I have a 94' 4-runner 4WD V-6 5-speed that has a nasty rolling clank coming from my??? I have checked the drive shaft and lubed it, and have greased my hubs, and still no luck. The noise comes when I go between 10 and 20 miles per hour, in gear or not, accelerating or decelarating. I gets less noticable when I put her in 4-WD but is still there. I have replaced one axel on the side I think it is coming from but IT IS STILL THERE. It sounds like tin cans being rolled in a aluminum trash can. Does anyone have suggestions for what it may be? I plan on ripping the entire front end assembly out this weekend but I don't even know where to start? Also my reverse lights stopped working, (not related to current problem), and it's not the bulbs. Any ideas? And it doesn't end there..., How difficult is it to search/repair an exhuast leak? These are the woes of a vehicle with less than 100k miles! I'd sure like to keep it running.... Thanks in advance

Gabe

 

How about your CVs. Grab your drive axle and jiggle it back and forth. If it make noise or moves around freely then you have a bad inner or outter CV (usually the wheel side goes bad) it can be fixed easilly in under 60 min (review past posts on yotatech)

Check your fuses for the lights, maybe a relay at the shifter. That just sux
as for the exhast leak visual inspection and feeling with hand (very hot) you can tell if it is at the manifold. Headers and exhast systems are cheep. I had a custom 3 inch exhaust on my Cheep Stangler with a flow pro(flowmaster knock off) installed for $60 at Lake Norman Muffler
good luck don't get discouraged it is Yota

 

Thanks for the reply, you're right, the axle does move a little, perhaps 1/4 inch each direction just by moving it by hand, and the noise seems similar to when driving. I will check it out this weekend. However, that is the same axle I just replaced! It made the noise before, and after I replaced it. Can it be what the axle attaches to? The inner hub (if there is such a thing)?

Gabe

 

I was also going to guess a bad CV. They aren't very hard to install. I pounded out the studs on the axle side and replaced them with bolts. That gave me enough clearance so I only have to jack pu slighltly under the lower a-arm. Get some manual hubs since you'll have the ADD plate out - it will prevent your CVs from getting ruined again.