[holzhaus18]

Hello everyone and first of all thank you for this awesome forum.
Just a short description of myself:
I am from Germany and 29 years old. I will finish my masters in 2 month. As a reward I bought myself a pretty cheap rav4.1 1996 stick shifted with 140.000km to drive it all the way from Munich Germany to Cape Town SA.
When I bought the car it made a clonk noise while accelerating or engaging the clutch. So I looked under the car and saw that the rear differential was moving up and down. So I replaced the front and rear differential mounts. After that the clonk was a bit less metallic sounding but, there as still a clonk. So I asked the toyota dealership and they said my differential was bad. So I bought a differential from a 2.gen rav4 and put this one in. Still the same clonk. So I think it was not the diff.
The middle mount of the propeller shaft looks good and it is not moving a lot. Also the engine mounts have no visible cracks or anything I see tell just from looking at it. And since it is happening even if I am not using the clutch, just accelerating, I do not suspect the clutch, or am I wrong here?
Could it be my transfer case ?
Or transmission?
Can the engine mounts be bad without cracks? (I think maybe the left one is moving a bit too much)
Thanks in advance!
Best regards
T.

 

[iowagold]

find a good toyota mechanic to take a look.
a good mechanic can track it down.
hard to tell over the internet exactly what you have for the noise.

what speed do you hear the noise?
at 0-10?
or at highway speeds?

check the drive shaft u joints and the cv shafts and wheel bearings super close sitting on flat ground .
lots of parts for sure in the drivetrain. moving and bushings.

and do the brake test loading of the engine mounts with a person watching the engine movement.
at the age of the ravs engine and trans mounts are a good idea.

so what all did you replace in the rear?
there are several bushings in the rear suspension that do go bad.
i am just getting the last of the parts to do my 2000 4.1.

parts from all over the world no kidding!
latvia has some of the hard ware as of dec 2022.
and some from united emeritus.

 

[holzhaus18]

I checked the drive shafts and the cv shafts. There is nearly no play at all. Just the play that should be there from spec I suppose. I did not check the wheel bearings.
what do you mean with brake test ?
I just changed the front and rear mounting of the rear diff. And the diff itself.
also no play in the shocks and springs in the back.
I hear the sound always when I step a bit harder on the gas or if I am releasing the clutch not super gently.

 

[iowagold]

there should not be any deflection in the u joints or cv shafts joints.

 

[let_us_rav(e)]

I've heard that worn differential mounts can cause the transmission mounts to wear out, definitely worth looking at

 

[LugNut]

Ditto on checking the engine mounts too. I do the braking-test-method without a helper by raising the hood and watching the engine while in gear, brakes fully depressed, and giving reving the engine a bit repeatedly. Safety first -- make sure there's nothing to hit if your brakes fail!

 

[holzhaus18]

I looked at the u joints and the cv shaft joints. Should not come from there. I was now at two different toyota dealers again. One said it is the engine mounts, because they can get soft over the years. The other one says it is definitely not the engine mounts😃. If they have no cracks, they are fine he said.
Quite confusing. But one of them mentioned there is something a bit loose somewhere in the front left. But this should not be connected to the clonk noise.
So next week I will look through the car with a friend on mine who also learned on toyota. He offered to check the car for me before the trip. Hopefully he can figure this out. I will keep you updated.

Are there any extra transmission mounts ?
Or is the left engine mount actually called transmission mount?
Because yesterday I checked this one and I think it is moving quite a bit.

 

[LugNut]

The newest ones of these 4.1s are now 23 years old. So replacing the engine mounts, etc. anyway would not be a total waste of resources if planning to keep such a vehicle long term.

 

[holzhaus18]

Long term is relative. I bought this car to drive to Cape Town. I just want to make sure the car will arrive there, or at least aim for a good chance =)

 

[holzhaus18]

Sooo, i had 2 mechanics under the car today. they checked the wheel bearings: should be okay, maybe the front left will be due in some time. Both said engine mounts are fine. Both checked the cv axels. Maybe a bit too much up and down play where the cv axel enter the transmission. But there is noch play in the cv axels itself when you turn them. The connecting rods are done, will replace the as soon as possible. But that's ist sadly not the real problem.