Single metal-on-metal knock when turning right

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by bkman, May 20, 2025 at 11:59 PM.

  1. bkman

    bkman Junior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 2, 2012
    64
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    Location:
    Greater Seattle Area, WA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    V
    There's a metal-on-metal single knock when I turn the steering wheel right sharply.

    Observations so far:
    - Seems started after I changed the head gasket last summer. May be a red herring - I started to care for my car, replacing stealership mechanics with myself at about the same time.
    - Likely coming under the hood, driver's side.
    - Reliably reproduces at medium speeds, especially when entering a roundabout at 15-20mph. It's hard to jerk the steering wheel at high speeds without loosing control.
    - Isn't reproducible at low speeds, approximately below 10mph no matter how hard you try to jerk the steering wheel left and right.
    - Doesn't seem to be reproducible when turning sharply left.
    - Not reproducible when starting and stopping without any turns.
    - Sometimes I hear it when driving - especially when a wheel goes into a pothole during a descent.

    What parts have been changed (all Toyota OEM) already:
    - Struts + mounts. Except springs (they're fine).
    - Tie rod ends
    - Front Stabilizer Link Assembly + bushings
    - Inspected steering wheel attachment, tightened a bit the nut to the spec - no change.
    - Inspected steering rack - zero play.
    - Bottom engine/trans mounts visually look ok - no cracks.
    - Haven't noticed anything unusual (like looseness) with the top engine mount on the passenger side when doing the head gasket job.
    - Thought it could be the devil's EGR cooler that I decided not to put on - got a new stud and a new nut and managed to bolt them back on at the bottom of the cooler - no relief.

    I'm suspecting the top transmission mount next. How easy is it to replace without taking the entire engine out?