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CV joint problems?

Discussion in 'Gen 4 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by lohikaarme, Oct 21, 2018.

  1. lohikaarme

    lohikaarme Troll

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    The week before I traded in my 2012, the CV joint began to fail. The symptom was a clicking sound as I approached a stop with the wheel slightly turned. The car at the time had 56k miles on it. It appears to be happening with the 2016 now with under 16k miles on it. The clicking only is there when the wheel is turned to the right (about 1/8 on center) and under very slow speeds such as would be rolling up to a turn.

    Has anyone else experienced CV problems with the redesign? I know it was an issue for gen 2 and some reports for gen 3 but I have not heard anything on gen 4 yet. The boots do not appear to be damaged but were not on my previous prius either.
     
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  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    how big a gen 2 issue? at what mileage? i don't recall reading that many low mile problems
     
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  3. CooCooCaChoo

    CooCooCaChoo Active Member

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    Better take it to the dealer before the warranty runs out.
     
  4. lohikaarme

    lohikaarme Troll

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    Quick update. Brought the car in for the tape on the harness fix and had them check this issue. They said no problem found, could not hear anything. I drove the service manager around the parkinglot and demoed the issue and now is a believer but does not know if the clicking is normal or not (obviously it isnt). The next step is that he was going to drive around a new prius to see if he can reproduce the issue. If he cannot, then he will chase what could be wrong here.

    I am in a holding pattern with this until he can confirm or deny.
     
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  5. lohikaarme

    lohikaarme Troll

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    Dropped the car off and the techs couldnt reproduce the sound. I then returned to the dealership and taught them how to do it (again). The clicking sounds like it comes from the center console area in the car, but outside it is clearly the driver wheel well.

    They kept the car for 4 days, two toyota regional tech reps flew in to document the problem and no one had any idea what was causing it. Finally a rep made a call to replace the axle (cv joint).

    The cv joints are on backorder and no eta on stock (maybe a sign there is a problem) and the service manager admitted they just changed one on a 2017 the week before. Once the dealer gets one i will be recalled to have it replaced.

    They did disassemble everything and regrease the splines but recognize the issue was still there.

    For reference: driving above 10mph initially, foot half way down on brake, wheel turned to the right 1/4-1/2 way coasting into a turn, there is a rotational click noise from about 10mph to 0. It is not very loud, if the engine was running you would not hear it.
     
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  6. EdW

    EdW Junior Member

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    I had the same issue on my 2017 Prime. It started around 20,000 miles and it took multiple dealer trips to get it fixed. They ended up replacing the driver's side drive axle. There are a couple of threads here in the forums about it. I suspect it's a much more widespread problem than is known here because it is admittedly a bit subtle and I'd bet most people don't pursue it.
     
  7. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    There no issue with the g2 cv joints as far as I know cv joint issues are pretty rare in the g2 forum.
     
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  8. liquidtenmillion

    liquidtenmillion Active Member

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    You need to see this thread Clicking Sound on Regen Braking | PriusChat

    It is very likely the same problem. Some things to take note of if it is the same problem. It only occurs during Regen breaking, so brake lightly. If you put the car in neutral, with the foot still on the brake, the noise instantly goes away.(takes stess off inner cv joint and shows it’s not a brake issue)


    Show the dealer the thread. There are 3 pictures of service orders showing the problem and the left front axle being replaced to fix it. There are also links to videos. There is one person who said the noise came back on the replacement axle, there are about 8 who have said it has not come back/never reported back.

    I had this problem and had the axle replaced. Rhe noise is not normal!
     
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  9. lohikaarme

    lohikaarme Troll

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    I was contacted by the dealership today to say my order was cancelled. A new joint was being developed and this is a “national problem”. The new joint will be available in 60-90 days at which time they will call me back in.

    That being said, they are only planning to change the one side that is clicking. They tried to claim that is the only side with an issue. Mine is on the left side, other examples are on the right.

    What i am hearing is that there is not going to be a recall, just a replacement under warranty as needed (if your car is still under warranty)
     
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  10. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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  11. rosencrantz

    rosencrantz Member

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    “National problem” huh... I wonder what percent of gen4 have or will have issues with axels. It sounds like the type of problem some folks might miss- given the effort some people are putting into demonstrating the noise for their Toyota dealer
     
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  12. lohikaarme

    lohikaarme Troll

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    What level does it need to get to for Toyota to be “redesigning” the part
     
  13. liquidtenmillion

    liquidtenmillion Active Member

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    I think you’re dealer may be feeding you a line because they don’t want to waste the time on a low/practically no profit warranty repair that involves tons of evidence submission to Toyota.

    I just went through this a week ago and heard nothing about a redesigned part, and I talked to 3 different dealers and all of them have never heard of this problem despite selling hundreds of priuses. The problem is not hugely widespread. Even here where most people are far more attentive about cars 99% don’t have the noise. Not to mention this occurred in the same frequency(rare) for st least the last 8 years with of models. (There are gen 3 threads about this problem too, but still a very small fraction).

    One of my dealers had to have a Toyota corporate regional expert fly in who never mentioned a new part and told him to replace the CV joint. It’s seems strange that a critical part that requires as much safety testing as a CV joint could go from “no plans” to available in 30 days over the course of 1 week.

    You may want to just talk to a second dealer and tell them what you heard. I could be wrong however, but I expect in 30-90 days your dealer will feed you another line until you give up.
     
  14. lohikaarme

    lohikaarme Troll

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    So... all i can say is that they did not even close my work order out and are keeping it opened awaiting a part to put in the car. They also said they would continue to check in with me until they get it. I mean I will keep this thread updated on status but I have reason to believe it is going to happen.

    Also as much of a pain in the nice person it may be to reproduce the sound, at $500 for the axle + labor + the possible fluid change when performing the swap, I would recommend everyone keeping an ear out for this because it is something you will want to get replaced under warranty.

    The dealership is not pretending that this didnt happen, I am sure if I go to another dealership they will either see the opened order or can speak with the first dealership and be right back to where I am without further testing. That being said, the two people that flew out to document the problem with my car and who issued the order to change the axle want to return to the dealership when they get the part in for a followup (or so the dealership says).
     
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  15. liquidtenmillion

    liquidtenmillion Active Member

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    That's good to hear, let us know what happens. I personally went about 5 months on my axle after I first noticed the noise and before I had it fixed, so you can certainly go 3.

    If by chance my new axle craps out it seems to do it within 25k miles or so, so I should still be in warranty still for another replacement...
     
  16. lohikaarme

    lohikaarme Troll

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    The dealership has not forgotten about me but they are still estimating the axle will be available mid to late January
     
  17. lohikaarme

    lohikaarme Troll

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    Dealership just called to schedule an appointment for cv replacement. New part number (43420-47050), new tsb tsb-0157-18, covered under warranty. Appointment scheduled for this coming Monday 1.7.19. Will post update when i have one.
     
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  18. b100

    b100 Member

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    Nice work,
    Mine 2013 gen3 does it to. Exact the same issue as you discribe.
    It does it for 200k now.....just let it be....let it be
     
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  19. liquidtenmillion

    liquidtenmillion Active Member

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    Does the clicking go away if braking while in neutral?

    If so it is the same problem. I don’t think it is a critical issue, but it is an annoying noise. It has plagued priuses back to 2008 at least.
     
  20. lohikaarme

    lohikaarme Troll

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    Looks like it is all fixed.

    toyota rec.jpg
     
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