Builds The Guzzler - 2009 LX570 (3 Viewers)

[grinchy]

I took a long (on road trip over the weekend) around 600 miles. Elevation change from zero, thru the cascades, and lots of windy hilly freeway.
Rig lightly laden, but two bikes on the bike rack. Got 13.5 mpg on the way there into the wind, and 15.5 mpg on the way back, with wind at back.
I never saw any mpg this high prior to the mega tuneup.

One thing that was interesting is now the rug is much more aggressive with downshifting. Before it would ‘lug’ up hills, now it’s downshifting and upshifting back. I think this is the new a/f and O2 sensors at work.
The other notable thing is how much quieter the engine has become. Some might be thr 5w-30, but I didn’t really notice it until after the mega tuneup.
Finally, acceleration is a bit more effortless and immediate. Great for passing on two lanes roads.

It’s already money we’ll spent.

 

[grinchy]

Chargriller griddle tip o the day!

If you like pre-packed Indian food (and who doesn't), you don't have to heat them up boiling in bag anymore. Just dump them out on the grill, stir lightly, and add as normal on top or beside your pre-cooked rice (which you can also heat/cook on the grill).

 

[grinchy]

Premium gas is kickass again with the updated plugs coils maf and af/o2 sensors.

 

[grinchy]

I’ve got a clunk in the driver front I can’t find. It seems to happen on a compression and then release on droop.
Very frequent if the ground is uneven, but rare on pavement. It seems to be up/down, not forward/back, but of course I’m inside and can’t see the wheel path when it happens.

I looked/ touched/tapped every bolt and they all seem tight. No signs of grease anywhere. Only thing I found missing was a ziptie on the spring rubber. I trimmed the end back a tiny bit and put the zip tie on, didn’t fix the noise.

It’s new in the last couple weeks. I haven’t done anything to the rig in that time, but there was a spirited driving session over a very potholed, steep road two weeks back. Nothing of note, just only root cause I can think of.

Ideas appreciated.

 

[Tanaman]

LCA bushings? Ball joints? Just a guess

 

[grinchy]

More data
It happens in high and normal.
I can make it happen most times by jerking wheel right, but not left.
It doesn’t happen always (for example, not every speed bump), but usually.

 

[tbisaacs]

Sway bar link!

 

[grinchy]

Sway bar link!

I still don’t see any loose items, but the sway bar links look pretty shot. I’ll start with those.

 

[TeCKis300]

I still don’t see any loose items, but the sway bar links look pretty shot. I’ll start with those.

View attachment 3342733

View attachment 3342734

Sway bar endlinks often fail on the ball joint side that's hidden behind the boot. Can't say it's 100% that but it looks like there's enough reason to swap?

 

[grinchy]

Sway bar endlinks often fail on the ball joint side that's hidden behind the boot. Can't say it's 100% that but it looks like there's enough reason to swap?

Yeah, looks like the low hanging fruit. Placing an order with partsouq.

 

[grinchy]

After @linuxgod had to buy an actuator for the 4lo/center diff I've been working mine every chance I can. Over the course of the last week I've gotten the center to where it engages (usually quickly, but within 30 seconds) and disengages (most of the time clean, every once in a while with a flashing diff light), and the 4 lot where it engages, but still disengages with the flashing christmas tree.

It's shocking how this thing freezes up if you don't use it weekly. Though less shocking in my case, I still have a split breather hose to fix on the actuator body.

On the plus side, my Auburn rear locker seems to not care at all if it gets energized or not. It just works every time I test it.

 

[linuxgod]

After @linuxgod had to buy an actuator for the 4lo/center diff I've been working mine every chance I can. Over the course of the last week I've gotten the center to where it engages (usually quickly, but within 30 seconds) and disengages (most of the time clean, every once in a while with a flashing diff light), and the 4 lot where it engages, but still disengages with the flashing christmas tree.

It's shocking how this thing freezes up if you don't use it weekly. Though less shocking in my case, I still have a split breather hose to fix on the actuator body.

On the plus side, my Auburn rear locker seems to not care at all if it gets energized or not. It just works every time I test it.

Mine now engages/disengages within a second. I used it a bunch last weekend at the Badlands offroad park in Indiana. FWIW @TeCKis300's tune-up procedure is worth the effort if you're feeling mechanically inclined. IMO just don't take the microswitch apart, and of course make sure the gears in the motors are clocked correctly when you reassemble. I'm pretty sure the cause of all my woes was a misaligned microswitch which put the actuator rod in the wrong position (and quite possibly knocked loose the retaining C-clip inside the actuator). If your grease is burned you can buy the exact Toyota grease for like $50/oz, or maybe just get some good dielectric grease and use that instead.

