The Toyota Landcruiser Owners Club

[sjsship]

Hi Everyone
My vehicle is an automatic Amazon from 09/2004 TOYOTA LAND CRUISER (HDJ100R-GNAEZW)
VX EUR RHD 1HDFTE ATM 5FC.
She had a new engine fitted by Toyota in Basingstoke about 5000 miles ago, during her previous ownership.
When you are sitting inside the car and she is idling (e.g. at the traffic lights) you can hear a distinct knocking sound like someone banging a copper mallet on the chassis.
When you get out of the car and listen from outside, unless you stick your head under the bonnet, you can hear nothing.
It sounds like one knock for every engine revolution. (At a guess, about five knocks per second at idle.)
It seems to be coming from lower down and maybe towards the middle, but it is hard to pinpoint exactly where.
I have had her to my Local Toyota main dealer who can clearly hear the sound but cannot find where it is coming from.
I have had her to two diesel engine specialists, who both pronounced her in rude health, although one said he thought the knocking sounded more like it come from the gearbox.
She has been up on my ramp at home as well and despite my best efforts, I still cannot determine the source of the knocking.
She drives beautifully, I have owned her for a year now, and the noise has not changed or got any worse over this time.
Any suggestions as to the possible cause(s) would be most welcome, many thanks.

[Google]

[BobMurphy]

Hi, and welcome to the site  

Hmmmmm, My first question has to be: "Why did it need a new engine at that young age?". I'm wondering if there was some collateral damage around the motor & gearbox.

Its obviously very difficult to diagnose a noise over the Internet ( ), particularly when many experienced people have listened to it.

My thoughts are that you need to pin-point the sound. That will entail stripping all the undertrays off and then use a stethoscope while the engine is running (all the usual Health and Safety warnings apply  ).

When the engine was replaced, was the original Torque Converter swapped to the new lump ??

If its an 'engine speed' knock it kind of rules-out anything further back than the Torque Converter or the ancillaries that are driven by the motor. I'm not sure if anything is driven on a definite 1:1 basis by the belts.

I know this is not very helpful but its all guesswork unless someone has had the exact same circumstances.

Keep us posted regarding what you find as it may trigger a memory somewhere (not mine though, I'm just getting to grips with my 2001 1HD-FTE 'VX' Auto  ).

I hate to say it, but you may end up dropping the auto box and transfer box in order to check the Torque Converter. But lets keep it simple and look for the easy stuff first as its usually something blindingly obvious when you finally find it  .

Final thought . . Does the noise change if you hold the Gear Lever or Transfer Lever as it may just be a matter of getting the clearances right??

Bob.

[sjsship]

Hi Bob

Thank you for your kind welcome and reply, removing the torque converter sounds like fun... NOT!

There is nothing mentioned about the torque converter on the Inchcape/Basingstoke engine work receipt, for £9068.74!! Whilst the engine is new, she is showing a current mileage of around 150K, but by all accounts, that is not very much at all for one of these vehicles.
The engine was replaced following a catastrophic failure (I was told) after the wrong oil filter had been fitted during a routine service.

Unfortunately, I still don't have any undertrays fitted anyway so that bit will be easy, I bought the car from Roy Humphrey Prestige Cars (Eye) who promised to provide the undertrays... but this promise (among others) turned out to be totally worthless!!!  

I did buy some second-hand ones from Vantageauto dot co dot uk but that was a bit of a disaster too! I haven’t actually managed to get them fitted yet because the large tray arrived broken into three pieces!
I’ve had it professionally repaired and Autovantage promised me a 50% refund for my troubles, but this promise has failed to materialise so far too….. and currently they are refusing to reply to my e-mails!  

Anyway, I digress…

I am away just now, but when I get home, I will try holding the levers as you suggest, and pray that it will be that simple.
In the meantime, I shall scour flea-bay for a suitable stethoscope, another goodie for my toolbox

Many thanks again for taking the time to help

Steve

[sjsship]

Hi Everyone
Following on from Bob's very helpful post, I did a little more research on the torque converter angle and I found a video on you tube called 'Flexplate to Torque Converter Knocking'.
Sounds suspiciously like my noise, I’ll wait for my stethoscope to arrive, but I am guessing I'll be removing my gearbox in the near future to check if I have any loose/missing torque converter bolts
I wonder if there is any way I can get my borescope in there to have a look first.....?
Thanks again Bob for the direction
It might be a while; but I will post again if I find the solution!
(I am still praying that it is just loose lever/clearances, exhaust pipe interference etc. but it will be a couple of weeks before I can back to the vehicle again and check it out)

[BobMurphy]

[sjsship]

Hi Bob
I seem to remember they said someone had fitted the wrong type or something; maybe it's something to do with the non-return valve in some filters, which keep them full for starting?
Thanks for the tip on a1japspares I will give them a go, as well as visit the wanted items pages.
I'm looking forward to getting back underneath and hopefully finding out that one of the easier solutions is the answer.  
Thanks ever so much again or your helpful suggestions.
Steve