Noticed over the last week or two that there's been a slight knocking noise somewhere in the car. Comes and goes a bit, but was really noticeable a couple of times today.

Some notes:

• RH outer ball joint was replaced last week, knocking started before this
• Just got a WOF, full inspection was done on 09/09/09, re-inspection done on 23/09/09 when ball joint was done
• Seems to happen when it's going slow, although it might just be that I can't hear it over the road noise
• Happens more on rough roads, noticed it a lot in a carpark today
• Can't make it happen by taking either wheel over a bump (tested with cats-eyes, potholes, etc). Sometimes will make it knock, sometimes not.
• I replaced my shocks/springs with some lower Tein ones a few months back

I've just jacked it up and poked all the suspension components with a stick, nothing seems to move. Everything else seems tight.

I tried looking for engine mounts, but can see bugger all, so can't check them easily. Would these cause the issues I've described? What else might it be, what can I check, etc?

My guess would be LH ball joint.
I had a similar noise in mine, kind of a dull knock & occasional click. Had a WOF done a month or two back but they don't mean much unless the person inspecting it knows what they're looking for. Got my work mate to take it for a drive then put it on the hoist. He said LH ball joint was shot. RH was ok but I replaced them both just to be sure & now the noise has gone.
General rule of thumb in the motor industry, if one is gone then the other isn't far behind.

Failing that I would look at the shocks. Seen a few people complaining of noisy coil overs on these forums.

Turned into a driveway and there was a really loud click. Did it three more times when I was turning around in the carpark, then once on the way home. Still tracking straight etc, but I think I might drive the Corolla for the weekend :(.

Booked in for the doctor on Monday.

Hey Spoon that might be your problem as we have just had our Wof done & low & behold that both RH/LH ball joints had exessive play :( :angry: $80 per Ball joint plus labour

Where do you get your Wof's done bro...

Bought my car from Carbase so free WOF inspection from there. Got the ball joint from Nick, they charged me $63 to put it in.

Cost me a box of beer & a flat white to get both mine installed ;)
I was going to do mine myself but after watching my workmate change them I'm glad I didn't. Would have taken me an hour or two at my pace. Hoist, rattle gun & big hammer he was finished in just over 20mins.
I'll be getting him to do my WOFs from now on too. I'm not letting the monkeys at the city branch touch my car again.


If anyone's looking for a good honest WOF in AK/Ellerslie from the same guy let me know. They're only $20 until them end of November too.

I tried my own, but without a ball joint separator I was buggered. Got all the bolts off no problems, but just had to put it all back together.

A few whacks from a BIG hammer will do the same thing as B/J separator.
Found this DIY on LOC for anyone else attempting it http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/ind...showtopic=44611

I tried the hammer. I also tried putting the other jack under the bigger one so it had the force of the spring holding it down as well as the hammer. No dice.

Just guessed the procedure (plus Nick sent me instructions) and did it right according to that guy (although I left the ABS sensor attached).

Was a sway bar link.

Nick's going to have a pair with me on Wednesday morning (ish - no pressure Nick!) for about a third of Toyota's usual retail price, and we'll be good for another 92,000km!

Those are next on my list to do. Just waiting for the mount shop to get stock in. Priced genuine off my mate at Giltraps & still to much for my liking.
Lets just say I can get two for less than half the price of one genuine link :ph43r:

I'm getting two genuine ones for not a heap more than half the (normal) price of a genuine one ;)

e: Nick did some dealer assist pricing trickery with Toyota - did your mate at Giltraps do that?

Yep he offered me the same deal. Quiet a good discount over normal retail but the ones from the Mount Shop are about $50+ each retail. That's roughly 1/3 of the price & if you can get trade it's cheaper again. As much as I only want to use genuine parts on my car there's just some things I can't justify paying that much for.