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Clunking on right hand turns

B

bohdi

CEG'er
Joined
Sep 1, 2003
Messages
47
Location
dallas
A week or so ago, the car started making a clunk on right hand turns. It doesn't do it every time, however, the frequency and volume seems to have increased since the sound started. Sometimes, I can also hear a clunk when getting going. In other words, just as I start rolling forward with the clutch mostly engaged and *clunk*.

Also of note, the front/pass side wheel bearing had been making noise for a few months. I'm not certain about the timing, but the bearing noise seems to have stopped now.

I've been searching around and am coming up with conflicting answers. It seems that the noise could be the bearing, cv axle, ball joints, etc... Is there anything I can do to pinpoint the problem(s) without ripping the car apart?

EDIT: the car has 145k miles and pretty much everything up front, save the shocks, is original.
 
this is probably useless info, but i had the same problem as you describe and i had a loose brake caliper hitting my wheel. thats something you can check without tearing you car into thousands of pieces haha.:laugh:
 
Could be wheelbearings as well..Take it a front end alignment shop and have them look over everything..This is your best bet. Unless you know your front end like the back of your hand.

Also you can do this shake the wheel 12 o clock and 6 o clock if theres movement its more than likely the wheel bearings..9 o clock and 3 o clock its more than likely the tie rods but i dont think tie rods would make clunking i know my left inner tierod is out right now and i dont have any clunking..
 
tie rods can definitely cause a clunking noise. just lift the car up and wiggle the tire side to side and up and down. while doing that, take a look behind the wheel and see whats moving. should take you no longer than 10 minutes. take a look at your control arm bushings while you're at it
 
bohdi said:
A week or so ago, the car started making a clunk on right hand turns. It doesn't do it every time, however, the frequency and volume seems to have increased since the sound started. Sometimes, I can also hear a clunk when getting going. In other words, just as I start rolling forward with the clutch mostly engaged and *clunk*.

Also of note, the front/pass side wheel bearing had been making noise for a few months. I'm not certain about the timing, but the bearing noise seems to have stopped now.

I've been searching around and am coming up with conflicting answers. It seems that the noise could be the bearing, cv axle, ball joints, etc... Is there anything I can do to pinpoint the problem(s) without ripping the car apart?

EDIT: the car has 145k miles and pretty much everything up front, save the shocks, is original.
Click to expand...

Sounds a ton like sway bar end link failure. You've likely got a bushing there that is shot. If you do one side, do both, though.

Also, lower control arms (a-arms, LCA's) can make noise, too, but are usually not as prominent, especially on takeoff, as the sway bar end links.
 
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Ah -- I wasn't totally clear. It sounds to me like there are two problems at play. For the clunk, I would check the sway bar end links and the LCA's. For the screeching, it sounds more like a wheel bearing than a ball joint, for example. Typically, a wheel bearing failure is progressive, getting louder as it gets worse.
 
weird. The sound I described would only happen on hard turns and than when I was about to get it looked at in the summer it went away. Still happens the odd time but not nearly as much. (could be cause of the winter and not driving so hard because of ice and snow:shrug:)
 
loggerbomb said:
weird. The sound I described would only happen on hard turns and than when I was about to get it looked at in the summer it went away. Still happens the odd time but not nearly as much. (could be cause of the winter and not driving so hard because of ice and snow:shrug:)
Click to expand...

Here's an idea -- disc brake shield. If one of those is bent, the rotor will hit it when you turn the wheel. If it was a mild bend, it might take a hard turn, and it would be direction sensitive. Just one of those stupid things to check. You could possibly have bent it back, more or less into alignment, with pressure from the rotor, causing it to quiet back up. Also, on dry pavement, you can't get away with sawing away at the wheel from lock to lock (unless you want to end up in the ditch), the way you can in snow. Might be a reach, but the fix is free, as all you've got to do is bend the shield by hand. :cool:
 
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