QuestionHi ted,
I have two issues:
1) My 1992 Toyota Camry XLE V6 has a problem. It has automatic transmission. Most of the time when the speed cross around 20 mile/hour range (either accelerate or slowdown), I feel the car "knock" or kind of loud low tone "bang" or "shake". Sometimes I feel this "knock" when it shifts to higher gear also. But most of the time it is smooth shifting at higher speed. The "knock" is strong and much more frequent at low gear (may be the first gear change).
I do not know how to best describe the symptom, hopefully you can help me with this.
2)front suspension - bang on pothole and bounce
The same car. front passenger side suspension is bad. It bounces badly. If pressing it, it takes over 3 or 4 bounces to stop. It also bangs hard when it even a small hole or bump.
I guess the strut definitely needs replacement. Could there be any problem with the shock absorber as well? What about the spring?
They also told me that I always need to replace both sides at the same time. Please advise. Replacing both front struts plus alignment costs about 300$. I want to make sure I am repairing the right stuff.
BTW, its CV boots have been leaking since a couple years ago. I do not think I hear "click" when make turns, should I replace them? or replace the whole axle or joint?
Thank you very much
AnswerThe first problem seems drive axle related, could be an inner cv joint failure, this is easy to check, look for excessive movement of the axle shaft in the inner cv joint, it could also be a motor mount problem, put the car in gear and with your foot on the brake shift in and out of "D" and "R" and have somenone watch for excessive engine movement or shock inside the car when raising the engine rpm.
The struts do need to be replaced because they are worn, also replace the upper strut tower brackets they are what is causing the noise, the springs don't cause any problems.
