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Who can Identify this mystery part?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by mikemar, May 24, 2014.

  1. mikemar

    mikemar Junior Member

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    prius.jpg I was under my 05 prius replacing the exhaust donut on the manifold and saw this piece stuck in the cross member. I thought it may have been road debris that got kicked up but my daughter says she hears a thunk now when she takes her foot off the gas. I'm guessing its some kind of bushing mount but I can not see anywhere where one may be missing. Any ideas?
     
  2. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    I think it is more likely that a constant velocity joint in one of the halfshafts is beginning to fail.

    The piece in your photo that was stuck is probably road debris that was kicked up and lodged in the chassis.
     
  3. mikemar

    mikemar Junior Member

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    Shafts are fine. Really think it has something to do with this bushing and where it came from.
     
  4. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    Clunk off gas is usually inner shaft is bad. Take it to tire shop and get it inspected. Its free. Or get front wheels off car and shake the shaft real hard. Bet its sloppy.
    Another poster here lost inner shaft and it damaged his trans.

    Hope the piece shown is not off you car cause its pretty rotten. How rotten is the undercarriage?

    How many miles on the car?
     
  5. mikemar

    mikemar Junior Member

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    Undercarriage isn't toooo bad. It has 289,000 miles on it though.
     
  6. mikemar

    mikemar Junior Member

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    Well I jacked the car up and there doesn't seem to be any play in the axles. With the tires off the ground I can move the tire a little in each direction but not too much. I did replace the RH axle about 3 months ago and now that seems to be leaking. I may have gotten a bad axle as I didn't use a genuine $400 Toyota axle. I did notice that the whole engine did seem to rock back and forth when I moved the tire that's why I think this may be some type of engine mount that came from the back somewhere that I can't see.
     
  7. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    The axle has a bad boot? I the boot is compromised and grease is being flunk about that joint will not last long and in fact may be where the clunk is coming from. Not sure about engine rocking back and forth that doesn't sound right.
    Is the other axle the original axle at 289K?
     
  8. mikemar

    mikemar Junior Member

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    The axle I replaced had a bad boot. It seems that one has a little play in it so I pulled it out and getting another one under warranty seeing it's only a couple months old. I guess that's why the aftermarket axles are $100 and the Toyota axles are $400. It only takes a couple hours to change the axle so I will start with this and see if the clunk goes away. Still wondering about this part though.
     
  9. mikemar

    mikemar Junior Member

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    OK cluck is gone with new axle, so you guys were right. The only problem is it is leaking. I've replaced the seal twice now and keep screwing it up. Is there a special trick to replacing this seal? A normal seal tool will not work with this shape seal, does Toyota use a special tool, do you need to glue it? good news is I can replace an axle in less than a hour now.