My car makes weird noises and no matter how high I raise the car, the wheel doesn't lift off of the ground. I had to use another jack under the control arm to remove the wheel.

Does any one know what's going on? Also, the car makes noises as if the wheel is out of balance and it's rapidly getting worst.





This is front passenger side of a 1997 civic LX




Modified by d16rice at 6:53 PM 2/7/2005

 

looks like a blown shock. that's alot of oil on that control arm. do the bounce test on that corner. it'll confirm wheter the shock is blown or not.

bounce that corner of the car. it should bounce back up then down no more than 2X

 

that pic sucks.. can you take anther.. maybe one that does'nt look like it was taken with a webcam >?

go over every bolt, is anything warped, a arm, a arm bolts, damper assembly, etc

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by menkio &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">that pic sucks.. can you take anther.. maybe one that does'nt look like it was taken with a webcam &gt;?

go over every bolt, is anything warped, a arm, a arm bolts, damper assembly, etc</TD></TR></TABLE>

its not that bad of a pic.. I can see just fine..its a little dark, but you can still see it alright.

 

CRAP! I just lifted the other side, and the whole wheel feels wobbly. I can move it side to side, and up and down at least an eight of an inch each way (obviously that's where the noise is coming)

 

The half-shaft is new, the wheel bearing is new and so is the ball joint. What else could it be.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by d16rice &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The half-shaft is new, the wheel bearing is new and so is the ball joint. What else could it be.</TD></TR></TABLE>
is it the WHEEL or the HUB moving

wheel bearings (check again. dont care if they are new. its very possibly), tie rod ends, bushings, check them.

 

axle nut check that did you forget to pich the tab back after you replaced the axle. it looks like you did, but cant tell from the pic it's to dark

 

you just edited the pictures after my post above, something looks off on that axel , maybe its because it's off the ground

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Laserjock &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">looks like a blown shock. that's alot of oil on that control arm. do the bounce test on that corner. it'll confirm wheter the shock is blown or not.

bounce that corner of the car. it should bounce back up then down no more than 2X</TD></TR></TABLE> I agree Also check your steering arm. Looks worn also.

 

Is it just me or does the shock not look fully seated in the fork?

 

I can't tell...kind of dark pics

 

you can't ignore the ABNORMAL AMOUNT OF OIL! that's on your suspension pieces. upper control arm and the balljoint is covered with it. how is the ride? the bad thing about asking that last question is that it is very easy to get used to a rapidly declining ride quality. gotta track down the source of that leak.

Also, what was done in that area in the last 1,000 miles?

 

Yep definitely blown shock if the wheel wont come off the ground when u jack way high. Get some degreaser while u are under there too.

 

The oil is actually WD-40, the shock itself is fine (I never touched it and the ride feels normal, as far as I can tell).
In the last 500-1000 miles I have replaced the ball joint (O.E. Honda), wheel bearing (from NAPA) and drive shaft (from Autozone).
Everything was fine up until yesterday. At first it sounded like the wheel was a little loose, but now it sounds like it's going to fall off or something, I'm afraid to drive it.

I’ll try tightening the axel nut, maybe it’ll help.

 

im going with blown shock

 

so, it may not be a blown shock. sorry had my head stuck up my @$8 there on the blown shock.

describe the noise. does it happen only when going straight. on turns. accelerating or braking. your rotor looks fine except i was like (for a second) whooah! the guy did not have any brake pads

Best advice i can give now is go back and re-check all tightness of bolts and you started to do that already. I once left a anti-sway bar bolt/nut loose and couldn't figure out where the clunk was coming from until I went back and re-did all the hardware i could get to.

 

I FOUND IT!
I went back and checked everything.
I also tried tightening the axel nut (this was what was causing the problem).
I got a BIGGER wrench with a two-foot handle and gave it all I have.
I'm embarrassed to say, but apparently when I was replacing the shaft, I didn't tighten it all the way.
The axel nut when in like 2mm, which when you think about it, is a lot.
I just test-drove it and it seems fine now, no noise or vibration.
My power brakes were also going in and out on me before, but now they seem fine, too.

I appreciate every ones help. Thank you.

FIXED

 

glade you found the problem..............good job

 

awww!

Group Hug!