QuestionToyota dealership says the rattle in the back of my car is the hydraulic lifters; they need replaced. Just wondering if this was something we can order ourselves and replace. How difficult is this? They quoted nearly $400.
AnswerHi Linda,
They are saying the struts that hold the lift gate/glass up when open is rattling? Are they bad? Do they fail to hold the gate/glass open?
If the pieces are operating normally but simply making an annoying noise, I say fix the noise and keep the four-hundred clams in your pocket. How do you stop them from rattling and driving you nuts? Well, to be honest, I don't know for sure because i do not know which part of the strut is vibrating.
If it is the ends, Toyota has had issue with those from day-one of production. The issue was their (Toyota's) original supplier of those struts went belly-up shortly before manufacturing the requested parts so Toyota had to quickly find a new supplier of the same material. The problem with the new supplier was that instead of making the 'socket' part of the strut at (not sure of the exact measurement anymore) 12mm when the requested size was 11mm. Toyota installed them anyway claiming that once installed, the hydrolic pressure of the struts would hold the unit in place well enough so it would not vibrate.
What was not known to them was that the strut, once completely retracted, would NOT hold pressure because unlike the originally ordered part, the new manufacturer used a two-way pressure valve. So completely retracted and completely extended the valve would provide minimal pressure which should allow the unit to last longer.
Anyway, I've successfully stopped the ends from vibrating by pulling the strut off and placing a small piece of fiberglass insulation or felt into the socket part and replacing the piece. The piece of felt/insulation took up the gap in the socket and does not hinder the operation of the gate/glass.
However, there was also a few cases I have heard about whereas the entire strut was vibrating slightly and since the clearance between the skin of the gate and the body of the vehicle where the strut resides is tight quarters and there really is only a small gap for the strut to sit so when it vibrates, it lightly taps either the gate skin or the vehicle body or both making a rattling noise. I suspect, even though I have never run across it, that the felt/insulation trick will probably fix that problem as well because I suspect that if vibration IS causing the rattle, the felt/insulation will hold the unit tighter and dampen any severe vibration before it becomes a problem.
Those struts, if actually bad, can be obtained aftermarket at a local NEW auto parts supplier such as AutoZone, Advance Auto, Parts America, NAPA, Wheels, Western Auto, etc. relatively inexpensively.
Thanks for the question, I hope this information was helpful to you.
Fred
www.knucklebusters.us
570-453-0910
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