I know this is vague but does anyone have any thoughts on this?

About 4 weeks ago, I accelerated hard in my 2007, L322 4.4 Petrol to get past a learner driver while heading up hill. I floored it and there seemed to be a clunking sound which came from underneath the car - No warning lights or ongoing noises thereafter.

Then last week, I was going up a relatively steep country lane (nothing too major) and had to pull in to the side to let another car get down. As I did so, I tried to accelerate, and my front wheel (passenger slide) begin to skid, struggling to get traction, yet it only sounded like gravel under the tyres.

Admittedly, I only have about 2-3mm left on these tyres, (need to get a new full set all round), but I was still surprised that a 4x4 FFRR would slip on a bit of gravel!! It was seriously struggling to find traction!

Any ideas what could have caused either of these two issues?

And do you think they're related?

Many thanks

Allister

With the clunking it could be anything but if it was me but I would get someone to put her up on some ramps and check over. A clunk usually suggests something is moving under load that shouldn't be (stating obvious - sorry!)

Things I would check


BallJoints and arms
Suspension bushes
Prop Shaft
Exhaust Mountings
Drive shafts
Transmission & Engine mounts

Now, if your drive shaft on the passenger side is worn then that possibly could be the cause of your slipping but I could be wrong and its just unrelated. Far cheaper and safer to fix preventatively though than deal with the hassle of a breakdown Current Fleet:-
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Thanks for the great, detailed advice and suggestions of things to check - It's much appreciated.

The car's due a service so I'll get those things checked over.

Many thanks again

Allister

Was it a consistent clunking sound or a big clunk?

That list by Nicksaab is pretty comprehensive.

The TC can slam when getting locked up if you plant your foot sometimes in auto boxes.
When was the last time you did a filter or fluid change on the transmission or fluid change on the diffs?

I would check the drive shaft. There have been reports of play in some (holidaychicken?)

Cooper1275 wrote:

Was it a consistent clunking sound or a big clunk?

That list by Nicksaab is pretty comprehensive.

The TC can slam when getting locked up if you plant your foot sometimes in auto boxes.
When was the last time you did a filter or fluid change on the transmission or fluid change on the diffs?

Dolphinboy wrote:

I would check the drive shaft. There have been reports of play in some (holidaychicken?)

Sorry for the thread resurrection but did you ever get to the bottom of this?, mine has started to make three of four knocks but only under hard acceleration from standstill and the traction isn’t the best either.
At first I thought it was due to the rear subframe bushes which I’ve replaced as they were in a state but it’s still doing it.

When the prop shaft centre bearing failed on my 2004 L322 it made a load of vibration and clunks between 20mph and 30mph when going up steep hills. It’s worth checking early because it is easier to check and cheaper to replace than a torque converter! I know because I paid for a gearbox rebuild and new torque converter first, but then still had the clunking at 20mph to 30mph. Doh! 2004 L322 4.4 V8 Vogue Bonatti Grey
(205,500 miles and counting.......)

Thanks Tom, prop and UJs are in my check list when it’s in for something else next week I will ask them to put it in the ramp and have a look.
Mine is weird, it doesn’t seem to do it at all while driving normally, only when accelerating hard from a standing start, which isn’t something I do often but noticed it last night as I did have to floor it away from some lights before 2 lanes went into 1 so I wasn’t stuck behind a very slow Honda Jazz driver any longer .
Heard it and tried it again a couple more times and it did the same, I’d say 3 or 4 knocks in very fast succession then it stopped.
I guess it could be the prop centre bearing starting to go as it only seems to do it when there is no load on it then full load, once it’s moving it doesn’t seem to do it at all.

I don’t know what is causing it to break traction so easily in the wet though either, I thought both issues might have been caused by the rear subframe bushes initially but it’s still doing it after they’ve been done, the car does feel like it handles better after having them done and it doesn’t feel like it’s about to fall over anymore!.
Maybe it’s just a combination of not having great tyres in it, it has some general grabber ATs on the back and some new cheapies on the front, I want to get a new set of wheels in it as it’s currently on Sport alloys that I don’t particularly like.

Hi Ollie

I've looked back through the cars file and also tried to refresh my memory as it was a couple of years ago. I had nothing done to the car for around 6 months following this post, and even that was just an Inspection 2 service, which leads me to believe (as is often the case with these cars), that it was something that seemed to happen once or twice, but then never showed itself again. A bit like the occasional warning lights I've had from time to time during my 15 years of different L322 ownership, which then go away..

I always keep invoices for all car related stuff, so I can't have had anything done. So it obviously came to nothing.

Whatever's wrong - I hope you manage to sort it. I'm sure someone else here will have some idea, always lots of great knowledge on here.

Have a great Christmas also.

Best

Allister

Thank you for checking , I have to admit I’m scratching my head a bit, it didn’t do it today either.
I’m taking it in for an AC pipe next week so will ask if they can put it on the ramp quickly and see if anything looks amiss.
The bad traction could well just be the tyres in my case, I’m hunting for a set of original era alloys for it so only put a cheap pair on the front of the 275/40/20 Sport alloys it has on it at the moment.

I know what you mean about things popping up once or twice then never again, they can be quite an infuriating ownership experience at times!, still I knew what I was getting into, if I’d have wanted to play it completely safe I’d most likely not be posting on a Toyota forum as we speak .

Have a great Christmas.

Well mystery solved for the couple of knocks when pulling away when accelerating hard, it’s the prop centre bearing in the very early stages of going so will order a new one and put it on over the Christmas break.

If anyone can recommend somewhere to order one for a TDV8 that would be really helpful as most of the ones I’ve found online are for the petrols!.

Duckworthparts: Robin.Hall@duckworth.co.uk

Will be able to source you a real one.👍🏻 There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
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