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Front clunk

E

enduro

CEG'er
Joined
Sep 26, 2005
Messages
364
Location
Calgary, AB
I've had a front clunk in my 96 car on the passenger side. Its not the struts nor the brakes and every bolt on the front is tight .

I've concluded the sound is either coming from the front sway bar endlink or the balljoint(the LCA is about 2 years old with good bushings).

I can get a metal clunky sound when i start off, or when I hit a hole or just pull up a driveway. I can also get the sound just by tapping the brakes. It almost feels like something is shifting up there.

Any surefire way of confirming what the problem is before replacing stuff? Visually everything looks OK.
 
jack the front of the car up suspend on jack stands remove front wheels wiggle everything on the front suspension.

you may have a broken spring so check that too. could be a broken strut tie rod end would clunk when turning sway bar endlink if broken.

good luck you should be able to wiggle the front hubs and figure out what is worn/broken sound like whatever it is, is bad so shouldn't be too hard to find.
 
well i highly doubt this is it but last time i had clunking from up front it ended up being the shield thing on the passenger side halfshaft not being secured
 
That may sound stupid but make sure your caliper is bolted tight.
I recently had my front brake changed, and the noise started to appear after a day and got worse in a matter of miles. It sounded just like a broken spring and it's when I was backing up from my driveway that I heard the noise while tapping the brake, but only in reverse. Found out I could move it about a quarter of an inch. Got it tighten back by the mechanic, and everything is fine now.
 
Do you have 2 bolt LCA's or the 4 bolt LCA's?
The front bushings on the 4 bolt style are weak and you may have so much give in the bushings that they are shifting on start off.
 
Its not the springs or struts I'm 100% positive . The LCA is 1.5 yrs old, the bushings appear fine, but the balljoint boot is ripped . I've jacked the car up numerous times, shaken the wheel every possible way and cant pinpoint the noise. Only thing I did notice is that my front sway bar wasn't centered (now fixed but still little difference).

I've also had the wheels aligned and the shop also couldn't find the noise, it didn't seem to affect the alignment.

I've rechecked the brakes multiple times but everything is tight. It has made the same sound with 2 different calipers on it.

The only parts that haven't been replaced in the last 2 years are the front sway bar endlinks and the tie rod ends.
 
enduro said:
Its not the springs or struts I'm 100% positive . The LCA is 1.5 yrs old, the bushings appear fine, but the balljoint boot is ripped . I've jacked the car up numerous times, shaken the wheel every possible way and cant pinpoint the noise. Only thing I did notice is that my front sway bar wasn't centered (now fixed but still little difference).
Click to expand...

Still didn't answer my question. 2 bolts or 4? It doesn't matter if the 4 bolters are only 3 months old. If you're putting any decent power to the ground you'll chomp the front bushings. At first or second glances things will appear all good. You might have a hard time seeing it just by looking at it and shaking things. :cool:

Sometimes a better way to test a balljoint, rather than just shake the wheel, is to put a good sized pry bar between the LCA and the spindle and pry up to see if you get any movement.

It does sound alot like some kind of caliper clunk. Maybe check your pads, make sure they aren't broken or something.
 
CrazyTalkSVT said:
Still didn't answer my question. 2 bolts or 4? It doesn't matter if the 4 bolters are only 3 months old. If you're putting any decent power to the ground you'll chomp the front bushings. At first or second glances things will appear all good. You might have a hard time seeing it just by looking at it and shaking things. :cool:

Sometimes a better way to test a balljoint, rather than just shake the wheel, is to put a good sized pry bar between the LCA and the spindle and pry up to see if you get any movement.

It does sound alot like some kind of caliper clunk. Maybe check your pads, make sure they aren't broken or something.
Click to expand...
its the 2-bolt LCAs that have problems with the bushings, not the 4-bolters
 
CLunk Clunk

CLunk Clunk

I have had this clunk for months it gets progressively worse. My mechanic told me it was sway bar link. Well now front end vibration at speed (65 mph plus) is excessive so I bought the link today. Will install in the next few days and let you know how it goes. :confused:
 
striker2 said:
its the 2-bolt LCAs that have problems with the bushings, not the 4-bolters
Click to expand...

Dude, seriously...you want to battle me on this just to battle me that's pretty lame. Especially in someones thread who is looking for help. While you may make valid points at times and the 2 bolters have their flaws, the 4 bolt LCA's have stiff bushings in the rear end link and soft in the front end link. Any increase in HP or torque causes premature wear to that bushing and it tends to give alot.
While the 2 bolt design isn't the best, having two similar bushings that have equal amounts of travel will cause less premature wear to just one bushing.

