PatrickGSR94

iTrader: (1)

Well I'm still having problems with my front suspension making creaking/clicking sounds when turning the steering wheel. First, a brief history of recent front end suspension work:

November 2005 - replaced outer tie rods with new OEM Honda units w/ new ball joints.

November 2006 - a friend's shop replaced lower ball joints and front wheel bearings (parts from their supplier, not OEM Honda but could be from somewhere that also supplies Honda).

February 2007 - replaced upper control arms with new arms purchased off eBay from a Canadian seller, came w/ ball joints and new bushings. These ball joints differ from OEM in that they have a c-clip holding them in, which the OEM ones do not.

So as you can see, all 6 ball joints on the front end of my car are less than 2 years old.

Okay so a few months ago, I started hearing a loud creaking or clicking sound coming from the front end when rocking the steering wheel back and forth. I thought it was the steering rack, so I replaced the rack with a rebuilt unit (from a quality rebuilder). A few days later the sound came back, but oh well, the steering rack was really old anyway w/ 250K miles on it.

So then I went back to my friend's shop, and he looked at it again, and it seemed the noise was coming from the upper ball joints. It's like they weren't pivoting smoothly when the wheel was turned. So I tried putting my old OEM UCA's back on. The next day, sound came back.

I noticed when putting the old UCA's back on, it looked like most of the grease had leaked out of the boots. Looking at the eBay UCA's, it appeared the grease had come out of those, as well, so I thought that could be the problem. I took the eBay UCA's back up to my friend's shop, and he noticed the ball joints were very stiff (normal when they're new, right?). He said I should grease them up with some silicone lube, and he gave me a little packet of Energy Suspension's prelube stuff, that really thick, really sticky white grease.

So I greased the ball and socket portions of the ball joints really well, and tried to work the joints around as much as possible to loosen them up a bit. I put the eBay arms back on the car yesterday, and it's STILL making the same creaking noise!!!

Note: the sound only starts after I've been driving awhile and it's hot outside. It doesn't make the sound when I first start driving in the morning.

I'm totally at a loss now of what to do. At this point, I'm not sure if I should drop $95/side on OEM Honda UCA's, as I'm not really sure if that would fix my problem or not. I hate to waste these eBay UCA's if there's really no problem with them.

Has anyone ever had a problem like this before or have any idea what could be going on? I'm almost at the point where I want to just drop off the car at the shop and tell them to figure out what's wrong with it, even though I've never done that in the past 6+ years and 160K+ miles that I've owned the car. But it only makes that sound when the car is on the ground, not if the wheels are jacked up in the air, so it needs to be on some kind of lift where the car is still sitting on the wheels and someone rocks the steering back and forth while someone pokes around from underneath.

ANY help at all would be much appreciated. I'd really like to fix this before I drive 500+ miles each way up to Chicago 6 weeks from now.

PatrickGSR94

iTrader: (1)

anybody? It seems to be getting worse, creaking very loudly today. I could hear/feel it even over my stereo w/ windows down while driving slowly today, moving the steering wheel back and forth. It's really getting annoying.

TunerN00b

Not sure if it will help, but my Ground Control extended upper shock mounts came with polyurethane spring (bushings/isolators/whatever) to go between the spring and mount, and these squeak.

My Ground Control springs also came with them to fit inside of the stock upper shock mounts, but these do not seem to squeak nearly as much in the back. Though, it could be because its harder to hear rear suspension noises, or because the GC mounts are billet and just make more noise with the polyurethane.

My rear swaybar polyurethane bushings also make some noise, since the teflon tape I wrapped the bar with seems to have worn off.

Maybe I could replace the ARB bushings with delrin, and possibly stuff a stock rubber piece between the spring and mount, but afraid I can't offer any real advice on your noises other than to possibly start checking some of the less obvious places of noise.

PatrickGSR94

iTrader: (1)

It's mainly when turning the steering wheel, though (shocks and springs don't move when this happens), and also slightly when the front end raises up or dives when starting or coming to a stop.

TunerN00b

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PatrickGSR94 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It's mainly when turning the steering wheel, though (shocks and springs don't move when this happens), and also slightly when the front end raises up or dives when starting or coming to a stop.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well, in theory, having caster means the front suspension will be pushed slightly into bump/droop from turning the wheels, but it's probably not enough to matter for this.

Someone else has had to have had this issue before, hopefully they'll chime in.

If I happen to think of anything, I'll reply again.

