clunk in the trunk...

[cablemn]

Interest in getting this fix seems to have lost steam. Did anyone having this problem ever find out what the damn noise is or get it fixed yet?
I still have it. Sounds like a loose strut at the right rear wheel.
I know im not crazy because my car pool buddy mentions it to me every time hes in the car.
Why is toyota dropping the ball on all these issues i wonder?
How long should it take for them to work out the kinks on this stuff?
Where is our resident toyota technician that had all the inside info on these problems. He also said that toyota knows theres problems but it takes time for them to work out the fixes.
I find that hard to believe that a billion dollar company who can bring a car to the marketplace from design concept to showroom floor in mere months would take over a year to fix a few piddly problems.
And they are relatively small problems but they detract from the overall ownership experience. For what its worth i should have stayed with just my Nissan Altima 3.5 SE with the same problems. It would have been cheaper and i wouldve gone a whole lot faster.
Sorry for the rant.

[Shoe]

maybe you should dump the body bag

shoe

[HomeboyMI]

I think you are right to question Toyotas intention for fixing the problems that are inherent with the Solara. I have a bump and a vibration in the rear of my car. I also have a slight drift to the left. I called the Service department and mentioned the TSBs. They took my VIN and checked saying there were no recalls on this car. I then realized I was talking to an idiot. When I take my car in, I will ask the service writer to list the TSB numbers on the write up sheet. That way I can point it out to the Toyota Rep. if they don't fix the problem. The idiot says I just need a front end alignment!

Hey Shoe, \\

What does this referal to a body bag mean?????????? Must be smoking some good stuff up there in Toronto!!

[Shoe]

Hey Shoe, \\

What does this referal to a body bag mean?????????? Must be smoking some good stuff up there in Toronto!!

what i ment by that is the thump in the trunk is the dead or alive body rolling around back there.

Only thing im smoking up here is cold friggin air, and mcdonalds farts fumes.

shoe

ps cableman i really didnt mean to hijack your thread like this and throw it off topic. sorry

[cablemn]

Hey Shoe, \\

What does this referal to a body bag mean?????????? Must be smoking some good stuff up there in Toronto!!

what i ment by that is the thump in the trunk is the dead or alive body rolling around back there.

Only thing im smoking up here is cold friggin air, and mcdonalds farts fumes.

shoe
Not a problem shoe, I need a few laughs once in a while.
And by the way, not to highjack my OWN thread but I'll be posting some pics of my new and improved SLE very soon.
ps cableman i really didnt mean to hijack your thread like this and throw it off topic. sorry

[jig47]

Hi Cablemn,
I have the exact problem you describe ( the right rear end thump). I tried on 2 attempts to get this fixed at 2 different dealerships. Dealer 1 Had the car for 3 days, claimed they inspected the strut towers ,etc. and couldn't find anything wrong. Dealer 2 had the car for 1/2 day and said the same. Claimed that it is a firm suspension. My goal is to get one more on the books so I can file a lemon law complaint. In the mean time, I have been playing around with different tire settings. I'm currently running 26LBs cold all around. This quiets the noise down quite a bit and gives a cushier ride for us older folks. Sacrifices handling and MPG some, but sanity level is worth something.

[cablemn]

And for my next trick...I'm going to start having the dealer find this problem by process of elimination.
1st thing i'm having them change is the rear struts. A friend of mine told me to take a can of spray oil like wd40 or even a spray bottle full of 3m and sqiurt it up into the upper part of the strut making it seem as if the struts failed and they would change them under warrantee. And i'll keep sabataging every piece back there until i find the reason for this noise.
Theyre not getting over on this Brooklyn boy. The problem with these service guys is they think you don't know that theyre bullsh*tting you. And when you call them on theyre bullsh*t they have 20 other "excuses" why you still have the problem. And when all else fails they just deny theres a problem at all. That excuse is called the "unable to recreate problem" excuse. I took a ride with the tech and recreated the noise with every bump i hit and he sat there and looked me right in the eye and said he didn't hear it. They try to make you think its all in your mind. That the noise that sounds like your muffler is banging against your rear end is "normal" suspension noise. Well if thats normal i'm going to have them rebuild the whole rear end a piece at a time. Take that toyota!

[HomeboyMI]

Hey Cablman why not point out to the Service Rep that Toyota has a Technical Service Bulletin #001-04 "Rear Suspension Noise *TT and have him check it. It may apply to your noise. I found this TSB listed on this site in another topic.

[cablemn]

Ive tried that. they tell me that there is no tsbs for the solara. Like i said when all else fails they lie or deny.

[online]

I picked up my 05 back in August, within the first couple of days I started hearing a thunk coming from the rear end. It ended up being that the spare tire wasn't secured properly.

[cablemn]

any one whos had this problem has undoubtedly tried all the easy fixes. I have tried everything. Fromremoving evrything from the trunk including the spare and jack and everything else that wasnt permanently attached. I've also had a buddy drive while i laid down in the trunk. I stil hear the thunk coming from the right rear. BTW this is what service is supposed to do. Thats why you buy a new car. So it is covered by a warrantee, so someone else has to fix it, not me! If i wanted to be riding around town in the trunk to find problems with my car i would've stuck to my 1989 Ford Crown vic. Man! Now that was a great car. A tank. I could park it anywhere and not worry about it, ran perfect, a nice level of luxury, and best of all it only cost me $2500. And when something broke you knew what it was and how to replace it. It didn't have all these ghost in the machine types of problems. Ahhh those were the days.

[Shoe]

i knew there had been a body back there

shoe

[online]

cableman...I figured you tried the easy stuff already. Good luck with getting the issues resolved. You may want to escallate the issue to a district/regional level...I would would ask your local service managers for the district/regional service manager' contact info....that might light a fire under them. The manual might have info on how to get ahold of customer service too.

[HomeboyMI]

Hey,

Do you think it would help if you told the service writer to put down on the work order to check TSB 001-04? That would give you ammo when you talk to the Toyota Customer Relations.