I apologize to enduro for the thread jacking. It wasn't my intention.
 
No big deal, I'm actually pretty surprised that by now Kaos 3.0 hasn't threadjacked this into a completely different subject, like every other thread on this site.

FWIW its a 4 bolt LCA for the car in my sig below.
I'm trying to sell the effing POS 96 tour and that front clunk isn't helping.

I swapped the BAT strut/spring and caliper from my 96 (it clunked). to an SVT (doesn't clunk). I put the SVT strut/spring (didnt clunk on the SVT) on the 96 and a good caliper (clunk, clunk clunk).

I'll try prying up on the BJ, I'll see if that reveals anything.
 
CrazyTalkSVT said:
Dude, seriously...you want to battle me on this just to battle me that's pretty lame. Especially in someones thread who is looking for help. While you may make valid points at times and the 2 bolters have their flaws, the 4 bolt LCA's have stiff bushings in the rear end link and soft in the front end link. Any increase in HP or torque causes premature wear to that bushing and it tends to give alot.
While the 2 bolt design isn't the best, having two similar bushings that have equal amounts of travel will cause less premature wear to just one bushing.

I apologize to enduro for the thread jacking. It wasn't my intention.
Click to expand...
who said i wanted to "battle"? :shrug: way to over react. i simply stated that the 4-bolters dont have near the issues with bushings as the 2-bolters. looking at his mod list, he isnt making enough power to have problems with the 4-bolters after only a year and half. considering i had slightly used 4-bolters on my turbo Zetec that made 220lbs-ft of torque to the wheels on a dynapack dyno (notoriously low due to the way they load) and after over a year of abuse they were still perfect, its not likely his LCA bushings.

all that said, it is possible that its the bushings (somehow) but even after 240K miles on my original ones they never clunked (and you could physically move the wheel several inches by hand at that point). ball joints, endlinks, or tie-rods are all much more likely.
 
I'm not over reacting. I might have to chalk this one up as piss poor internet grammar. It's Newtons law really...action/reaction. :laugh:

You didn't "simply state", you first came on with a comment to totally negate what I previously said. Had you replied to this thread with your second responce, my reaction would have been different.

All in all, I hope enduro finds the source of his clunk. The reality of the situation is it is difficult for any of us to have any kind of idea where the clunk is coming from without the vehicle in front of us. All we can do is shoot from the hip.
 
enduro said:
I've had a front clunk in my 96 car on the passenger side. Its not the struts nor the brakes and every bolt on the front is tight .

I've concluded the sound is either coming from the front sway bar endlink or the balljoint(the LCA is about 2 years old with good bushings).

I can get a metal clunky sound when i start off, or when I hit a hole or just pull up a driveway. I can also get the sound just by tapping the brakes. It almost feels like something is shifting up there.

Any surefire way of confirming what the problem is before replacing stuff? Visually everything looks OK.
Click to expand...


Dude I have the EXACT same problem.. it started after I hit a pot hole.. I have KONI adjustable struts and when i lifted my hood.. i could spin the rubber mount around (top strut mount) I am in the works of fixing it.. but that was my issue
 
johnhazelair said:
Dude I have the EXACT same problem.. it started after I hit a pot hole.. I have KONI adjustable struts and when i lifted my hood.. i could spin the rubber mount around (top strut mount) I am in the works of fixing it.. but that was my issue
Click to expand...


It even makes that sounds when i take off or brake
 
Klunk oh klunk please stop

Klunk oh klunk please stop

Alright took my tire off thinking hello lets replace the sway bar link and the thing is FINE. But, y'all got me thinking about the lca bushings. When i put a pry bar under the front LCA bushing, I can move it almost 1/2 inch (see pdf). Is THIS what you are talking about? Enduro did you do the same trick with a pry bar i am doing in the photo?
 

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  • LCA bushing.pdf
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Your LCA's obviously need replacing, mine still look like new. I haven't tried prying up on mine yet, I doubt I'll see any significant movement. I'm going to recheck every bolt again this weekend.

Even before, when my LCA's were shot, I didn't have that clunk.
 
just an idea front or rear motor mounts both could be bad if ur car is 5spd put in in gear with the car off keys out of the colum pop the hood grab the upper rad suport and push the car back and then pul the car tward u if u see evrything is rocking and rolling way to much could be it look at the underside of the hood to see if the motor been hiting the hood from all the rocking and rolling i seen that a few times if ur car is auto leave in P and push and pull
 
To kill off this thread, I never did find the source of the clunk. I sold the car before I had chance to take another look at the front end. FWIW, my rear roll resistor was pretty shot. I considered replacing the sway bar endlink , but decided not to waste any more money on the car that car.
 
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