To TieRod or not to TieRod? And whiplash-ish clunk.

[gerviswaddell]

Hi again,

Tercel Mark II has been blazing around Ontario (north and south) in all its winterized glory for two months now, things are going pretty well, the odd groan and grind here and there but still quite good overall. I do; however, have a problem: I need tie rods for the beast ( 86 sr5 power steering) and they are apparently not available in Canada, anybody know where to get them this side of the border? I know I can get them from Autozone or whomever in the US but would like to exhaust my options in Canada before I go through that mess.
On a more sever note, I have a strange 'whiplash' type of clunk which occurs when decelerating (transmission engaged) not so apparent when you gas it , but more when you let off quickly, its as though the gears are 'loose' and there is a back and forth sort of soft clunk where the weight of the car overtakes the wheels, then bounces back etc...if put in first and just letting the engine do the pushing this back and forth continues on its own, its as though there is play somewhere in the drivetrain. As far as I can tell, this happens less when 4wd is engaged.

any help would be greatly appreciated,

thanks again.

Dave.

[teranfirbt]

I had that problem, turned out to be a bad CV on the left side...

[takza]

Loose engine/trans mounts?

[gerviswaddell]

The engine/trans mounts seem fine...as for the cv joint I think that is possible, but wouldnt the cv be acting up when throttling around corners? I only get a mild clunkclunk at or near full lock...could this be something inside the differential or trans?

thanks.

[Petros]

I would guess engine mounts, but also check drive shaft mounts, u-joints and rear axle bushings.

[Jarf]

Hey Dave - I got outer tie-rod ends thru Weitzes (steeles and dufferin) OEM is no longer available but they found some Beck-Arnly's that are purported to be quality A/M. Don't remember how much they were but could look it up if it's important.
Your whiplash noise sounds an awful lot like a tranny mount. On my 1st car, the tranny mount was split and the slop at the shifter was HUGE. That said, sitting on the hoist all looked fine unless you levered the tailshaft hard, (tranny moves, mount does not) on this beast none of the mounts were separated but as I had the engine out, I changed all 3. Was surprised to see the comparison between old and new, the old mounts were severely compressed, like enough to measure with a ruler, we are talking nearly a 1/4 inch compressed from new. Having new engine and trans mounts made a big difference.(lots of noises disappeared )
I would suspect that the mild clunk at full lock is likely a separate issue and could be tie-rod (also be aware of the inner tie-rod ends) or cv related or something else.
Unfortunately the only way you will know will be to get it onto a hoist and do a proper diagnosis.

Mine is currently trying to change lanes on hard deccel/accel after searching high and low I found the ls lower control arm has a bit of play, seems the sway bar mounts are trashed on that side, as I have new BJ's waiting to go in as well I will also be replacing the lower control arm bushings same time.
One thing I gotta say, when I replaced the struts there was a huge difference, then the strut mounts, even bigger change, wheel bearings also made many changes, ( was expecting the rolling snow tire noise to be gone, which it was, but several other clunky/crunchy noises disappeared too.)
CV's can make noise when loaded and cornering, some will make noise when cornering but off the throttle, some will make noise all the time.
Generally though, something like a CV will be very consistent as it is metal to metal contact, the rubber isolated things are more problematic as they will not always be noisy, only when loaded in certain ways.
My money would be on strut/strut mounts for the clunk but wouldn't be spending a dime on parts till I checked it out.

[Mattel]

I had that problem, turned out to be a bad CV on the left side...

Ditto with me.. no clunking at full lock like i thought a CV would normally sound when worn. Just the same symptoms as you

[dlb]

mattel, was the damaged CV on your driver or passenger side? i have the same problem but, like you guys, didn't think it could be the CV since it doesn't sound like a typical CV noise. i thought it was the clutch because it happens if i let the clutch out too quickly when starting from a stop, or shifting into 2nd. any gear above that is fine though. it sounds like it's on the driver side, for sure. i guess i'll try doing the CV tomorrow just for fun and report back.

[Trev]

Definitely sounds like a bad U-joint. This would only if you're in 4wd and you let off the throttle (happened twice in my truck)

[dlb]

i've been thinking about this one. i didn't wind up doing my driver's side CV because i went out to thoroughly inspect them and found there is no play in the driver's side CV. the passenger side CV shakes if i grab the shaft and mess with it, so i believe this is the source of the mystery clunk. my clunk happens going over bumps but also when shifting gears. like gervis, the clunk happens less when shifting if i have it in 4WD. this makes sense to me because if the rear axle is taking half of the vehicle load then the front axle will have half the usual load, and thus not clunk as loud. so i'm excited to see how much replacing the passenger CV helps all of this.

since i did the sway bar bushings i've felt something being loose on the same side and at first i thought it was the new collar or bushings sitting loose on the bar (although i know they sat snug when i put them together) but i now believe that the shaking was always there and i just couldn't feel it because of the old non-existent collar and worn bushings. so jarf, i'm wondering if this could be your problem as well: if it's not the sway bar causing problems, but the new materials allowing other problems to become more noticeable. just a thought, though it sounded like your sway bar ends were pretty badly worn.

[ARCHINSTL]

Reviving a thread - I noted several members mentioning of renewing the search for the mysterious "clunk" in a different thread today - I wonder, as you've seemingly checked everything else - how about the steering rack mounts-to-the-crossmember? I replaced mine a few years ago and that got rid of a clunk - although admittedly, I replaced the inner and outer tie rods at the same time, and they were worn.
My DSide mount was really deteriorated from oil - no pix of the PSide, but it was somewhat worn/compressed as well (not oil-soaked).
takza has some comments in the past (and recently) about bushings in the rack as well.
Tom M.

[4wdchico]

Reviving a thread - I noted several members mentioning of renewing the search for the mysterious "clunk" in a different thread today - I wonder, as you've seemingly checked everything else - how about the steering rack mounts-to-the-crossmember? I replaced mine a few years ago and that got rid of a clunk - although admittedly, I replaced the inner and outer tie rods at the same time, and they were worn.
My DSide mount was really deteriorated from oil - no pix of the PSide, but it was worn as well.
takza has some comments in the past (and recently) about bushings in the rack as well.
Tom M.

The wasted rack mounting bushing on the drivers side is mostly from repeated oil spilling on it when the oil filter is changed. I put a pile of crumpled up newsprint below the oil filter and on top of the steering rack when changing the filter. Then I clean up the engine/pan below the filter area really well when the job is finished.

[ARCHINSTL]

Good point - I've always used a plastic bag from the grocery store - never thought to mention it here.
Tom M.

[dlb]

i'm going to go take a look at mine right now, tom. the new CV didn't fix my clunk, much to my bitter disappointment.

[takza]

One fix for the oil soaked drivers side rack mounting bushing it to just remove the clamp and add a piece of soft rubber under it as a shim to tighten it up. Doubt if mine was actually loose...but it LOOKED sloppy.