Kluger Vibration/Noise help wanted

[Glenno52]

Daughters 2005 Kluger AWD recently developed an intermittent vibration like noise in the front PS.
When I said vibration like noise....it's more of a noise like a vibrating sound than an actual vibration.
It seems to come in more when the car warms up, and more noticable at 80 to 100 km/h.
It occurs intermittently but regularly...eg. it develops and builds up for about 15 seconds to a peak and then fades away for probably 30 seconds or so.
At first I thought it might be uneven size tyres, but they are OK. The tyres have been rotated and a wheel alignment done. Wheel bearing has been replaced.
It occurs when the car is rolling, regardless of whether it is in Drive or neutral, under power or braking...makes no difference!
CV joints feel OK, but have not been removed for inspection. They don't make any clunking noises etc.
Just hoping someones wifes uncles brothers cousin might have had one doing the same and can tell me what it is
All constructive advice greatly appreciated.Thanks. Glenno52

[Grega]

i chased a problem like this for years in a VN
turned out to be the torque convertor.

is it auto or manual?

[Glenno52]

i chased a problem like this for years in a VN
turned out to be the torque convertor.

is it auto or manual?

Auto and All wheel drive

Noise seems to be only in passenger side front area.

If it was torque converter, I'd imagine it would change when you shift it into Neutral at
100km/h.
It's still there even under light braking in neutral.

[wa5]

Seperation in one of the tyres (left front ?).. IE the steel belts in the tyre are starting to seperate. if this is the case you can check by running your hand over the tyre, you will feel a risen up bit.

[Glenno52]

Seperation in one of the tyres (left front ?).. IE the steel belts in the tyre are starting to seperate. if this is the case you can check by running your hand over the tyre, you will feel a risen up bit.

Thanks...havn't checked that personally, but would have assumed the mechanic who rotated the tyres and did the wheel alignment when he was looking for the problem would have done that. Still, you can't be sure so i'll have a look myself.
Would have imagined though that if that was happening, the noise would be there all the time and not intermittently. Will double check tomorrow. Thanks

[ONCE-NA]

AWD, take it offroad - you won't hear the noise anymore!

[oldcorollas]

brakes? ....

[Z2TT]

Hi,

What sort of noise is it, describe it. high pitch? low pitch?

Torque Converter came to mind to me as well.

Like OldCorolla's said, It could be the brakes, I have seen many cars where the drums for the handbrake had little bits broken off, that would cause noises.

[Glenno52]

Hi,

What sort of noise is it, describe it. high pitch? low pitch?

Torque Converter came to mind to me as well.

Like OldCorolla's said, It could be the brakes, I have seen many cars where the drums for the handbrake had little bits broken off, that would cause noises.

Car has only done 110,000km and discs and brakes are in good condition. Besides, the mechanic had all that off when he replaced the wheel bearings. As stated above....it does it even when rolling in neutral without brakes applied. And it's in the front...no handbrake there!
Describe the type of noise?
Well, i have an old weatherboard house with an air conditioner in the wall. It's much like the vibration caused by the A/C in the wall
Or, a bit like exhaust pipe drumming on floor of car.
Is reverberating the word i'm looking for

[2jzhilux]

definately check the tyres again and run you hand around the tyre usally on the inside and it will be shaped like a 50 cent piece which will cause a stuffed wheel bearing type noise
when you say wheel bearing has been done most mechanics can mistake this tyre noise as a wheel bearing thats why i think it would be the tyre ,try swappning the corner that is noisey with the spare to confirm it
Happens all the time on klugers and rav 4/6

[allencr]

It seems to come in more when the car warms up, and more noticable at 80 to 100 km/h.
It occurs intermittently but regularly...eg. it develops and builds up for about 15 seconds to a peak and then fades away for probably 30 seconds or so.

I don't think this could ever be said about an mechanical part that moves and/or rotates, and especially about a tire that's coming apart.

Heat shield/s, duct, undertray & panels, inner fender liner, something like that is vibrating.

[Lachie]

I don't think this could ever be said about an mechanical part that moves and/or rotates, and especially about a tire that's coming apart.

Heat shield/s, duct, undertray & panels, inner fender liner, something like that is vibrating.

No, it could be a mechanical part if its getting close to its resonant frequency. Its called beating, and it will happen as the frequency approaches the resonant frequency but the part hasn't reached full blown resonace yet. Its beacuse the two frequencies are quite in sync yet, so they add to increase the vibration at some points, and can subtract at others during the phase.

Maybe it could be a brake disc out of balance or something, or something stuck on the drive shaft causing them to be out of balance.

I'd look at the torque converter though as others have suggested

[Glenno52]

AWD, take it offroad - you won't hear the noise anymore!

Ahh...you're right there, you can't hear it on a gravel road
And, this car is not a suburban show pony like most of them....it lives in the country...gets driven mostly on country roads...and does at least 100km every week on gravel roads in various states of disrepair

Oh...and thanks to all you other members for your various comments. The car is away till the weekend, so I can't check out those suggestions till then.

[wagonist]

Car has only done 110,000km and discs and brakes are in good condition. Besides, the mechanic had all that off when he replaced the wheel bearings.

And your mechanic has good enough eyes to pick less than 1mm of variation in the machined face of the rotors?
When brake rotors get machined, more often than not, less than 1mm is taken off.

[andyjz]

Glenno52, i used to sell Klugers, i recall feeling the same thing in a demo (like driving with the back window down a little?). Also, i know that in Klugers, tyre wear is a bit of an issue. If you search the net, you will notice youre not the only one to experience vibration at speeds above 80km/h, all of which indicate poor tyre wear.

[Glenno52]

And your mechanic has good enough eyes to pick less than 1mm of variation in the machined face of the rotors?
When brake rotors get machined, more often than not, less than 1mm is taken off.

Hmmmm....This is a Toyota...not a Ford . And it has only around 110,000 on the clock!

I've been driving Toyotas for over 35 years and if I count my kids and late father, we have owned over 40 of them(there are 10 in my posession alone at the moment! + the kids have 3 more). We have not yet had to have a disc machined, but if I keep buying them...I guess sooner or later i'll have to get one done

andyjz....yes, i'm thinking along those lines at the moment and it will be the first check i do when the car returns on the weekend. Thanks.

[kassma]

Has anybody thought about wheel balance? Driving on grave every day, could cause the weights to come off... I've had that happen due to poor weight installation.

Kluger is not as sensative to weight being out of balance, but will cause resonance from about 80 to 100Km/hr.

The AW11 MR2... I loose a weight, and you will instantly feel it and Hear it...

Also, check out your suspension... possible worn shock. Also, check various components around that area... possible bolt/nut that could have made itself loose through daily gravel road.

By the way... did this come on gradually, or all of a sudden? If all of sudden, what was the cause or what happened to bring this on all of a sudden?

just some thoughts...

MIKE.

[Glenno52]

Well...it seems like we might have solved this problem....f#@=x*g Roof Racks

Cross bars actually...the car has the standard rails on the roof and someone(not me) fitted a couple of Supercrap cross bars to them at xmas time to cart some extra luggage!

No noise with luggage or later,a ladder, but with nothing at all...you guessed it...weird noise.

Still can't work out how three people, (myself included) reckoned the noise was coming from the lower front of the car

Like they say...you're never too old to learn something

Thanks to all for your genuine attempts to help solve this

[kassma]

bwhahahahahahaha...

I know the feeling... Glad you solved the problem though...

MIKE.