General Suspension Issues

[gardengirl38]

This is not for a jeep but possibly it is a universal issue so I am looking for thoughts. My Niece has a clunker Toyota Corolla 96 with 231k on it. Basically long story short she is jobless and needs this car to get to school and work whenever she is able to land a job. We have been fixing little things all month so it will pass inspection here in VA. Now she has some weird issue that just started happening. It is a loud knocking noise which is really fast knocking while driving. Speed is not a factor it is heard from under the floorboard area in the front seat but we can not pinpoint side of car. It isnt wheel bearings although oddly enough before the knocking noise starts I hear a sort of whirring noise again though the floor of the car but NOT coming in from the open window like you would with wheel bearing issues. Also there is no vibrations or jumping in the steering wheel. I checked the CV joints on both sides. The boots look great no cracks I can see so far, I will get under there this afternoon with her and we will look more closely. The driver side axle rod between the two rubber boots towards the tire has some play from boot to boot back and forth but not the other way does that make sense? like side to side between the boots but there is no movement the other way if I grab it and pull it towards myself and back to the back of the car. Now over on the other side what I THINK is the steering rack boot cover has grease all over it....
But when I check the steering it seems fine! I want to fix as much as I can at home because like I said she is broker than broke and I have very limited resources right now. Any things you can point me to look at or check or ways to tell would greatly be appreciated!!

 

[SteelHeadz]

I would look at that one side where you found all the grease slung around. The best way i know how to check a bad CV joint other than physically grabbing the shaft to check it's endplay is to place the front end on jack stands with enough clearance for the wheels to turn on the lock to lock position since it's a front wheel drive. Place the trans. on drive and listen for the noise. Also visually check the rotation of the axle shafts while its in motion. A wobble on the shaft while rotating is not a good sign..

 

[gardengirl38]

Great this gives me some more things to check out.

 

[HiHood]

Check around under there while you have it up on jack stands too. I had a plastic fender well liner break on my truck and I thought the whole truck was coming apart. It was a loud thumping as you described and I paid h*ll trying to figure out what it was. There are so many things it could be.
:shock:

 

[gardengirl38]

interesting that you should suggest that, her front right bumper and right fender liner are broken from a fender bender- there are some loose pieces and parts.... great gives me more things to check. Thank you

 

[gardengirl38]

still not really SURE that we have pinpointed the issue but two people who claim to have auto experience listened to the noise and claim they are 99% sure its the transmission mount probably the rear one. SO. Does anyone have experience with ever needing to replace these? Has anyone ever paid at a shop to get it done. I just want to know if it is something that is worth trying to find help to do it at home or if we need to have her save up to get someone to fix it at a shop? Thanks again for thoughts.

 

[TerryMason]

I'd take a stab at fixing it yourself. If it doesn't work out, just pick up this car:

$650 - 1991 toyota corolla

It looks like the mount itself is less than $30:
toyota corolla replace transmission mount - Google Product Search

 

[SteelHeadz]

It shouldn't be that difficult if you drive it up a pair of ramps and chuck the rear tires. This should give you some elbow space to get to the engine mount in question.

 

[jps4jeep]

pretty sure a 96 carolla doesn't have a transmission mount. Most of the small 4 cyl front wheel drive toyota cars (tercell, carolla echo etc..)have tranaxles and they are simply suspended off the side of the engine. there might be a torque isolator or something on there, but pretty sure no transmission mounts, I am probably wrong though. Good Luck.

 

[SteelHeadz]

Yeah your probabbly right Johnny.. My daughters Honda had one on the front of the engine(driver side), rear of the trans. (passenger side) , left of the trans.( between the engine and trans.) by the firewall and an engine strut on the front(Right side of the engine). Talk about making sure the powertrain doesn't run away from the car,lol