Another Falls Foul Of The Intermediate Shaft.

[benxt5]

Took my Rav in to our local garage (family friend and dealt with for years) for a service as he will be loads cheaper than mr T.

I also asked him to look at what was the possible cause of a steering knock, without giving any hints that I may already know. Fair play to him, he eliminated the roll bars, suspension mounts and CV joints and concluded that there must be play in one of the joints of the steering column. I then presented him with the TSB and said I'd been on tinternet and found this also.

He is of the opinion that Mr T should be paying part of the repair bill as it is a design flaw that has since been rectified so they have some liability, all beit in grounds if good will, not legally bound.

He also reckons it could be pricey. I have looked over the other numerous threads but can't find a possible price for this repair.

Can anyone enlighten and no doubt frighten me with the bill for this if done by Mr T? Thanks, Ben.

[anchorman]

Yes Ben, your dealer will charge you £277 for fitting it and it costs about £197 to buy (45260-42080). This TSB shows how to fit it but you need a new stainless clip for the rubber boot which is about a fiver. Kingo will sort you out.

Steering pop.pdf

A well worded letter to TGB might just get you a result.

[benxt5]

£500ish all in is actually less than I thought! I was thinking more like £700. I might take to Mr T then an see what they say.

[anchorman]

Sorry for confusion Ben, the £277 includes fitting and the part. The £197 is the part alone.

[benxt5]

Really! Is that all it is for the steering shaft? I'm sure I had heard horror stories about the price before?!?

[anchorman]

Thats enough!

[benxt5]

Cheers for the info Anchs. My rav is with the garage still as he only had it Saturday and was closed yesterday. I will feed this back to him tomorrow and see if he thinks he will do it or Mr T would be better suited.

Meanwhile, I have had to slum it in a 60 plate 330d M-sport coupe!!! Blistering performance but my old man can keep it at the first sign of frost or snow!

[benxt5]

Just called Toyota and they reckon the parts are £155 but the labour is £150 also as it now takes 1.9hrs not 1.5 as the TSB states. He says they have updated the TSB in 2010.

So £305 all in now.

[CharlieFarlie]

Anchorman kindly sent Me the TSB so I could take a look at what's involved so I can decide whether to do the job Myself.. So far Im a little undecided ......

My one is making the same very slight noise a kind of clicking noise that is barely audible unless the radio and heater/air con fans are all turned off as it was several months ago and has not got any worse...

Car was also making said noise when it was sent for MOT test 8 weeks ago and no advisory was given and the car passed without problems.

Question. Would I right in thinking that this part cannot fail completely rendering the car unsafe ??

Wee Charlie.

[benxt5]

As far as I can tell, it's Just excessive play in the UJs so I doubt it could fail completely. Mine was MOTd last moth also and no mention at all. I can feel it more than hear it. It travels right up through the steering wheel. You can really feel/hear it if you turn the wheel back and forth with the engine off so the power steering isn't there to damp it.

[benxt5]

Well now tge garage have said they think it is the rack not the column/shaft and that they don't want to get involved as it's too big a job!

So now I'm booked into Mr T next Wednesday. I still reckOn it's the intermediate shaft but I'm sure they will inspect and let ms know. I just hope if it's not the shaft and is indeed the rack, that it is repairable rather than replace as then i will get shafted!

[Davrav]

Well now tge garage have said they think it is the rack not the column/shaft and that they don't want to get involved as it's too big a job!

So now I'm booked into Mr T next Wednesday. I still reckOn it's the intermediate shaft but I'm sure they will inspect and let ms know. I just hope if it's not the shaft and is indeed the rack, that it is repairable rather than replace as then i will get shafted!

If they are suspicious of the rack it could be loose bolts. See attached Ben.

4.3 steering knock from loose bolts1.pdf

[barkerboy]

I posted about this on another thread but as this one is more recent i'll post here.

Our T180 has the occaisional knock mainly at slow speed cornering and you can feel it through the steering wheel. From the info in the other post i was convinced it is the intermediate shaft so emailed my local Toyota detailing the Toyota Service Bulletin info which states the cause is loose IP reinforcement bolts. They said i would have to have a road test with them which i did yesterday.

The mechanic walking to the car admitted this is a common or certainly known about issue even before he got in the car. After a 5 minute drive he concluded that it was not as bad as other's he had driven and is not an MOT failure. He said because it is not a safety issue it is not covered by any extended warranty. He went on to describe in technical terms way over my head what the fault is, he mentioned bushes having play at one point but concluded what they do is replace pretty much the whole steering mechanism and it will cost around £1500. I showed him the Toyota service bullitin document and mentioned the loose IP reinforcement bolts on the intermediate shaft and he just said yeah, yeah thats it.

So i left as usual feeling like my Mr T garage was talking out of their backside once again because they are the experts as we are just customers. I'm now considering my next move but to be honest the problem is not that bad, at the moment!

[anchorman]

I posted about this on another thread but as this one is more recent i'll post here.

Our T180 has the occaisional knock mainly at slow speed cornering and you can feel it through the steering wheel. From the info in the other post i was convinced it is the intermediate shaft so emailed my local Toyota detailing the Toyota Service Bulletin info which states the cause is loose IP reinforcement bolts. They said i would have to have a road test with them which i did yesterday.

The mechanic walking to the car admitted this is a common or certainly known about issue even before he got in the car. After a 5 minute drive he concluded that it was not as bad as other's he had driven and is not an MOT failure. He said because it is not a safety issue it is not covered by any extended warranty. He went on to describe in technical terms way over my head what the fault is, he mentioned bushes having play at one point but concluded what they do is replace pretty much the whole steering mechanism and it will cost around £1500. I showed him the Toyota service bullitin document and mentioned the loose IP reinforcement bolts on the intermediate shaft and he just said yeah, yeah thats it.

So i left as usual feeling like my Mr T garage was talking out of their backside once again because they are the experts as we are just customers. I'm now considering my next move but to be honest the problem is not that bad, at the moment!

It sounds like you have got things completely wrong (which you can be forgiven for) and so has the so called mechanic who shouldn't be paid in washers.

If you have a noisy intermediate shaft, you need a new intermediate shaft - why did you show them the TSB for loose IP bolts? Furthermore, if it is down to loose bolts, why is the trained chimp talking about £1500 repair bills when it costs nothing in parts to tighten up the bolts that he agrees is the cause of the problem?

It strikes me that he is telling you that they are not fixing it and that is that. If you have a Mr T warranty it should be covered so speak to another dealer and show them the correct PDF which is this and as this is a US TSB the correct part number is listed above in one of my posts;

Steering pop.pdf

[barkerboy]

Ahh ok Anchorman, i was referringto the B-7030 Oct 2007 Service bullitin posted in another thread by Davrav. In that thread there were 3 listed knocking faults and this matched mine the best. http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_id=9581

The bullitin says:

Subject : Steering knocking noise due to loose IP reinforcement bolts

DESCRIPTION OF PHENOMENON

A knocking noise can be heard and a knock can be felt in the steering wheel during turning.

The noise is generated because of loose bolts.

Repair Procedure

Check and tighten the IP reinforcement bolts to the recommended torque (20 N*m).

I hadn't seen the steering pop.pdf before so thanks for that.

To recap on my problem, i get a clunk or knock from the steering column when turning sometimes, only really noticable at slower speeds.

Thanks again

[benxt5]

Yours sounds identical to mine but as explained above, Mr T said my car fell outside the chassis numbers that this could effect so couldn't guarantee it fixing the problem even if they changed the parts described in the TSB. I'm considering trying the next nearest dealer in a few weeks time. That will be Birmingham I guess.