 

[grinchy]

Usually the front diff goes on in a few seconds - or it fails with a flashing light. Yesterday (day 3 or 4 of the every drive switching) it failed to the flashing light, but switched in after 15-20 seconds. I don't recall it doing that before. I took it as a good sign?

Later in the day it was on/off with no issues, within a second or two, as I'd expect it to be.

I'm working on it every trip, even the short ones on a cold TC, in the hope that I won't have to do any R&R.

Close reading of my service history has the actuator being replaced about 60k/7 years ago.

 

[linuxgod]

Usually the front diff goes on in a few seconds - or it fails with a flashing light. Yesterday (day 3 or 4 of the every drive switching) it failed to the flashing light, but switched in after 15-20 seconds. I don't recall it doing that before. I took it as a good sign?

Later in the day it was on/off with no issues, within a second or two, as I'd expect it to be.

I'm working on it every trip, even the short ones on a cold TC, in the hope that I won't have to do any R&R.

Close reading of my service history has the actuator being replaced about 60k/7 years ago.

With the CDL, if it's a slow flash, then it's trying to engage but the actuator motor can't push the rod full in, I think. Often because something is binding up (i.e. on pavement) but can happen if the motor is weak, perhaps due to rusty/dirty brushes. Teckis300's cleaning procedure might help. If it's a fast flash then it won't even try to engage the CDL because there's a fault. You might also check your ground strap just to make sure there's not a bunch of corrosion causing a low amperage situation.

The Aisin actuator is under $600. If you can stomach pulling the motors off the factor actuator and installing these (assuming everything lines up correctly) this would be a relatively inexpensive fix:

Amazon product ASIN B076C2LD6X
FWIW the dealer labor for mine to remove the transfer case, open it up, and replace the entire actuator was $880, and that was expensive as the book rate is 5.7 hours. If the Aisin housing is identical to the toyota one (not sure) it's probably 1.5-2 hours to remove all the shielding, pull the actuators off, replace them, and put the protection back on.

I have my old actuator and would be willing to send you it if you want to scavenge mine. I wouldn't trust the microswitch but the rest should be ok. I did clean mine up before attempting to reinstall. I'm otherwise planning to bench test mine until I can figure out how to recreate the kinds of problems we all see, but I probably won't get a chance to do so until winter

 

[grinchy]

Shiny new front left link assembly installed. Clank unabated.

 

[grinchy]

It really sounds like the spring is loose.

 

[grinchy]

Removal and Install notes forr Link Assembly (part number 48810-60051)
Removal:
19mm socket for the nut and bolt
2 lb hammer
breaker bar
24" pipe extension for breaker bar
cold chisel
Pry bar
floor jack

install:
19mm socket
torque wrench (bolt 100 ftlb, nut 103 ftlb)

Removal notes:
Jacking from the center of the rig / skid plate put the jack in the way of the pipe extension on the bolt, hod to move the jack to the frame rail behind wheel
I had sprayed pb blaster on the threads a couple times over the past few days
The nut and bolt came loose with some persuasion (breaker bar + pipe). the bolt had limited swing and took a bit of fiddling
I had some trouble getting the link out. in the end pushing from below thru the cage with the cold chiisel got enough of an angle to pry the sway a 1/16" and allow the top bolt to disengage. Then it could be lifted up and out.

Install notes
It wasn't too hard to find a position to get the top bolt started, and then some simple prying got the top thru with the bottom in the cage. Lining up the lower bolt required jacking and lower the car, a little, and a few love taps, but didn't take too long.

If you don't count the time I spent looking for an air impact I hid somewhere in my garage 5 years ago, this took around 45 min.

 

[grinchy]

Looking around for clunk sources. Did the old wheel tug up down left and right. No play to be seen in any of the upper and lower soft joints. Some play in the steering tie rod, is that normal?

Found the pictured difference at the top of the shock. Looks like a metal collar is missing, and the rubber top out is roached off its mount. That plastic shroud has been loose for ages, can’t say regarding the metal collar. Would this clunk? It does match up with what I think the sound is like, kind of a loose spring sound.

Maybe I get to do front long travel finally? If I have to take the shock off I’m going to be replacing stuff!

For now I put the spring rubber at the top of the spring in hopes it’ll reduce compression up there.

 

[nwfl4runner]

Do you get a sound if you just jack the front end up 1 side at a time? I get a clunk or thunk noise on my driver side when jacking it in the air, which I'll be trying to track down as well.

 

[grinchy]

Do you get a sound if you just jack the front end up 1 side at a time? I get a clunk or thunk noise on my driver side when jacking it in the air, which I'll be trying to track down as well.

I'll try that. So far I've been jacking from the center, so both wheels on or off the ground together. No clunk in this situation.