LX4CYL

My car makes a light knocking/clunking noise from the front area of the car very briefly (a few knocks and thats it), when pulling away from a stop. Sometimes I can hear it when going over bumps very slowly in parking lots. The sound only happens at low speeds, and never happens when I am at speed.

I went ahead and pulled the wheels off, and found no torn boots. All of the ball joints are fine, and the axles have no play in them. I hope to take it into the dealer soon (still under the warranty), but am left sitting here twiddling my thumbs until monday.

All I really need to know is if my car is safe to Auto-X on the 11th and 12th. I feel as though I'm shooting in the dark, so can you guys atart giving me ideas as to what could be loose on the car? Could it be a CV joint issue?

I haven't been to an autocross in 4 months, and I did hit a curb with the LF wheel 4 months ago, and ended up replacing a bent LCA, a replacing a good RR and LBJ, and straightening a bent knuckle to fix it.

junkyard racer

sounds like a cv joint starting to go bad.

time to replace some axles....(replacing just the cv joint would be a 100% waste)

LX4CYL

Argh, if it is in fact the CV joint, would it be safe for me to do 2 autocrosses before replacing the axle? I'm away at college and am trying to avoid working on my car until I go home in a couple of weeks...

I think my best bet is to have the dealer inspect it before spending money on a new/reman axle (Raxles for sure)...

Keep in mind, it makes a brief noise (a few milliseconds) then goes away, when pulling away from a stop; never happens at speed, and it is not a consistent noise...

CW-ITR-329

Mine has been doing the same thing... I started noticing it after I installed my Koni Yellows which makes me think its something to do with the suspension now. When I pull away from a stop, or take off hard, or go over speed bumps I hear a quick crunch from the front right. I threw it on a lift and inspected everything and couldnt find a problem. If I do figure it out I will let you know...

Jeff R

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by LX4CYL &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Keep in mind, it makes a brief noise (a few milliseconds) then goes away, when pulling away from a stop; never happens at speed, and it is not a consistent noise...</TD></TR></TABLE>

had the same symptom recently on my integra, but it went away so i didn't pay much attention to it (in retrospect, maybe a bad idea). well, went to have my clutch replaced this week and they also had to replace a bad passenger side axle. fwiw

jeff

celica73

Mine was clunking similar to that not long ago, turned out to be 5 loose lug nuts (DOH!).

Scott

Aahj

Check:

Sway bar endlinks
Front shock absorbers
All motor mounts

All of the above (if bad) will cause some sort of clunking sound.

AJ

Westrock2000

May want to check your brakes too. For whatever reason after I did my brakes one time, one of the bolts that hold the caliper to the bracket backed out a tad, so sometimes they would shift around and make noises, epsecially when I would change from going forward to reverse and visa versa, it would make a clank as it shifted the other direction.

Also are your shocks OK? Sometimes worn out shocks make noises when the car moves around.

Outrun

Check the cotter pin at the bottom of the control arms. The driver's side was rubbing against the brake disc shield during suspension compression.

ludedude48

I feel all of your pain. I have the exact same problems on my 93 lude. I brought it in and they replaced the motor mount and the L side upper control arm.

(Does it happen when you turn sharply? Mine does.)

It didnt help. When they did the work, they told me that my suspension was shot (no kidding 180k).

Low and behold, I changed the oil last week and I saw boots torn to shreds on both ends of the drive shaft (axle?)

Im not taking any chances now, I am replacing the axle wednesday and the whole suspension next week with Tein Basic damper kits and Progress camber kits. Any suggestions or advice ont those two brands?

LX4CYL

Hmm, I took into the dealer today, and they couldn't find the noise, so I had to go over there and show them the noise while driving it. The service rep heard the noise, but there isn't much they can do until it gets worse. They did a visual inspection of the front suspension (same thing I did), and they couldn't find anything.

