Clanking noise in the rear!! Options

[CelicaGT04]

For wheel bearing, when you lift the car on a jack and you can literally move the tire like this // while its mounted.. then you have a bad bearing.
For sway bar bushings, you really going to have to get under there and look im guessing..
And for end-links.. if yours are anything like mine (which are shot to HELL) then they either:

1. still allow for the sway bar to have too much travel (which is why mine clanks like hell)
2. End links are wont tighten and just turn (meaning the boot is broken and when you try to tighten the nut your bolt moves too.)

These are just some of the problems that i have had in the past.. so maybe some of it will help?

[Bigwaaagh]

Ok, thanks for the tips, will check it all out when I jack it up. The jack is tight in place, one of the first things I checked

However I think I've found the answer to my problem last weekend. I suspected the problem to be in the brake assembly, because the right rear brake has had a tendency to bang the first few times when applying the brakes, especially when driving backwards. It also seemed to "clank" more after the brake banged. Strange thing was that in the same weather conditions and on the same roads the problem would occur only about half the time.

What is evident now is that the brake pad(s) are a bit loose on the suspected brake. This will be helped by replacing the clamps that hold the pads in place. I'm not sure if this will solve the problem, and I'll be sure to check all the other things while working on the brake.
I'll post the result in here, but it could very well take 1 to 2 weeks until I get to working on the car again...

[Athorn]

Can someone post a pic of what the sway bar brushings look like. I have no idea.

This post has been edited by Athorn: Aug 7, 2008 - 10:57 PM

[Urputus]

Can someone post a pic of what the sway bar brushings look like. I have no idea.

You can see a detail of sway bar bushings on this page:
http://www.suspensionconnection.com/cgi-bi...r_bushings.html
Unfortunately nothing for our Celicas

[convert]

This is my first post on this site.

I have '97 Celica convertible, which has had rear suspension clanking since the day I bought it, six months ago. I really wanted a smooth running car, as I have been spoiled by my BMW Z3 and many others. But I need the extra room the Celica has.

I took my car to the mechanic to look for the clanking on several occasions, and he completely disassembled the rear suspension, finding nothing. The mechanic did say that he thought the noise was high up. I removed the jack... still no improvement.

Finally I opened the trunk, and started to shake things around. I found that the spring struts were just a little loose, and when you shook them, the same kind of noise happened. So what I did, was to cover those trunk struts with a little foam rubber (insulation material), and NO MORE CLANKING!

I hope if you look in this unlikely place, you may find the same happiness I have!

Convert

[convert]

Further to my last post, the clanking returned to some extent. So I took off the trunk lid struts and hammered the ball casings to close them up a little. I was afraid they might crack, but they took it well. After about ten minutes I had taken all the play out of them, and reinstalled them with no padding.

This time I was 100% successful. The car feels like new.

I think there must have been a plastic part inside the ball joints which had given up over time. If you feel my approach was too crude, just buy a new pair of trunk lid struts.