The "Is this normal?"topic

Do you ever hear a clunk sound when you hit a speed bump?

 

I only hear a pop/clunk if I hit the curb, bump, or drive way entrance going forward or reverse at a pretty good speed. Going slow over bumps, no pop/clunk. Lately I've been hearing a light clicking coming from the front drivers side when rolling along real slowly like in a drive thru. I replaced the cv axle with a reman from napa. I'm guessing that's going bad?

 

When I pee it burns and tingles "is this normal?"

 

A pop/clunk when hitting a bump usually means a bad ball joint. The clicking could be from the CV shaft...or a rock in your tire tread.

 

I know there's a 3/9 and a 6/12 position where you try and shake the tire to check for play. I know one test is for ball joints and the other for tie rods. Which test is for which part?

 

Truthfully, I've never heard of the 3/9, 6/12 position test but I may be doing it without knowing it.

For a ball joint, jack up the frame and take the tire off. Then, wedge a crow bar between the LCA near the ball joint and pry. There should be no vertical or lateral movement at the joint. It helps if you have 2 people, 1 prying and 1 watching. Just grabbing the tire and trying to wiggle it won't be enough to tell if the ball joint is bad.

The clunking sound is common with bad ball joints. The squealing can also be common if the ball joint is not keeping the tire in its proper relation to the turn.

I've never checked tie rod ends but I assume the test would be similar-checking for vertical/lateral movement within the joint.

 

Right there in the middle of the pic. It's an electrical connector or socket that's melted. Hangs down by the oil filter below the alternator. I looked above and am having a hard time tracing it. Anyone know what it is for?

 

Ok, traced it to where it's wrapped with another wire that plugs in down by the thermostat housing. Any ideas what it's for?

 

Bump

 

What size motor?

It looks like the ground to your alternator but on my 3RZ, the alternator is no where near my oil filter.

 

It's the 5vz engine. I getting no cel or any other odd electrical behavior either.

 

View must be from the bottom looking up?

I looked on mine and the only connection I found below the alt is for what appears to be either a knock sensor or a oil pressure sensor, right below the alternator in the block. Has just a single wire coming off it. Otherwise I have no clue what it is.

There will be a few random unused connections in your wiring harness, nothing to worry about as these are meant for options that don't always come with the truck.
If it runs fine and no CEL...

 

I took another look at mine from the top...
Pop your hood and look at the spark plug wires on the driver side and see if the melted connection in question looks anything like those.

Just a guess but looks like somebody changed plug wires and one fell down or wasn't removed for whatever reason.

 

Yep, from the bottom looking up. Now that it's daylight I'll get a better pic from the top looking down.

 

I thought plug wire too but the side it's on (drivers side) would have the boot on it and it's not that. Truck just had the original plug wires changed. I'm stumped!

 

So it's wrapped with another wire. The wire it's wrapped with is plugged in to the block just below the tstat housing.

 

How many wires go to the one that's just floating underneath the alternator?

My geuss is that is the broken off oil pressure switch (the one that turns on the idiot light if u loose pressure). It seems pretty common for people to by accident break those off when doing a oil change. Take a pic of the portion of the engine just forward of the oil filter and I would be able to tell you.

Actually I'm 80% sure that's what it is. Not many sensors are 1 wire sensors...

 

Just one other wire that's plugged in to the block.

I'll climb under the truck at lunch today and get a shot.

 

Yes.