Single knock when accelerating from a stop, sometimes

And what happens from running to a dead stop Do you get the same click possibly your sway bar end links or something like that certainly it's nothing very mission critical You can barely hear the mess so I guess in your car's been very quiet throughout its whole life you've heard no noises and this is alarming you would be my guess It's certainly not anything that I would run to worry about that's for sure Even if this sway bar and link was to break other than some mishandling it higher speeds which this car may never see. not really eventful.

 

Nope that little clique would take years or a long time to become a big disaster so that's probably not going to be a thing usually what you do is take a long iron bar called a digging bar take the front wheel off on the side you're messing with slide the bar under the lower control arm You have your friend pick up and down on the bar clunk a clunk a clunka while you've got your head in the wheel well looking at the end links and the pieces to see where the clonka is coming from pretty simple now move to the other side if needed a sway bar end link actually has two links one where it connects to the sway bar and the other connects to the hole on the strut Good luck.

 

how is the sway bar links and bushings? Also can you press down on hood to check the strut?

The regular 3-9 ad 6-12 checks ok?

 

Nope that lower ball joint looks fine looks like it's filled with grease properly and everything is good in the world with it If it wasn't you'd be able to pry between the rubber boot and the taper shaft where the nut bolts on up top and you'd be able to make the ball joint rock up and down and it's seat so it would no longer be seated properly it would be able to be almost pulled off of the joint itself so that the ball would no longer be in its seat and it would make a hell of a clunking noise so I doubt any of that's going on

 

Yes CV joints on this model generally don't go bad any CV joint can go bad especially if you have power and are able to tear them up hard gear shifting and what not. Not going to be much of that in the Prius generally speaking I haven't replaced any drive axles or CV joints in the four that I have here I have replaced suspension components and front hubs and bearings lower ball joints and when I do struts I put a complete strut with non-variable rate springs and new tops and everything they come assemble that way but again if you put something under the front tire when it's jacked up leave the wheel on but something between the rubber and the road and jack up on it rather smartly this will be a long iron bar about 4 to 6 ft long and while somebody stands right in the wheel well they can even put their hand on the top plate while you're lifting and dropping and lifting and dropping and lifting and dropping in your quiet so the person can listen to see if you're creating any noise if that top plate is moving or popping the person's hand on top of the strut tower will feel that every time you lift up and let down and so on there is something somewhere that is causing that noise seemingly it's in your front suspension it doesn't necessarily have to be but it sure seems like it You can wedge the pry bar also with the wheel up to grab under the lower control arm and try and shift it side to side to see if it's bushings will allow it to clunk in any direction things like that That's about all you're going to be able to do in the field at home or whatever and to be honest about it a person getting it up on the lift doesn't have a much better shot unless there's something readily wrong that you can possibly see jacking up the car on each side and getting up under the wheel and the rubber and bouncing that wheel up and down usually will create enough shock and if that noise is anywhere in that part of the system you should be able to make it happen

 

Sometimes the source of noise can be misleading from inside the car and ends up on the other side.

CV joints can go bad without tearing the boot but traditionally are louder when making turns under power.

Usually a mechanic has heard these things before, has a lift and knows how to test joints. Just changing parts can be a waste of money.