auxilary Posted September 25, 2003 Share Posted September 25, 2003 About 3 weeks ago, I got this nasty clunk coming from the front of my neon. It happens either on very low speed speed-bumps, or high speed turns. The sound actually can be felt through the frame, like something is shifting and hitting which scares me. For the life of me, I got no clue what's going on. At first, I thought it was a tranny mount, but after pulling all the mounts, I was confused - all of the mounts were in perfect tip top shape. So, I put in rex inserts back in the mounts, and put them back in. I noticed the rubber isolator on the bobble strut mount was toast - so I figured it was the strut clunking against bare metal (rear transmission mount for the neon) Got a replacement one, put it in, put bobble strut back in, the clunk's still there. I'm confused and it's annoying as hell, and scares me that it might be a CV axle. CV boots are intact, great shape. Today I pulled the front sway, car makes a lot less noise, but it'll still clunk once in a while. (of course, car handles like sh*t now). I thought it might be the strut mounts, so I pulled the driver's side front strut out, it checks ok. Didn't check the strut bearing, but the car tracks straight, doesn't bind after turns. The wheel bearing are probably ok, because I don't get a jitter at high speeds.... I'm confused. Any input? On a side note, I forgot about fwd cars - if I leave it in gear, will an open diff fwd still spin even if car's in gear? Mine will spin the wheels in diff directions while in gear, I believe that's normal for fwd, right? For some reason I recall being able to tighten the lugnuts without the wheel spinning freely when the tranny was in gear. Maybe the spur gear went out? goddamn POS dodges Thanks, -alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Drewz Posted September 25, 2003 Share Posted September 25, 2003 Lets start with the basics than. Mileage on car now? Ever been in a collision? Did anything seem to happen to the car around the time the noise started? ie. tagged a curb, blew a tire, etc. Does the car pull under braking or make noises? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruxGNZ Posted September 25, 2003 Share Posted September 25, 2003 Ball joint? For the life of me, I can't remember a FWD setup, and I owned and worked on a few... ahhh, maybe it's this Southern Comfort Balck label...mmmm. !M! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David K Posted September 25, 2003 Share Posted September 25, 2003 I would have checked the struts FIRST thing. Our g20 is doing the exact same thing, and it sqeaks once in a while. Its the struts on the g20. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auxilary Posted September 25, 2003 Author Share Posted September 25, 2003 Lets start with the basics than. Mileage on car now? Ever been in a collision? Did anything seem to happen to the car around the time the noise started? ie. tagged a curb, blew a tire, etc. Does the car pull under braking or make noises? 80k, yes, but the collision was 3 years ago. nothing was done with the car when the noise started: tires are new (literally under 2k miles on them). Rotors are fine, car doesn't pull, no pulsation when stopping Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denny411 Posted September 25, 2003 Share Posted September 25, 2003 I`m going to bet on a ball joint. I had a Hyundia elantra that did the same thing. it had one bad lower ball joint, and the sway bar bushings were shot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Drewz Posted September 25, 2003 Share Posted September 25, 2003 Things you could check are , rack mount bushings, ball joint, control arm bushing play, tie rod ends (inner and outers), make sure all suspension bolts are tight, trans mount..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auxilary Posted September 25, 2003 Author Share Posted September 25, 2003 all tight bushings are ES 50k miles old. in any case, it might be the infamous steering knuckle clunk (bad bearing), there's a technical service bulletin about it from dodge from a while back Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted September 25, 2003 Share Posted September 25, 2003 Check your front wheel bearings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
80LS1T Posted September 27, 2003 Share Posted September 27, 2003 Well since I work at a Dodge dealer 40+ Hours a week I guess I could give my opinion on it... First I would check your ball joints....you can do this by having someone shake the steering wheel back and forth while you have your hand on the balljoint. If you can feel the clunk then it is either your ball joint or your inner tie rod end(s)...to check inner tie rod ends just move your hand closer to the rack and pinion. If it is ball joints you will be able to see them move when your buddy is moving the steering wheel. After balljoints and tie rod ends I would check wheel bearings. You can do this by applying a load on them in a sharp turn. I sure you know what I mean. However with a clunk like your having you can also lift the front end off the ground to see if you have any "play" in the bearing by trying to move the tire with your hands. If you can feel the tire move back and forth you either have a bad ball joint or your bearing is bad. You will be able to see if the whole bearing is moving or if your ball joint is moving. Now if all this is good you can remove the front sway bar to see if the clunk goes away. If it does then you know that your sway bar bushings are bad and in need of replacement. These are just the most common things that I see. Hope that helps! Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auxilary Posted September 28, 2003 Author Share Posted September 28, 2003 actually, it's most likely the steering knuckles that are toast. turns out to be a common problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted September 28, 2003 Share Posted September 28, 2003 Check the sub assembly bolts too. The front sub assembly may have worked its way loose. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.