Thump noise when stopping. (Tailshaft clunk)

[Davad73]

Same problem here, up until the 40k service never had a thump. Got the car back from dealer and next day there was this thump, exactly what everyone else is saying. So whats the go...... never ever had a thump before and since the 40k service thump there. Took car back 3 days later and explained the thump and do you think the dame car would do it for the service manager when we went for a spin....

It's been 4 weeks since service and the problem only arises after the car has been going for some time. So car has to have travelled 30+ K's for it to do it. It has to be the Grease they put in at the service. Maybe the monkeys put the wrong stuff in? What else would they have touched. Going to dealer tomorrow!!!!

[PeteS]

I have had my Prado for nearly 3 years now and I have no doubt it is the lack of grease in the tailshaft. I was told it needs a lot of grease, not just one or two pumps. It took me a while to convince my mechanic as he said there there was a problem with earlier Landcruisers (think it may have been 70 series) where too much grease in the tailshaft caused problems.

I cannot remember when I had last had the dreaded clunk although I do remember when I would find different weights in the vehicle (slightly different ride height) would cause the clunk to appear more.

Cheers
PeteS

[Davad73]

Well i called into the dealer last week and told them about the Thud. The guy just said the tailshaft needs regreasing. They took the car out the back and did it straight away. So far so good, have not had a thud since. I'll keep a close feel for it from now on.

[vaise]

I got an 01/08 built Auto D4D in Feb 08. Had the 'clunk after stopping' issue after 10,000 ish, new tailshaft, then 6 months later, problem back again. They greased it up - all fine till 2 weeks ago. Took it in, they said needs a new tail shaft! - I said that would be the second one - they said they have to talk to Toyota to approve it (they said the same the first time). Just got a call today from the dealer (Burleigh Heads). They said they are really sorry but Toyota have refused to replace the part. They said I should take it up with Toyota. I called the Toyota 1800 number today and stated my case. They said they will 'look into it' . I believe my statuary rights state they should repair this issue as it is an ongoing problem. I have had a load of cars before this one and this is the only machanical problem I have every had. This car is the wifes - never offroad, just school runs and around town. Had a Patrol before for 5 years - never had an issue with it. Bought the Toyota based on its 'Toyota reliability'! After reading this post, that is simply not the case.

[Davros]

Why on earth would the tail shaft need to be replaced? There isn't much to a tail shaft that can just go wrong.... that is, unless it has suffered impact damge, or was coming off and damged splines.

[Bushbasher]

I'm with davros. You never heard of any tailshaft issues with the 90 series and here we are with basically the same mechanicals - diffs/gearboxes/suspension (albeit some slight mods) and there are a few issues with shafts and diffs.

[Sunday]

I had the dreaded tailshaft "clunk" as well (I have a post earlier in this thread somewhere). Some months (& several thousand kms ago) my Toyota dealer re-greased the tail shaft. They said they were now using a special grade of grease & also making sure it was well packed, this reportedly has been solving these tail shaft issues. Well it's worked on mine, after a few half-hearted clunks immediatelty after the re-grease, it hasn't done it since.

Sunday

[mccooper]

G'day,

My Prado (05 V6, 5sp auto) has a small but annoying "thud" in the driveline some where.

When i have stopped at traffic lights there is a thud that comes from the driveline. It doesn't happen all the time and is varied in harsness from only just noticable to feeling like someone has just tapped the towbar with there car.

I thought it was the Auto box changing down to first, but Toyota ruled that out yesterday when they were testing the car. They don't know what could be causing this.

Does anyone else notice this in their Prado?

Yep I have a 2005 with 140 on the clock v6 Auto Grande it does it, this will help when the car is lifted on the hoist, fill the all shafts with grease the wheels/suspension must be fully extended, this will help also with that back off in heavy traffic clunck!
The Valve body may have issues as well, I have replaced a solenoid, and also just reading oil seal fail some where in the box itself causes this problem?
A regular service and make sure they use the correct Toyota Auto Gearbox oil!!!!
regards
Coops

[mccooper]

Yep I have a 2005 with 140 on the clock v6 Auto Grande it does it, this will help when the car is lifted on the hoist, fill the all shafts with grease the wheels/suspension must be fully extended, this will help also with that back off in heavy traffic clunck!
The Valve body may have issues as well, I have replaced a solenoid, and also just reading oil seal fail some where in the box itself causes this problem?
A regular service and make sure they use the correct Toyota Auto Gearbox oil!!!!
regards
Coops

[vaise]

Update on my last entry. Dealer said nothing more they could do - waiting for direction from Toyota - that was a week ago. (I have the new tailshaft and filed splines already as posted earlier - issues came back after 6 months - re-grease did not help) Today, Dealer called me to re-book. They have been instructed by Toyota to sand the splines with very fine sand paper, then pack with a new special grease. Booked in for Tuesday. Will update.

[09PradoGXL]

Update on my last entry. Dealer said nothing more they could do - waiting for direction from Toyota - that was a week ago. (I have the new tailshaft and filed splines already as posted earlier - issues came back after 6 months - re-grease did not help) Today, Dealer called me to re-book. They have been instructed by Toyota to sand the splines with very fine sand paper, then pack with a new special grease. Booked in for Tuesday. Will update.

I hope you have some luck this time around vaise.

I got my car back from having the splines filed yesterday. So far so good, but it has only been a day. Fingers crossed.