I'll just go ahead and AX it this weekend, and if it starts making the real noises (that are symptomatic of a bad CV joint), I'll go ahead and give Raxles a call

ludedude48

I'm getting my car back tomarro, I'll let you know...for future referance, of course.

ludedude48

It WAS the axle/driveshaft. I have no clunking anymore, just creaking from an old suspension.

Here is sonthing that happened b4, but not anymore. This may be of help...

When I was in gear but let off the accelerator without breaking or clutching, I would hear and feel a clunk (even at higher speeds/ especially downhill).
That no longer happens...

FYI...

ludedude48

I GOT IT FIXED!!!!!!!




Had the axle/driveshaft changed and everything seemed ok. (I drove away in the rain). As it dried out...the creaking noise came back, just as bad as before, in all the same ways.

Went back to my mechanic's shop after 5, (he wanted to get it fixed almost as badly as I did). Him and the other guys started tugging on things, turning the wheel to the extremes, ect ect.

He told the guy in the cockpit to kill the motor, put it in gear and depress the break..

Then he grabbed the front end, btween the radiator and the body and pulled back and forth...the motor moved and it creaked/clonked like when I drove.
It wasnt the motor mounts because he just replaced them. So he and the guys put it up onto the lift and began checking bolts, boots and other parts.


There are 2 bolts in the front right (in my case, left) extreme of the frame. From what I saw, it looked like they held a(the) crossmember to the frame. There was very little wear to the bolt (as it was stressed in the direction of a lateral shear).

Torqued them down and I was GTG. No creak, no clunk no embarassment driving through parkinglots anymore...


Hope that helps. I dont have the service manual with me, If i did, I would give the proper nomenclature of the bolts.

Turns out the rain lubed the friction, so i didnt hear it when I left.

LX4CYL

I don't know how to say this, but it wasn't my driver's side axle afterall. It was one small thing that I overlooked. The left swaybar endlink bolt was a little loose. Problem solved

Aahj

I've worked on numerous Accords of this generation with this weird noise. Half the time it's the sway bar end links.

I've also had to replace a strut that, when bad, will make a clunking sound. Check for any seeping from the shocks.

Also check motor mounts. Rare for a car this new (except for auto collisions). You can mimic a motor mount noise by switching from 1st to reverse. Basically you are trying to rock the motor within the engine bay. If you hear the noise, that's your problem.

Good luck,

AJ

Aahj

Just realized I already answered this post before.

AJ

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Aahj &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Check:

Sway bar endlinks
Front shock absorbers
All motor mounts

All of the above (if bad) will cause some sort of clunking sound.

AJ</TD></TR></TABLE>

SicNA94TegGsR

lower controll arms will do the same thing
somtimes they dont get torqued right from the factory, loosen them, and retourque to factory specs as the car is on the ground

LX4CYL

Yeah, see my last post. It was the swaybar endlink I do also have oil seeping out of my left shock, but that wasn't the cause of the noise...

Mike_C

front of my car has been doing the same thing for about 2 years now... i can't figure out what the hell it is... happens mainly with front to back movement (heavy braking, or heavy acceleration). i'd say you're safe to autox on it.

LX4CYL

guys, read the entire thread. It was the swaybar endlink that was loose, lol

Maengelito

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mike C &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">front of my car has been doing the same thing for about 2 years now... i can't figure out what the hell it is... happens mainly with front to back movement (heavy braking, or heavy acceleration). i'd say you're safe to autox on it.</TD></TR></TABLE>

my car does that too, but i found out i have a bad rear motor mount. just one more thing on the list for winter.

Mike_C

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by LX4CYL &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">guys, read the entire thread. It was the swaybar endlink that was loose, lol</TD></TR></TABLE>

hey, we can whine about our clunking noises too, can't we?

maeng, i checked all my mounts, replaced one of them... no luck.

Maengelito

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mike C &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

maeng, i checked all my mounts, replaced one of them... no luck.</TD></TR></TABLE>

cool, now replace mine