckis strut bar and squeeking coming from my teins

[celica001]

^wow wat a great post....some absolute GREAT answers in here, seems like this isnt new for anybody....bluebomber, i am gonna give that tubing thing a shot and see if that helps, it happens only over bumps and uneven areas of the road, could definitly be the spring hittin each other, but at the same time as gnes100 stated above it could also be the ball joint end link going bad, i can definitly agree with that since it does sound like its coming from my wheel...but hell it can be alot of things....:) thanks guys for the all the help, its greatly apprecaited...i will see wat the dealer says on wednesday...

[celica001]

anyone esle have these problems and got it fixed? how much $$$ it cost cause i am outta warranty :(

[gnes100]

its something your going to have to try and figure out yourself or have a friend help u out with .. cuz its prolly something a dealer would charge u the going rate for and still not fix the problem

[nxracer]

Like I said way up top. Remove the end links and drive the car. If I'm WRONG at least you will know it's NOT the end links.

[gts24]

Originally posted by nxracer
Like I said way up top. Remove the end links and drive the car. If I'm WRONG at least you will know it's NOT the end links.

:werd: if the endlink is broken , in some cases it's tough to tell.

[nxracer]

Yep I broke one.

It was tight, still made noise, removed it, no noise, replaced it, no noise.

[J5ISALIVE]

how much is a new endlink? (i got the same knocking sound :( )

John

[J5ISALIVE]

i just popped the cap on my drivers side strut bolt thing (bolt on top of strut under the hood...)

and damn...it was loose as hell, pulled out the socket ser and it took about 3 turns to get it tight, torqued it down...gonna go test it now and see if it makes the sound, i will let you guys know...if its not this i bet it the end link. Be back in 5 minutes for the update ;)

John

[J5ISALIVE]

and its fixed...amazing...its been like this for a year! i felt liek driving for a while, it is amazing...seriously, that knocking sound was making me hate my car, i suggest that everyone pop off the little rubber cap and tighten that bolt down...wow...awsome...

John

[gts24]

I'd recommend upgrading your endlinks.
Jason (racinjason on nc.org) makes them at www.hypermotive.net and they are fully adjustable.

[celica001]

well guys guess ****in wat! i need a whole new endlink, somehow the bolt inside broke (or some **** according to dealer) and needed a new one. so from now one its the endlink that causes the knockin! yippee!

now on to the hell that the dealer did to my car:

1- Did an oil change and never asked for one (do my own), didnt put enough oil in, ONLY 2 QUARTS!.
2-Somehow they took my strut bar off and broke a strut bolt on the driver side and didnt tell me and didnt put a bolt back on it!
3-Disconnected my killerm torque brace and didnt tell me and didnt put it back on!
4- ABSOULTY NOOOOOO under body engine clips remain, totally gone,not one left, all my engine plastic clips are GONE!
5-The coolant that they changed isnt filled all the way up.
6-They replaced my serpetine belt and for some reason now my voltage is at 13.2 when driving, not at 13.7-13.9 like before.

on number 6 is tat supposed to like that with anew belt or is it slippin and not charging the battery?

[celica001]

^ werd on that endlink thing if u got aftermarket sways...definitly a biggy....

o and one more thing, the surpentine belt that they put on doesnt have "TOYOTA" anywhere on the belt, is that ok?

[gts24]

Originally posted by celica001
well guys guess ****in wat! i need a whole new endlink, somehow the bolt inside broke (or some **** according to dealer) and needed a new one. so from now one its the endlink that causes the knockin! yippee!

now on to the hell that the dealer did to my car:

1- Did an oil change and never asked for one (do my own), didnt put enough oil in, ONLY 2 QUARTS!.
2-Somehow they took my strut bar off and broke a strut bolt on the driver side and didnt tell me and didnt put a bolt back on it!
3-Disconnected my killerm torque brace and didnt tell me and didnt put it back on!
4- ABSOULTY NOOOOOO under body engine clips remain, totally gone,not one left, all my engine plastic clips are GONE!
5-The coolant that they changed isnt filled all the way up.
6-They replaced my serpetine belt and for some reason now my voltage is at 13.2 when driving, not at 13.7-13.9 like before.

on number 6 is tat supposed to like that with anew belt or is it slippin and not charging the battery?

So did you drive off and your under engine plastics got messed up on the ground? or did they just not put them back on?
that is a pretty messed up experience, have you confronted them yet?

[celica001]

my father and i are going down tommrrow at 2 to talk to the toyota service manager, the guys a complete ****, my father works at the dealership and the lexus NE manager, so i am sure he wont let him talk him down, my dads pretty pissed since this service he paid for, not me, (we take turns paying for services since i am in school paying for all that ****). does anyone know anything bout that serpentine belt? cause the car isnt chargin up all the way, is that usual after replacin the belt or is it loose?

[Blue Bomber]

WTF is wrong with these dealerships? You could train a monkey easier to do oil and coolant changes correctly. Replacing the belt isn't much more difficult, either. :thumbdown

[celica001]

and no about the plastics, i found that out when i got home and looked under the car and saw all my plastics hanging off....i had the music on so i couldnt hear em scrapin, and from wat i saw they werent draggin that long cuz there was hardly any damage to the plastic, they mustve put like one clip on....stupid fuc*ers

[celica001]

yea bomber and this isnt a small dealership either....they pretty big in the NE...i have had probs before wit em ,aka- lift bolt etc but nothing this bad... absoulte JOKE...i am so pissed right i put 2 hours of work on my car when i got home at 8 just got get it back to normal as it was yesterday, so much **** wasnt put back right....etc....

and get this, like i said before, they changed the oil in the car, never asked me and get this, FILL IT BELOW HALF! we all kno on the boards how thats a no-no for the GTS....stupid &#@*#@.

[pnoygts]

hey i also had knocking/bumping noise coming from the driver side awhile ago but it went away should i check the endlinks or anything else?

[celica001]

wat kind of mods do u have? if u never took ur endlinks off i doubt it could be them, maybe its ur strut plate on the top (had them replaced to- lol) but it sure wouldnt hurt to check em out, its not hard at all, just need two allen wrenches and jack the car up and pop the little metal plate off the back and tighen em up...

[pnoygts]

my car is 100% stock!

[celica001]

wtf....well dont take it to the dealer lol...my new moto-

DO ALL YOUR OWN WORK ON UR CAR--and buy the bootlegg'd emission stickers :=)

is it a knockin sound like we decribed above? or rubbin sound?

[pnoygts]

more like a rubbing!i dont like dealers either my car has no more warranty!

[Blue Bomber]

Originally posted by pnoygts
more like a rubbing!i dont like dealers either my car has no more warranty! Check the plastics under the car and in the wheel wells.

[pnoygts]

oh aite but if its a knocking sound then its the endlinks right?

[0Celica GT0]

this might be a stupid question, but how do the end links make noise? explain what causes them to do so. i have a set of tein coilovers, and i get some noises when i drive over uneven surfaces.