[peter2904]

This started on my 150 a couple of weeks ago. By last weekend the thump was happening ever time I stopped at lights or in traffic. Rang the dealer Monday morning and booked the car in for today (Friday). As the week went on it was happening less.
Anyway the dealer had the car for an hour and said they repacked the drivetrain spline grease as that fixes the problem 90% of the time. Have only drive the car home from the dealers and it did not happen.
Time will tell is I am one of the 90% or unlucky to be in the 10%.

Peter

[Riv39]

This started on my 150 a couple of weeks ago. By last weekend the thump was happening ever time I stopped at lights or in traffic. Rang the dealer Monday morning and booked the car in for today (Friday). As the week went on it was happening less.
Anyway the dealer had the car for an hour and said they repacked the drivetrain spline grease as that fixes the problem 90% of the time. Have only drive the car home from the dealers and it did not happen.
Time will tell is I am one of the 90% or unlucky to be in the 10%.

Peter

Peter, this sarted on my 150 D4D as well last week. It now does it everytime I stop but if I select neutral just before stopping and then drive after stopping it does not do it at all. Seems to me more like the box is not selcting first gear correctly.

[09PradoGXL]

This started on my 150 a couple of weeks ago. By last weekend the thump was happening ever time I stopped at lights or in traffic. Rang the dealer Monday morning and booked the car in for today (Friday). As the week went on it was happening less.
Anyway the dealer had the car for an hour and said they repacked the drivetrain spline grease as that fixes the problem 90% of the time. Have only drive the car home from the dealers and it did not happen.
Time will tell is I am one of the 90% or unlucky to be in the 10%.

Peter

Peter, this sarted on my 150 D4D as well last week. It now does it everytime I stop but if I select neutral just before stopping and then drive after stopping it does not do it at all. Seems to me more like the box is not selcting first gear correctly.

This maybe because in neutral with the pressure taken off the tail shaft and with it still turning it can slide in/out along the splines easier. So once you stop it has already relaxed. If you keep it in drive then stop there is always some load on the tail shaft which I guess it preventing it from slipping back when you stop.
That is my uneducated understanding of the problem anyway.
Mine tended to clunk when I released the brake to start moving again.
I also haven't had the problem since having the splines filed. I some times think I still feel it, but that could just be all in my head because I am waiting and expecting it.

[Riv39]

This maybe because in neutral with the pressure taken off the tail shaft and with it still turning it can slide in/out along the splines easier. So once you stop it has already relaxed. If you keep it in drive then stop there is always some load on the tail shaft which I guess it preventing it from slipping back when you stop.
That is my uneducated understanding of the problem anyway.
Mine tended to clunk when I released the brake to start moving again.
I also haven't had the problem since having the splines filed. I some times think I still feel it, but that could just be all in my head because I am waiting and expecting it.

Ok, now I get it.....makes sense, I have booked the car in this week to have it re-greased, the service manager knew straight away what it was and said that it will require grease to be applied every other service (I assume every 10 - 20k). He also confirmed that Toyota no longer relpaces the shaft as it does not fix the problem. No mention of filing or sanding the splines however, I guess they see if grease works in the first instance. I wonder whether there is a grease nipple on the 150 series, I will ask.

[mjrandom]

He also confirmed that Toyota no longer relpaces the shaft as it does not fix the problem.

Interesting that Toyota doesn't change the tailshaft anymore. I lived with the 'thump' from new until the tailshaft was replaced late June last year and it has been good now for more than 12 months.

[Riv39]

He also confirmed that Toyota no longer relpaces the shaft as it does not fix the problem.

Interesting that Toyota doesn't change the tailshaft anymore. I lived with the 'thump' from new until the tailshaft was replaced late June last year and it has been good now for more than 12 months.

I noted in this thread that replacing the shaft did not work for everyone, you must be one of the lucky ones! I guess Toyota's current attitude is that it is cheaper to keep greasing the shaft whilst under warranty then it becomes the owner's problem after that to do it as part of regular servicing.

[don1]

i have that the same problem with my 120..the tail shaft was greased every 10k service...1 of cross joint was stuffed..replaced the whole shaft,,just 2 months and back to the same noise again...the shaft assembly cost about 2000 bucks

[Riv39]

Question.....if you work the shaft harder in and out i.e. more aggressive suspension travel typically experienced with people who use there vehicle off road more, does that mean less binding? I say this as I have yet to take my 150 off road and it only really started doing it a lot when I had a full load of people on board, next time I used the car I was the only one in it and guess what, no clunk.

[Kaosad]

Hi Guys, coming from a toyota mechanic, this is a known issue with prados and to some extent hiluxes. They didn't use quite enough grease in the tailshaft slide and this causes form a slight clunk through the the "bump" feeling. The way to fix this (if your toyota dealer won't do it for you. They should as they know about it) is to pump a heap of grease into the slide until you see the slide start to hydraulic slighty (push apart). Then using a fairly fine feeler gauge ( Preferably one you can sacrifice) gently slide it up beside the seal (Careful with the seal!) along the spline until you see grease coming back out along where you put the feeler gauge in. If your clunk is bad, try this a few times and see if this helps, if not the alternative is to drop your shaft out and match-mark the 2 halves ( this will make it easier to put back together with the right spline lined up later. Tail shafts are balanced to the way the shaft is on that particular spline) After match-marking it, seperate the 2 halves and inspect the male spline surfaces. You may note they have slight scalloping along them. If so, carefully using a small triangle shaped file, run up and down the inner edges of the spline only (In the groove) don't run the file on the outer edges at all. I suggest only doing this if you are fairly mechanically minded only. Then refit shafts together wtih a little grease, fit to vehicle then pump full of grease as per earlier instructions. Most of the time this will alleviate this problem. My own took a couple of days of driving to get the grease into all the right areas. I hope this helps.