PatrickGSR94

iTrader: (1)

okay I jacked up the front end and popped both lower ball joints loose to inspect them. Both ball joint studs could be rotated VERY easily by hand. They almost felt loose inside the socket. Also, the driver side boot was ripped nearly halfway round the boot. So I'm guessing all the grease has come out of that ball joint and maybe even some junk got in there. Could this be the cause of the creaking noises?

What sucks is I just had these things installed back in November. Hopefully I won't have much trouble getting the same shop to replace it.

94eg!

iTrader: (2)

If you can feel play in the loose ball-joint, that would certainly be a source of noise (especially when braking). The ball-joint should move freely, but not have any play. Typically they should feel like they are swimming in a heavy grease when you pivot them. They are a $25 part from your local parts store, so you might want to just replace them. The only problem is it's a big process to do so. You'll have to rent a ratchet operated ball-joint press, and pull the axle from the hub to get them out/in. This also means replacing those giant hub nuts since they are a one-time use part. Autozone carries the hub-nuts for cheap too...

Also take a very close look at your steering gearbox. I assume you have Power steering since it's an integra, so I can't really offer much on what "exactly" to look for. But definitely grab the tie rods and give em a good shaking with the steering wheel in different positions (full left or full right). Any play of the actual rack inside the gearbox will create lots of wheel vibration. There might also be a rack tension adjustment procedure like on the manual gearbox that might help...

I spent a lot of time and money getting rid of noises in my 89 CRX Si. In the end I replaced EVERY bushing and sub-frame shim. Even a torn engine torque mount. And since I did it all at once, I can't say what actually ended up being the source of the pop sound I had when braking....

PatrickGSR94

iTrader: (1)

The rack is a rebuilt unit just put in a few weeks ago. It made the same noise both before and after the rack install, but my old rack had 250K on it so I wasn't too pissed about dropping $240 on the rack, not to mention steering felt MUCH more precise after the new rack went in. The guy at the shop I got the rack from sold it to me at his cost, and he said the company (APSCO) uses all OEM Honda seals when they rebuild Honda racks.

But anyway, this same guy installed the ball joints for me last November. I had taken the spindles off the car and took those up to the shop. This time I'm probably just going to take the car up there, since it would of course need to be aligned again if I took the spindles off. He said he could probably replace the ball joints on warranty, but I'm not sure if he will charge me labor or not.

It just kinda sucks that I will be leaving my car at a shop for a mechanic to work on it for the FIRST time since I bought the car 6 years ago.

PatrickGSR94

iTrader: (1)

Unbelievable, I think when I was inspecting the ball joints last night I inadvertently fixed the problem.

I think one of the lower ball joint castle nuts was not torqued down enough. After inspecting I made sure to tighten them to spec. Today I drove around all over the place in the morning and the evening, and it never made any noises while turning the wheel. I still need to wait and see what it does when I drive around in the afternoon heat.

But I still need to get those ball joints replaced, hopefully under warranty, because of the torn boot and the fact that the ball joint studs are so loose.

non-VTEC

even though you cant grease the honda ball joints i have been able to inject a little grease on mine and it helped cure a little noise.

find a grease gun needle injector and inject a little grease under the rubber boot of the ball joint. you have to pull them apart again to get the needle in there.....you only need a little. if you put to much it will splooge out.

good luck

PatrickGSR94

iTrader: (1)

what do you mean you can't grease them? I removed the ball joint boots and applied grease to the ball and socket of the joint, and also some inside the boot itself, then put the boot back on.

non-VTEC

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PatrickGSR94 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what do you mean you can't grease them? I removed the ball joint boots and applied grease to the ball and socket of the joint, and also some inside the boot itself, then put the boot back on.</TD></TR></TABLE>

well if you want to go through all the trouble to grease them like that then fine. im used to the domestic way of a simple grease nipple on the ball joints and tie rod ends that make it so much easier.

PatrickGSR94

iTrader: (1)

yea that would be nice.

I'm just glad mine doesn't make that blasted noise anymore. I'm still going to have the ball joints replaced under warranty, though, because they felt so loose, and of course because of the torn boot on the left side.

Cmchant

chk cvjoints run it backwards if its snapping or cracking and if it's lounder when u turn cvjoints r not ball joints.anyways chk that out.

danteisme

iTrader: (2)

Welcome back 2007!

Caoboy

@PatrickGSR94 did you fix it? Pls respond!

PatrickGSR94

iTrader: (1)

seriously?

post #7 mah Cao

I've had loose bolts cause all sorts of weird creaking and popping noises over the years. This one, then one time I had a clunk when going in reverse that turned out to be the driver side engine mount through-bolt being mad loose.