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troubledmind
04-05-2009, 06:22 PM
Hi,
I own a 2004/05 Toyota 4cyl Camry Altise. It has just completed 65,000klms.
Just recently I can hear a noise coming from the front left I believe. When driving of course.
It appears to get louder when turning 'right' but not so much turning 'left'.
The steering drives dead straight with hands off the wheel and there is no out of character wear on any of the tyres.
I have checked the front area around the left wheel housing for any visible signs of stress or anything needing attention and all looks new. No scuffing on any parts, and the wheel disc rotar looks good. Brake pads are getting low. I'd guess about half or slightly less in thickness.
The sound is not metal on metal or a clunking sound. More of a soft thud... Not loud. My wife cannot even hear it. But I definately can. It increases in tempo according to accelleration or decelleration. I am not so sure but I think I can almost feel it through the vehicle.
Though this could be my imagination getting the better of me.
I have heard that front wheel drive cars can suffer from this front end noise but have no idea what causes it.
A neighbour had hinted at it being related to the CV arm which connects into the Engine/Gearbox?. Saying that if hitting a bumb in the road or speed hump hard enough it could pop out a little. There is a cir clip or something like this keeping it in the housing apparently. He also mentioned that giving this a tap with the hammer on the end of the rod to push it back in should do the trick. Though I am not exactly sure about this.
I thought it might be wheel bearing troubles though others tend to disagree wioth such low Klms.
I will be taking it in for a look soon but wanted to hear of opinions before I do so, in case I get walked around the block and find my wallet gone.

Well any help is grwtly appreciated.

dirty hands
13-12-2010, 05:29 PM
have both cv joints checked out
or replaced even if the boots are intact

is this an auto or manual gearbox

KaizenDo
15-10-2011, 05:27 PM
I'll puy my 2 cents in and say wheel bearing, based on that description.

I have seen a number of these models with front wheel bearings faulty, from as low as 25000 km, on a MCV36 and I don't believe it is driver abuse. However, I have seen a lot of low km ex-lease and ex-rental rental cars with noticeable front end repairs from accidents and a lot of panel beaters don't have the wheel bearings replaced unless they are noisey or there is obvious hub damage, the trouble with this is that these types of bearings only need a relatively small side impact to put a pit in the race and then it is only a matter of time before it will fail.