Thursday’s featured repair is Rear Strut and Strut Mount Replacement on a 1998 Toyota Avalon, brought to us by a client from Yaletown, Vancouver.
This Toyota Avalon came to our shop for an AirCare test failure and none functioning windshield wipers. In the process of road testing the car we noted a distinct clunk from the right rear of the vehicle. The further we drove the car the louder the clunk became until it was almost unbearable and warranted immediate repairs.
Investigating the cause of the concern we found that the top of the strut had broken out of the strut plate. Occasionally a strut plate will break apart but this was unusual in that the top of the strut had worn a hole into the mounting hole in the strut plate.
At some time in the past the rear struts had been replaced and what had likely happened was that this strut was not properly bolted to the mounting plate. Over the years the excessive play between the strut plate and strut eventually wore both parts out. This clunk noise had probably been occurring for several years. Had it been attended to when first noted none of these parts would have worn out and a few hundred dollars would have been saved.
The Toyota Avalon is the top of Toyota’s sedan line up: very similar to the Camry but slightly larger and in some cases more luxuriously appointed.
For more on the Toyota Avalon click here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Avalon
Here’s an interesting article about McPherson Strut suspensions http://www.timescolonist.com/bill-vance-the-birth-of-the-macpherson-strut-1.587986
