Corolla 121 Taka Taka Noice

[corollahv]

Dear Friends,

Recently my Corolla 121 (2000 Model) has started to give a Taka Taka noice when I drive on any non-carpet roads.

I showed the car to To***ta Lan** , They just disassembled and reassembled some thing under the car (may be what they call rack). Then noice was stopped for some time.

After around one month, it started again,

At my recent service, at Au**o Mi***, they pointed out that my Lower Arm Bushes were not good and I should either repair or buy new. They also told me it would stop the noice.

So I went to a mechanic. He told me that noice is not comming from lower arm bushes and bushes can be used little bit more.

Further, mechanic told me that, noice is a design issue of Corolla 121 and every 121 start to be noicy when getting old. It is due to a wear of a shaft as he says.

According to him only thing we can do is refitting like Toy*** Lan** did.

He says it will come again after few months. (Actually I did not tell him what To**ta Lan** did)

Do you have any such experince with 121.

Is there anyway to stop that noice?

At what cost ?

Edited November 24, 2009 by corollahv

[rangerover]

I had a similar issue and it was the steering rack end as shown in the picture, which had broken. May be its a common issue with the 121, just like the civic es1/8 series.. My mechanic at matara garage just replaced the nylon bushed (which they manually build) and the sound has reduced to a great extent. I still hear a slight sound occasionally over a slight bump, im presuming its because the steering rack is slightly worn, or i also hear that the 121 rack is allowed to move around 1mm.. Some on correct me if im wrong

Check this image to check the three ends seals i replaced (dont think i replaced all). Also how much did toyota lanka charge to do that fit you mentioned?

[madmax]

This is quite common with the 121 becuase of the electric power steering. It's more prone to tear & wear on our roads compared to a conventional power steering rack. I had the same problem on a 121 I used for a while.

[rangerover]

This is quite common with the 121 becuase of the electric power steering. It's more prone to tear & wear on our roads compared to a conventional power steering rack. I had the same problem on a 121 I used for a while.

So are the rack ends that are prone to wear and tear mostly or the steering rack it self?

[corollahv]

Hi,

It seems I should visit Matara Garage.

Can you please tell where it is in Nugegoda? Address?

[Ruslan]

yep. as far as i herd this is a common among EPS systems. i know couple of blokes who replaced their EPS system with Hydraulic system because of this issue. even in hydraulic system be careful when you changing Power steering fluid. careful not to let air into the system as this will lead to ruin power steering vane pump. i had to replace my cars power steering pump because idiot at Auto mirage let air into the system when changing fluid and end up making noises and leaks.

[rangerover]

They are right in front of susiko along high level road on your left hand side when your going towards the nugegoda junction from narehanpita. Few metres passing the old sweet house. Check the website out. Can you let me know how much Toyota Lanka charged for the diagnostic?

http://mataragroup.com/

(Mods, if you think this is inappropriate advertising, accept my apologies and remove the posting)

[rangerover]

yep. as far as i herd this is a common among EPS systems. i know couple of blokes who replaced their EPS system with Hydraulic system because of this issue. even in hydraulic system be careful when you changing Power steering fluid. careful not to let air into the system as this will lead to ruin power steering vane pump. i had to replace my cars power steering pump because idiot at Auto mirage let air into the system when changing fluid and end up making noises and leaks.

Hey ruslan, what is the root cause for the issue to begin with? is it turning in a stationary postion or travelling on bumpy roads? Also is there any other suitable remedy except for replacing nylon bushes and replacing the eps system?

[corollahv]

Hi rangerover,

Thanks for directions.

I did few things with that work including a tuneup, petrol pump replace and bla bla at toy** lan**.

Cost was around 30k , cannot remember how much was for that rack thing.

I will try to find the bill.

[Ruslan]

Hey ruslan, what is the root cause for the issue to begin with? is it turning in a stationary postion or travelling on bumpy roads? Also is there any other suitable remedy except for replacing nylon bushes and replacing the eps system?

Even in my car there was a noise before replacing the bushes. i think it's due to the road conditions. since you replace the bushes there is no need to worry for the moment. remember most of these cars are JDMs. and if you can carefully observe brand new imported Corollas and yaris equipped with slightly higher/different suspension setup than their JDM counterparts.

hydraulic steering replacement is done purely because (i believe..), that there's lack of capable people/techies who can handle EPS related repairs effectively (rather than replacing the entire steering rack. which is costly).

Edited November 24, 2009 by Ruslan

[terrabytetango]

Corolla Koththu?

[prasad rajakaruna]

try once to re grease and re torque steering rack

Edited November 24, 2009 by prasad rajakaruna

[SeanD]

Maybe there's a koththu shop in the undercarriage?

In all seriousness, you haven't mentioned where the sound is coming from so it could be many things. Can you pinpoint it to a wheel? Or is it from the midsection? Or the rear? Does the rattling only happen in time with the bumps, or does it rattle on its own like something was flapping about underneath? If it's from the midsection just do what the others have said in the thread because it's probably a rack issue. Also, have someone look at the brackets holding the exhaust system in place, could be one of those have broken or cracked and the exhaust is hitting the undercarriage when you're on the bumps. This is something mechanics don't usually check cos it's not that common.

