Clunk when car is off

[pjorek Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close pjorek]

This has me completely baffled as its been happening for a while.

after the car has been switched off I hear two or three loud clunks from the front. Not sure what it is, I initially i thought it was the new OME suspension, springs etc but now I'm not sure anymore. Perhaps it's the big bash plates? Springs resetting?

[awwricecracker Member Find all posts View Profile Close awwricecracker]

how long after you turn off your car does it happen? I had a broken exhaust mount on my 80 series which caused the same problem when I turned it off

[pjorek Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close pjorek]

Checked the exhaust mounts and they look all good to me. Gave the exhaust a shake and it seems pretty firm.

The noise seems heat related ie if I head off for a short 5 min drive I might not get a clunk at all and if I do it will be pretty quiet. Longer drive and I'll get a noisy clunk or 2 and even 3 sometimes. This all happens within 5 mins of switching the car off.

The only thing I can find is a tear on the sway bar bush (hopefully attached photo will work). Should I get the bush replaced??

[Guest Close Guest]

That tear in the swaybar bush looks like the normal split required to get the bush around the bar. Is the swaybar too close to the suspension?

[pjorek Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close pjorek]

That tear in the swaybar bush looks like the normal split required to get the bush around the bar. Is the swaybar too close to the suspension?

Thanks Andrew,

The other bush looks un-torn so not sure if that means anything? So you reckon don't bother changing it?

I don't think the swaybar is too close to the front strut/spring but I'll have another look tonight. The clunk isn't too annoying I'm just making sure it's nothing sinister. My initial thoughts were that it might be the ARB springs settling after a drive but now I'm having second thoughts.

[Guest Close Guest]

Just had a look at my sway bar bushes and the driver's side looks exactly like your pic. On the passenger's side, the split is behind the sway bar and is not so easy to see. This is split is normal.

Is your engine idling smoothly? Engine mounts, perhaps?

[pjorek Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close pjorek]

idling perfectly, on the road you will not hear the clunk at all! it's not the tailshaft clunk either as it's coming from the front. Suspension?? or perhaps the bash plates heating up and cooling? not sure what else could it be

[BrettM Member Find all posts View Profile Close BrettM]

I had the same noise after turning the car off, I think it was heat related as in something cooling down. Couldn't find where it was coming from, just out of the blue it started and after a couple of months it went away. Toyota had a look when it was in getting the rear main seal replace and they couldn't say where it was coming from. I wouldn't worry about it but to be on the safe side maybe take it to Toyota leave it running until some one can come out and have a listen. Cheers Brett

[pjorek Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close pjorek]

That tear in the swaybar bush looks like the normal split required to get the bush around the bar. Is the swaybar too close to the suspension?

Andrew the sway bar is pretty close to the suspension so much so there are little marks on the sway bar probably from suspension coming down. Not a lot but they are there. Don't think this would cause the noise though. Any way of moving the sway bar s bit?

[pjorek Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close pjorek]

Confirmed it, it's the exhaust doing those loud clunks when cooling. Interesting as it did not happen before?

[pjorek Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close pjorek]

Update:

Although the loud clunk is still persisting, the other issue that I've discovered whilst looking for the cause was how close the bottom of the struts were to the swaybar. There were minor scuff marks on the swaybar.

This has now been resolved, I've purchased swaybar spacers from superior engineering (Thanks Andrew Amts for the link) and it seem like this has solved the problem. I thought I'd share since there will be others with the same problem.