Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Front End Knock Driver side

1998 svt Its like this......Slowing to a stop at a red light hit the brakes......pop.....i feel it in the floorboard, i go to accelerate...pop....seems only when my front end is diving or rising......im hitting the offramp from the highway, and it really feels like my wheel is "walking" i can feel it folding under me i swear, like the side of the car moves, so I jack it up....try to jerk the wheel, SOLID....up, down, right, left: no play....how could you diagnose the broken spring thing cus I cant see up there that far.......i had the cv axle replaced like 2 years ago how can I "feel" a bad cv joint? any ideas would be extremely appreciated. Lower control arm? Ball joint? I thought by moving my wheel when in the air you could feel these two things LCA up & down,and Ball joint right & left .....but not CV axle

that sounds alot like what happen when I had a broke front/passenger side spring. Not saying this is your problem but it's something to look into

UPDATE replaced ball joint, $134.66 didnt fix the prob. Got in my car afterwards now it feels like something rubbing at slow speed 1-5 mph on my wheel now ARRRRGGGGG I cant spot it. Brought it into precision tune and had it in the air we were going in circles trying to find something "loose" ended up replacing my outer tie rod for the PASS side....this is driving me nuts here guys. whenever i step on the brake "POP" I get on the gas "pop" when the front end rises, springs look fine. Could the steering "RACK" clunk like this does anyone know?

Does it do it when you are turning quickly in either direction as well? It almost sounds like a bad stabalizer bar link/ bushings. Those can be picked up relatively cheap and from what i remember the original design has ben improved upon by moog as well as other manufactures.

Take a closer look at the front stabilizer bar.

There are two metal pressed-on bushings that center the bar. The bushing on one end of my bar cracked - allowing the bar to slide slightly toward the opposite side of the car. There was just enough movement that a portion of the bar rubbed against the suspension, causing symptoms similar to your situation. The only visible sign of this was a shiny spot on the bar.

Since the metal bushings are part of the stabilizer bar, it would have required replacing the whole bar (which I didn't want to do). But a standard stainless steel hose clamp was more than enough to hold the bushing in place; no noise since then.

A loose 4-bolt LCA can do that. If it's not torqued down all the way, it'll shift under heavy load. It's possible the 2-bolts do it too, thinking about it.

Just a guess, I would really look at the stabilizer bar. Try getting it up on a lift that jacks on the wheels, not the frame, so that you can check it out with the suspension compressed.

If you have 2 bolt lower control arms and a bushing is bad that could cause the problem described.
See:
http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=trouble&Number=1169283&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1

Karl

Yes, but he would have found play when it was up in the air.

When I was in presicion tune place, by the way TIE ROD repair cost me $161.97, this guy had me walk out to the car and look underneath, he stuck a huge screwdriver everywhere and was lightly "prying" the lca, the front sway bar, and tie rods the other small link above tie rod with his screwdriver...to see if there was any play...moved a little, LCA was tight, but no more play than the right side. And he said "the bushings are bad, but I dont think that knock we heard could be from the bushings." (Im gonna try to "lube" the bushings on left side.) "could be the ball joint" he said. I was going to buy a LCA w Ball Joint but the LCA was tight so why should I do the LCA? maybe next year. So i got a new ball joint installed, noise still there. Ive been to 4 different places now, and everyone agrees, suspension noises are a b!$^#!! I dont know what to do or where to go this is the most annoying POP ive ever heard. I feel it more in my brakes than the steering wheel, thats kinda why I dont think its the RACK. Ill definately post the result here soon. Thanks everyone, I really appreciate anything you reply to and I will take it to heart. Im going to check the S BAR here soon. stupid Q: is the sway bar/stabilizer bar both the same thing right? or they are different? Could it be the wheel bearing??? this POP I hear is LOUD as HECK so I thought no way could it be the bearing popping like that. No, it POPS only when braking or accel. Could the steering Rack POP? Its coming from LEFT side not the middle though.