Steering Klunking Noise

[kimbos]

I think this has been well documented but I am a bit stuck as to which way to go.

I purchased my rav4 from a garage in romsey, I thought it was a good price and I had seen a few others that werent as good. I drove it home having t I got home and put it to bed. I then began tried it out at the garage. After driving it 100 miles which were trouble free. I put it to bed and noticed the familiar clunking noise assosciated with the steering, which is still happening now

I checked the forums and TSB,s which led me to the intermediate shaft issue. I contacted the garage who had given me a RAC warranty which I understand is not very good and they agreed to pay for a new shaft if I got it fitted, I agreed to this as it would have cost me more to lose a days pay and travelling than what it would cost me.

My local garage checked the vehicle over and said it was a good one but could not find anything to suggest what was causing the problem, they did say they could change the shaft if I wanted them to do it but could not guarantee it would resolve the issue.

I contacted the local toyota garage and they said that all the tsb,s relating to the shaft do not apply to my chassis number. Also the part number Last two numbers 60 has been replaced by 70 and then 71, I said that I understood it has been changed again to 80 but they said it is not listed for my vehicle and that the 71 part would be the one.

The conclusion was they suggested that the fault may lie somewhere else.

The vehicle has done 55,000 miles and it was sold with a full mot.

Can anyone advise me which way to go without spending money on unecessary parts and labour or is there any way of checking.

My garage did drop the intermediate shaft and it liiked ok, he regreased it and tightened up all the bolts.

Kim

[anchorman]

All the info you need and the current part No is here;

http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/topic/138882-change-steering-intermediate-shaft/

[kimbos]

Thanks Don I did read this but the parts bloke at toyota was quite specific not to use the latest 80 shaft for some reason, he took the advice of some tech expert in the company

[Parts-King]

, he took the advice of some tech expert in the company

Pfffftttt............tech expert, say no more

[anchorman]

All I can tell you is that it worked on the vehicle in the tutorial. However, since I wrote this I bought a little Daihatsu as a runabout. It had a horrible steering clunk and I set about the intermediate shaft with nothing more than a socket and completely cured it by tightening the clamp bolts. I turned the bolt by about another 5 minutes or 10 degrees.

[anchorman]

, he took the advice of some tech expert in the company

Pfffftttt............tech expert, say no more

Part No is still current isn't it Kingo?

[kimbos]

Thanks Don, I am just recovering from an operation so my wife was worried about driving it, it is something I would probably have done myself but I need to get it sorted for her peace of mind.

Thanks

Again

Kim

[CharlieFarlie]

Not sure if this will give you a bit of peace of mind but My steering intermediate shaft has been clunking for over 40.000 miles and has gone through two MOTs and its no worse than when I got the car.....

[Parts-King]

, he took the advice of some tech expert in the company

Pfffftttt............tech expert, say no more

Part No is still current isn't it Kingo?

Yes same as per bulletin in your link above, thats why it tickled me some "tech guru" knew better than the bulletin :D:

[gjnorthall]

These clunking steering shafts display signs of fretting corrosion - the splines become pitted and theres evidence of corrosion. Essentially it's caused by movement within a joint that's not designed to move. The replacement shafts have a splined area diameter (and presumably spline width) a few thou bigger than the original- thus the joint is more solid when bolted up.

Rather than buy and fit a new intermediate shaft, simply remove the bolt, after scribing it's position, and clean up the splined area. Apply a coating of shaft retainer (Loctite 660 or similar) and re-make the joint - tightening the bolt just beyond the scribe line. Leave to cure before turning the steering wheel (around 30 minutes for Loctite 660). Avoid retainers with a very long or very short cure time - check the tech data on the product.

[kimbos]

Thanks for that I will discuss it with the garage

[grasshopper]

Mine's also been clunking 10 months since I've owned the car and 8k miles later, havent really got round to fixing as it only does it now & again and defo not when i'm driving at speed. Car passed MOT this year as well.

[kimbos]

I got my garage to grease the intermediate shaft and the noise has gone

[anchorman]

I wonder if the lube just allows a tighter clamping force.

[gjnorthall]

The intermediate shaft joint is subject to fretting, and fretting corrosion products (rust) can often be seen around the joint. Applying grease to the splines is no bad thing - it excludes oxygen and minimises further corrosion. Usually graphited grease is used on close fitting splined joints. It's probably not the grease that's stopped the noise in this case but, more likely, the slackening and subsequent tightening of the clamp bolt in order to apply grease. Shaft retaining compound, previously mentioned also excludes oxygen as well as taking up clearance on the splines.

[anchorman]

Agreed.

[kimbos]

Whatever the reason it has saved me buying a new shaft. It may well be that it wont last only time will tell but at least it has confirmed that it is the shaft