At Whit's End, Need Help With Suspension Noise!

You may have seen my posts a few months back regarding this knocking/clunking sound I've been experiencing.

Well, even a supposed Toyota specialist shop couldn't figure it out.

Replaced:

Shocks
Strut Mounts
Inner Tie Rods
Outer Tie Rods
End Links
Engine mount (yup, that Toyota specialist shop thought that would do the trick)

The ball joints keep passing tests, two different shops swear they're ok.

The road by my house is being repaved, as such, it's really chewed up, and when driving over it, it truly feels like the whole front end of the Prius is going to fall off. It's like the loud, dull, clanging of metal bars.

Yet, nothing underneath shows any sign of wear or looseness whatsoever?

I guess I'm going to have to go to the dealership, but I don't want to be in the situation where they do what they believe will solve the problem, and it doesn't.

Help?

 

Re: At Wit's End, Need Help With Suspension Noise!

The problem has actually gotten progressively worse.

The anti-sway bar bushings appear to be ok. There are two bushings, when the end links are removed I checked them out, there appears to be no play, nothing strange about them. Of course, under load that may be a different story.

As for the shop, yup, they replaced mount cited in the TSB.

Thing is, sometimes I swear it's my steering column, the feedback it provides seems to go right up through. Literally, the column/front end feels like loose metal that's coming apart, and it's LOUD.

I removed the rubber "boot" and fished around the steering linkage, all appears well there too. It is the most bizarre problem I've ever encountered.

I seriously wish the damn thing would just break somewhere!

The only thing I can say for certain, is it happens when I hit relatively small bumps in the road, or continuous road imperfections which really, REALLY, express the issue. It also seems to be more pronounced on the driver's side.

It's funny, as I'll try and trigger the problem by using a long metal bar under the tire (when the vehicle is lifted and the front wheels are approximately six inches off the ground) and moving it up and down to varying degrees, not a thing.