Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting I can't locate the source of this noise

I can't seem to locate a rattle or knocking noise that occurs mostly on bumpy roads and more often at 40+ mph. It seems to be coming from the passenger side firewall area and sometimes I can feel it through the accelerator pedal. I've taken the glovebox out and didn't see any thing obvious there. The plastic mud guards in the wheelwell were lose but that wasn't it. Two different shops couldn't find it but both said steering assembly and everything else looked fine. What could it be? Thanks for any suggestions. John

'98 Contour LX V6 ATX

Here's an idea, but I'm not sure if it's the same.
Are you sure it's coming from inside the car?
If not, an area to check would be the sway bar links. I've replaced mine twice since owning the car. What happened was at bumpy roads that gave sharp undulations I'd hear a weird knocking sound and could feel it as well. Turned out the links were bad, but gave no indication when inspected. In fact, when I looked at the old links after I'd replaced them, I was hard pressed to find out why they failed. But needless to say, the new links did the trick...
Just a thought.