Help! Can't figure out this front end clunk over bumps.

[suprasb]

Hey YarisWorld!

First post, did some searching on the subject but couldn't really find the answer to my question.

My GF has a 2007 Yaris S Sedan, bone stock. 109,000miles. AT

The past few months it started to develop a clunk noise at low speeds over bumps. It's getting worse now and I can't figure out where it's coming from. I was just out under the car grabbing, shaking, wiggling everything i could grab to see if anything was obviously loose. Nothing budged. Tie rods looked good, no loose bolts or nuts on the control arms, nothing. Only thing I did notice, were the sway bar end links seemed to pivot in place on their joints. Is this normal? I can grab the end links and turn them by hand and they pivot back and forth. Also, I noticed the strut tower looked different when the car is jacked up, as opposed to on the ground, is this normal? I'll attach a picture. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[CTScott]

That is normal for the strut towers. Check the bolts behind the front wheels that mount the A-arms to the bottom of the car.

[contraband831]

It looks like one of the strut mounts is busted, they both should look semi flush like the picture on the left (when on the ground or jacked up)

[suprasb]

The top of the struts pop up like that one both sides of the car when it's on the ground. I'll check the A arm bolts. Thanks for the info!

[ciscobear]

In addition I suspect your stabilizer links are shot as well. They are cheap enough and for that mileage I would change them and also the stabilizer bushings.

[WeeYari]

Issue with the control arm bolt discussed here http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27658

Strut top hats used to be discussed a couple times a month ages ago. Question always got raised after someone replaced front springs and for the first time took note of the gap. Yes, they close up when car is raised, and open up again when put back on the ground.

Shown here is how the top hat looks with car on ground and steering moved through full left to full right.

[harda toenail]

Ya check those bolts. Use a big wrench because those suckers have to be tight. You prolly won't feel the looseness with your fingers.

I had a cobalt that made a clicking sound over bumps and had a loose a arm bolt. Along with a bunch of other issues. Then I bought a yaris

[suprasb]

Yeah the A-arms didn't seem loose when I checked the other day, but then again I was using a puny wrench, I'll hit it with my big bar tomorrow and see if it budges. Man I hope that's it. If that doesn't do the trick, I'll start with the sway bar end links.

[CTScott]

Originally Posted by suprasb

Yeah the A-arms didn't seem loose when I checked the other day, but then again I was using a puny wrench, I'll hit it with my big bar tomorrow and see if it budges. Man I hope that's it. If that doesn't do the trick, I'll start with the sway bar end links.

With the A-arms you are looking for one of the mounting bolts to be missing its head due to corrosion, as opposed to being loose.

[suprasb]

Just wanted to follow up on this. I ordered the updated Control Arm bolts from toyota, and replaced them. Seems to have fixed the issue, haven't heard the noise since. They strange thing was that the bolts that came out of there looked perfectly fine. Oh well, at least it's gone. Thanks for the help guys!