Or it could be your shock absorbers or springs.

I'd say get a full suspension checkup (and check that there are no cracked linkages). I doubt it's any life threatening problem, but it could affect the stability of the car at speed and also the wear on the tires (and fuel consumption).

[rangerover]

Even in my car there was a noise before replacing the bushes. i think it's due to the road conditions. since you replace the bushes there is no need to worry for the moment. remember most of these cars are JDMs. and if you can carefully observe brand new imported Corollas and yaris equipped with slightly higher/different suspension setup than their JDM counterparts.

hydraulic steering replacement is done purely because (i believe..), that there's lack of capable people/techies who can handle EPS related repairs effectively (rather than replacing the entire steering rack. which is costly).

Where did you get your rack bushed replaced from? if its due to road conditions etc, then i better expect it to resurface again. It would be good to know of technicians familiar with this eps issue..

[maikk99]

Dear Friends,

Recently my Corolla 121 (2000 Model) has started to give a Taka Taka noice when I drive on any non-carpet roads.

I showed the car to To***ta Lan** , They just disassembled and reassembled some thing under the car (may be what they call rack). Then noice was stopped for some time.

After around one month, it started again,

At my recent service, at Au**o Mi***, they pointed out that my Lower Arm Bushes were not good and I should either repair or buy new. They also told me it would stop the noice.

So I went to a mechanic. He told me that noice is not comming from lower arm bushes and bushes can be used little bit more.

Further, mechanic told me that, noice is a design issue of Corolla 121 and every 121 start to be noicy when getting old. It is due to a wear of a shaft as he says.

According to him only thing we can do is refitting like Toy*** Lan** did.

He says it will come again after few months. (Actually I did not tell him what To**ta Lan** did)

Do you have any such experince with 121.

Is there anyway to stop that noice?

At what cost ?

Hi Corollahv

I have a 122 and it comes with the Hydraulic power steering rather than the EPS. ( Ruslan : yours is also with hydraulic power steering ?) and recently I also had a similar sound that you mention and that was mainly when applying brakes and taking sudden turns. It was due to the broken Lower arm bushes at both the sides. and the funny thing is that for this model ( and may be for most of the toyota vehicles) lower are bushes are not available as original and you have to replace the entire lower arm . cost per one lower arm is 20k,

so what my garage guys did was they use a hydraulic press to remove the damaged bush and replace it with a non-genuine bush ( i think which is a korean one) . not the sound is gone but the garage guys told me that this bush replacement is temporary thing at it will give trouble in another 2 years time.and whwn u do the changes in the lower arm section u have to re allign the wheels as well

so just try the lower arm bushes as well -it cost me around rs 3000 for both. \

not sure about the EPS story since i dont have that

cheers

moderator: I hope it is ok to post the amounts in the forum . if not pls pardon me and remove the post

Mike

[Nisala]

Hi Friends,

I'm another 121 owner who is experiencing the same issue. I would like to share them with you.

I went to a mechanic and he told me to replace rack ends and do some adjustment to the rack, but doing those did not fix the issue. after another 1 year time I went to another mechanic and explain the thing, at that time there is a serious hum coming from front wheels when accelerating (specially in highway reaching 70 kmph). So he replaced the rack bush and applied some grees on stabilizer links.

But this time also that "Taka Taka" noise didn't go away (but the bill was 7500/= ) The hum is slightly reduced.

Now the mechanic asking me to replace links and shock absorbers

If anybody have some idea, please share. Because this noise is really a headache when driving daily.

P.S. Actually my car is NZE120 manufactured in 2002.

Cheers.

Edited June 5, 2015 by Nisala

[Crosswind]

Its normal to get suspension noises from cars which are over 10 years old. It is also normal for Toyota owners to be cheap-asses who take their cars to the cheapest mechanic and then ask them to do patch-up jobs without knowing that these kind of jobs end up being more expensive than a one-time overhaul of the suspension.

Not just one bit goes off in a car's suspension at a time. Because of wear and tear in our beautiful roads and the way we drive, most of the suspension parts wear out within 10 years in any car. So it may be time for you to replace the mounts, bushes, rack ends, wheel bearings, shocks etc. Do them in one go instead of wasting time and money, if you want a noise-free comfortable ride.

[Rumesh88]

There are quite a few places the taka taka noise may originate from but an experienced person can identify the cause easily. Usually humming sound comes from the rear wheels (I had a 121 sometime back with both these issues but got solved easily) If your location is close to Nugegoda area I can recommend a place. Send me a PM.

[Nisala]

Thank you so much for valuable advices.

Rumesh, I sent you a PM.

[Nisala]

I replaced all worn bushes from my nearby garage and realize that the problem is shock absorbers. There is a slight oil leak on one of it. Anybody can recommend a place to replace? Pls send me a PM. Thanks.