bober@goedel.UUCP (Paul M. Bober) (03/18/86)
I own a Toyota Tercel which I purchased new in May 1984. The following fall my car began squeaking in the area of the right front strut whenever it went over bumpy roads. I noticed that the problem only occured during colder days and before the end of the fall it was occuring all of the time. I brought the car under warranty to the dealer 3 times and all they did was spray some WD-40 which didn't fix the problem at all. I realized that they weren't serious about fixing the car so I decided to consult Toyota's regional complaint service with the problem. They gave me the name of a different dealership and suggested that I bring my car there to get looked at. I brought it to this second dealership which told me that the source of my problem was worn out tie rod ends. After waiting about a month for the parts to come in they replaced the tie rod ends free under warranty. The squeaking still persisted, however, since the weather was turning warmer it was only occuring in the morning after the car had been sitting outside in the cold. I brought the car back to the dealer that replaced the tie rod ends but they weren't too interested in helping me especially when I couldn't show them the squeaking. The squeaking became less and less frequent as the weather got warmer. Eventually it disappeared altogether. Of course, as my theory predicted, the squeaking came back last fall. I gave up trying to bring it someplace to get fixed since the car isn't under warranty anymore and I really don't think it's worth trying to fight with Toyota over the problem. Does anybody have any ideas about what the problem could be? I have a feeling that the strut is defective but I would hate to replace the front struts without solving the problem.