Clunking/Jerking 4th Gen 4Runner AWD when accelerating

Is anyone familiar with a clunk/jolt/jerk when you put your truck into drive or speed up or slow down then speed up?

I notice it when i slow down my car as well and try to get back into speed as well, for example: I hit a rolling stop at the stop sign or slow down and try to speed up in stop and go traffic. Ive taken it to toyota and they claim the transmission is shot but it has been serviced at least 3-4 times. the truck has 142K and I find it hard to accept my tranny is shot. it will do it when I try and get into a passing speed.

Toyota is telling me my trans is gone and another really reliable transmission shop says it is fine but he claims its just a driveline clunk

Lastly, the rear cats are deleted due to failure...

Nonetheless, it drives like a dream everything is very intermittent.

Things done:
spark plugs
drain and fill (trans)
y exhaust in place of rear cats (not tuned)/(i cant afford new cats right now)

 

Motor mounts and/or transmission mount would be my first guess. Broken or breaking with age and mileage. Not overly uncommon.

 

what would be your next look after this? any recommendations on how check those out?

 

Grab a pry bar and see how much they move. Do it as close to the mount as possible.

If they are good still, I'd be checking the rear driveshaft u-joints and then suspension parts for wear and excessive movement.

 

would you think this has anything to do with the transmission going bad or do you think toyota is telling me that to get some extra money out of my pockets?

 

I mean really reaching here could look at the transfer case drive and prop shaft bearings... but thats big maybe. Otherwise this compeltely seems like regular driveline clunk where youre just low in spider and slip yoke grease. Unless of course it is your actual mounts like mentioned.

 

Ill do that tonight and get back to yall. What grease should i be using? Valvoline Molly? or is that only for zirks?

 

My only experience with what you're describing has been worn/dry u-joint(s) on the drive shaft.

 

Agree, the slip-yoke can stick and can feel like the car getting lightly rear-ended. For me it happened right as I came to a complete stop.

This is what I did
https://www.4runners.com/threads/clunck-kick-when-stopping-driveshaft.28634/

 

So my concern with that suggestion is the higher speed clunk-- its almost as if it does it when my rpms start to drop down.

But it also happens whenever I speed up and try to pass someone while already at a higher speed. Im hoping that is what the issue is and this will all come to an end. A bad transmission would certainly be far out of my budget right now... (college student)

 

Full transmission atf change, no just drain an fill.

 

*UPDATE*

After greasing: The thump from P-D or R-D is pretty much gone, initially when I began driving I still noticed a thump when I released from a hard brake. After driving around for a bit the brake thump stopped. I am not much of a wrench but the driving components seemed to be taught, so for now I can assume they're fine.. unless the mounts are not loose.

While driving from a stop still the truck is driving amazing but when i hover around 20-30 and I give the accelerator a heavy load I will feel some clunkiness same goes for when I hover around 50-60 and I try and get into passing speed.

Also greased the 6 fittings (3-4 pumps to the fittings on the driveshaft) and pumped until I saw grease on the u joint. I was not sure if I should be pumping until I see the new grease or just some grease. So for now, I stopped once I saw it. What do y'all recommend? Maybe if I keep pumping the cluckiness will go away?

I haven't had a chance to go buy a pry bar to check the mounts but I will do that tomorrow.

Any advice is helpful from here.

 

On my Tacoma I pump until I see new grease splooge out. But I always forget to wipe it so I have these rings of grease above each joint as it flies off when the driveshaft is spinning quickly. I think either way is fine, it’s more just making sure there is grease in there.

 

I can tell my driveshaft needs grease when I stop and let off the brake to accelerate and it feels like a mini cooper slammed into my spare tire carrier

 

After greasing what?

 

the drive shafts spiders and slide yokes. Just re-did it and made sure the *new grease was coming out this time around going on a test drive to see what’s going on.

 

Here is a link to a video of what is happening: https://youtube.com/shorts/FpD-cfrABlg?feature=share

Still having issues when accelerating. I just picked up a pry bar to check out the mounts.

Are there any connections that may need to be cleaned? I’ve tried googling but I’m not finding what I’m looking for.

