Newbie - clunk sound when accelerating from a stop

Hi everyone! I’m a newbie with a 2021 TRE Off Road Premium which I bought new, it currently has 90k miles, yes I know it’s a lot. It’s my daily driver and have taken trips back and forth VA to FL. When I accelerate from a stop I hear a clink sound which I think is coming from the front left but not 100% sure. I also hear squeaking when going over bumps at slow speed and when I push down on the car to test suspension, I hear the squeaking as well. My guess is squeak is from somewhere in the suspension??? I’m doing my front and rear differential and transfer case oil change so I’ll be under there to check if I can get any kind of guidance. Thank you !!!!

 

Lube ALL of your driveline zerks, and check the suspension bushings for cracking and rot.

 

thank you. I bought a great gun and grease to fill what needs to be filled. I’ll also look for other wear and tear you mentioned.

 

It's a start. You have not given us very much information about your 4R. Do you have suspension mods? What else has been done to it? Totally stock?

 

it’s dead stock. Put some raptor lights, carbon fiber finishes on the inside, blacked out decals on the outside. I plan to do a 2inch lift soon, but sooner if I see it already rotting or going bad.

 

Well, there's your problem!
In all seriousness, it could be a strut bushing that's causing the creaking. Clunking could be caused by lack of grease in the driveline, worn ball joints, or possibly tied to a bad strut or strut bushing. Have someone help you push up and down while you're under, looking for the source.

 

Welcome

 

so I pushed on all four corners and it’s the rear right. About to get under there to start on differential and transfer case oil changes. I’ll see what’s going on.

 

Being since your 4runner is a 2021 I doubt you have dry rotted bushings.

First things first, and most important….put some grease on the hood latch, and on the contact points were the latch touches the latch mechanism. Do not go further in your troubleshooting until you grease the hood latch! You don’t need a lot of grease….just clean it and put a thin film of grease on those areas. This is a common reason for squeaks that sound exactly like suspension noise. skip this step.

Also, you said that the rear is squeaking when you push down on the corner? Do the same test, but the parking brake off. My rear corner squeaks with the parking on, but doesn’t with it off.

Next, grease the driveshafts. Each drive shaft has two u-joints zerks and 1 slip yoke zerk. Do some searches on greasing the slip yokes, because those can potentially be overgreased, but at the same time sometimes a few pumps is not enough if they are sticky.

 

Welcome.

Lots of great advice already given. Let us know if any of it remedies the issue.

 

Welcome from Wisconsin!

 

I went through the process of eliminating a squeak in my hood a while back. I tried the grease as you describe to no avail.
What worked for me was simply adjusting the bump stops (unscrewing them to increase height there by increasing tension on the hood when closed).

 

Welcome

 

so I did my diffs and transfer case oil changes. I also noticed my spare tire was swinging a little so I tightened to secure it even more and BAM squeak is gone. I know I know newbie mistake.

 

Regarding the clunk--greasing the driveline is a good place to start. But my guess is it is this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVGMeQUF2G0
If not, does it happen every time you take off from a stop? Or only after going in reverse and braking first? In case of the latter, could be the brake pads shifting.

 

it’s only taking off from a stop. But the sound seems to have gone away. Thank you for the video though!

and thank you to everyone for all the help!!!

 

Lol nice! Good eye. Sometimes you need to go through some level of hands on to root out the actual problem.