Tailshaft Clunk

[KAKADAZ Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close KAKADAZ]

Mine doesn't clunk when I stop but just on accelerating and decelerating then accelerating again.its in now for 40,000k service and I have mentioned it so no doubt just a grease job.

[dannyson Member Find all posts View Profile Close dannyson]

dannyson, I have experienced that clunk as well. Different issue IMO, I reckon its 'clunking' back to first gear from second under load up an incline at very slow speed. I think this is a characteristic of the trani.

re headlights, don't you have headlight adjustment in the cabin? Its a small thumb wheel on the right handside of the dash (bottom right corner).

Riv - the VX and Kakadu have self levelling/auto turn headlights that do not have the little button inside the cabin (wish it did!)

Thanks for the 'heads up' re clunk - it certainly sounded different and under different driving conditions ...

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

My 80 series cruiser had the clunk, called 'driveline lash' back then, for many of it's 17 years I owned it, so not a new problem for Toyota.

Mentioned the clunk (really not noticeable on mine) to Windsor Toyota last week at the Prado's 50,000 service, about others having a problem, and was told that Toyota will not be replacing too many drive shafts in the future like they have done recently, a good greasing will be the problem solver.

[Steve M Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve M]

""a good greasing will be the problem solver."" yeah and I reckon toyota has been doing this to us just before they screw us for a lot of different reasons like cracked heads on 1kz's..........I never had a tail shaft clunk in my old hilux (89 mod with 300 thou on it)but have had it in 3 prado's now, just a standard feature.............Cheers Steve

[Riv39 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Riv39]

My 80 series cruiser had the clunk, called 'driveline lash' back then, for many of it's 17 years I owned it, so not a new problem for Toyota.

Mentioned the clunk (really not noticeable on mine) to Windsor Toyota last week at the Prado's 50,000 service, about others having a problem, and was told that Toyota will not be replacing too many drive shafts in the future like they have done recently, a good greasing will be the problem solver.

Yeah because the modified shaft costs a bomb to make apparently

[Riv39 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Riv39]

Riv - the VX and Kakadu have self levelling/auto turn headlights that do not have the little button inside the cabin (wish it did!)

It's not a button on the GXL here in Aus (no auto adjust) but a thumb wheel with 0 - 4 adjustments

[dannyson Member Find all posts View Profile Close dannyson]

It's not a button on the GXL here in Aus (no auto adjust) but a thumb wheel with 0 - 4 adjustments

Sorry .... I meant thumb wheel....

[Kak Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Kak]

My 02/12 built Kakado V6 has the clunk as well. Probably once every 2nd or third trip. Got greased at 10,000k, that deadened the sound of the clunk for a bit but it's now back. I have around 15k on the clock now... so therefore, unless the "Factory Fix" was put in place after Feb this year, it's definitely not fixed.

[ac6122109 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close ac6122109]

Tailshaft Clunk

My 02/12 built Kakado V6 has the clunk as well. Probably once every 2nd or third trip. Got greased at 10,000k, that deadened the sound of the clunk for a bit but it's now back. I have around 15k on the clock now... so therefore, unless the "Factory Fix" was put in place after Feb this year, it's definitely not fixed.

Hi Guys,
I read all these issues you were having with the tailshaft and felt compelled to share this info with you. I recently bought the new 2012 Altitude from a dealer in May this year. This was my first Prado and very excited to test it out.
I was so annoyed when this "clunking" sound was happening "to a $70K Plus vehicle", to the point where I was even contemplating on selling it, so I went back to the dealer to sort this out. The service manager was quite honest in that the standard response out there is just to "grease the crap out of the tailshafts" but this is only a temporary fix and as he quoted "can start to introduce a lot of junk into the fine mechanics of the shaft itself", which is not good news long term. He mentioned that Toyota had redesigned the tailshaft to incorporate a new diamond head to counteract the issues of the clunking. The reason why not too many people know about this fix is that they are "only given out like eye drops" Ie they do cost a bomb - somewhere around $2500, so naturally every dealer does not want to airfreight one in for every Prado that has the issue as greasing the hell out of the old shafts is so much cheaper to do. He said it comes down to a customer satisfaction thing. If you kick and scream about it then they will upgrade your shaft, otherwise just be happy with a huge grease up solution. Since 3000 kms which is when mine started the clunking, it has been absolute trouble free and absolutely no clunk whatsoever which means I can now enjoy the 4WD again. My recommendation to you all is that you have paid "decent" money for these vehicles that you should demand a new tailshaft to eliminate this issue which really does feel like your being tapped up the behind by another motorist every time which is simply annoying and unnecessary.
Hope this info helps you out.
Andrea

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

Thanks Andrea,

I had my 20k service about 2 weeks ago and I mentioned the clunk. They told me that a normal greasing as part of the scheduled service will fix it...
Well 2 days after the service it started happening again. I have it booked in this Friday for them to look at it again. Hopefully a new tail shaft is on the cards soon.

Cheers

Jeff

[ac6122109 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close ac6122109]

Hi Jeff,
Well there you go - case in point yet again. Make sure you demand them to change the tailshaft to the new redesigned version as it will definately fix the problem - period.
Best of luck for Friday.
Cheers,
Andrea

[ac6122109 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close ac6122109]

Hi Jeff,
Well there you go - case in point yet again. Make sure you demand them to change the tailshaft to the new redesigned version as it will definately fix the problem - period.
Best of luck for Friday.
Cheers,
Andrea

[Croz Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Croz]

I bought a 2012 150 GX D4D auto three weeks ago. It clunked on the way home from the dealer! I asked the sales guy who, whilst he was really helpful didnt know about it.

I mentioned it at the 1000km check up and the mech. just sighed and said "yeah mate needs a new tailshaft".

I was surprised but he just told me that it's a known issue and Toyota will replace. Just to get them to follow through with it when I book the job in.

[Greigrob Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Greigrob]

New tailshaft definitely fixes the issue, Mine was replace 3 weeks ago and the clunk is gone.

As I said in a previous post it was greased at 10k and 20k. When I complained at 30k THEY told me I needed a new one and it would be here in 3 days.

[Riv39 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Riv39]

The reaction varies depending on your dealer. It took me about 6 regreases before they agreed to replace it. In defence of the sealership it would appear that they have to 'justify' the new shaft with Toyota Aus.