 

Grease should be coming out of the spiders yes. Do NOT keep pumping grease into the slip yoke till you see it as that means youve blown the gasket. Easy way to do it I think is keep your eyes on the prop shaft and go at least 10 pumps, then whatever more it takes to see the shaft expand a bit. And by bit i mean less than an inch. Some of that will be air compressing as you push it out of the way. When you start driving and the shaft expands and contracts that air can escape, the seal isnt fully air-tight.

 

So I ended up pumping a bunch, probably more than 20 pumps before I saw my slipyoke start to expand ever so slightly. I stopped at that point and unscrewed the zerk fitting to let the pressure out. Some came out just from air pressure. Then jumped on the bumper to flex the rear axle up and down to compress that slide yoke and get additional excess grease out. That did the trick. I do have some grease that came out of the swiper seal, but I think (hope) that means it finally has enough grease in there for the swiper seal to actually swipe grease. Before fully greasing it, the unpainted part of the slipyoke was always dry and starting to rust.


Edit: as I understand it, the pressed cap that is at the u-joint end of the slip yoke is the one that is in danger of blowing out if over-greased.

To the OP, hopefully it’s not a trnsmission problem, but if the slip yoke had never been looked after, I think it’s worth correctly greasing the slip yoke in order to fully rule it out as the source. Edit: it might take a few drives for the grease to fully work itself into all the splines.

I thought I had been greasing it enough, but I think I was being overly conservative. Even though I had already pumped 4 or 5 pumps into mine a few times in 40k miles, it always seemed bone dry, and didnt avoid my clunk.

 

yeah, I think a heard almost like a snapping sound. Really does sound like something binding/sticking and releasing under pressure. I’m really not an expert, but in my head I can imagine that’s what a slipyoke might sound like if it’s really sticking bad.

 

Emergency brakes binding?

 

Took it to toyota and they have declared a bad transmission..

 

Itemized list of issues...? 142k miles and the tranny is just done? that just seems very out of line for these vehicles we all know hoow long they should last

 

That's my concern right now. They refuse to open them up at toyota. I will say I do have a warranty that will cover the cost of a tranny swap and all i have to pay is: $100 deductible and $85/hr of the labor. I am waiting on the callback of what exactly is wrong with it.

The warranty expires on the 17th... which is why I am rushing for a solution right now. I am fairly young and just trying to make sure I am making the right decision. I feel its pretty unheard of for this truck to have a faulty tranny. ESPECIALLY in the V8 and at 142K.

Any other thoughts or concern with this repair suggestion is helpful!

 

Definitely use that warranty since you have it. following to see what happened at such low mileage to ruin it. I just hit 180k and no issues on my V6 08.

 

Exactly what I was thinking. If there is an issue now there is no telling what else it caused wear to... I feel like in the future this will come up and it wont be as cheap of a repair.

Anyone against using LKQ?
Or should I make toyota reman my transmission!?

 

LKQ is luck of the draw on what you actually get since it’s all second hand parts. Not bad necessarily but if the dealership reman is an option with the warranty I would do that.

 

I just called the are saying their "Master Technician" is assuming it is some sort of pressure valve within the transmision. My service advisor mentioned it is fixable but they worry another internal part is what caused the issue in general. Hence, it would be another fix coming up in the future.

I also had a transmission fluid leak that was fixed, but again there's no telling what else was damaged or what caused it.

 

Was that snapping sound associated with the hesitation you described at that moment? Was it a hesitation, or more like an impact/impulse feeling?

Did you check out my link earlier in this thread? That snap sound is really suspiciously like something breaking loose, like the yoke finally getting enough force to get past the sticking area. That yoke is supposed to go in and out when the engine torque increases and decreases, or when suspension moves.

Maybe try bouncing on the rear bumper to see if you get any of the same sounds.

Just mentioning it again because you said there was improvement after greasing the driveshafts. Personally, I developed a clunk after only 40k miles, and I had been already regularly greasing it. If yours had been sitting a while before yiu bought it, and had never been greased, I woukd have to assume it would have pretty bad clunking.


Doing a bit of research on how to properly grease the slip yoke might save you a lot of potential headaches with a transmission replacement, if the problem is actually the slip yoke.

 

the truck is at Toyota right now. I wish I had more time instead of having to think of a solution right away.

since it’s there do any of y’all recommend any questions I should be asking before committing this repair? Should I have them take a look at my drive shaft first?