My car is a 2001 EX Coupe 5spd. Anyway, the front passenger side seems to be making an awful lot of noise. It clunks quite loudly over bumps (this is the most noticeable and common noise), sometimes makes loud pops when entering/exiting my driveway, and occasionally even squeeks.

Now I read the FAQ and understand this is commonly caused by bad bushings or just a worn strut, however I wasn't able to find any more details then that.

Does anybody have any pictures of what to look for, or maybe have any advice for finding out exactly what the problem is?

How hard would this repair be for a novice such as myself?

 

More than likely its a combination of a/multiple bad bushings and a dead strut.

Push down on the corner where you hear the noise coming from and watch the car, does it seem to bounce a lot?

If the strut is good the car should not bounce at all, it should pop right back up and not sway or wobble.

Im not familiar with how the suspension looks on the 01+ but if its similar to that of the 88-00 cars, its an honest 10 minute job to replace the shock.

The bushings will take a lot longer depending on how badly seized they are and what tools you have and if a press is required or not.

Start with the shock and work your way from there.

 

The suspension on the EM civics and the DC5s is very, very different from previous cars. If you've done it before and you're good at it, you can do it in an hour. It's a Macpherson strut system, so it's pretty involved.

That being said, it's not a hard job. I've done mine a few times, and when my car was making noises like you described, it was indeed the damper.

 

So what parts do I need to buy, just a shock? And if that doesn't make a difference should I get my money back and order bushings instead?

 

First off, do the test i said in my first post. Push down on the corner of the car where you normally hear that banging/clunking/popping/squeaking sound. If when you push down hard on the car and it bounces back up, count how many times it bounces before it stabilizes. If it doesnt stabilize on the first rebound, that shock is tired and/or possibly dead.

Once you take the shock off, make sure the coil-spring is no longer attached to the shock. Now, put on end of the shock on the ground and push the opposite end of the shock in towards the ground. When the shock depresses, does it come back up on its own? If it DOES come back up on its own in a fairly quick time frame, the shock is most likely good. If however it takes forever or is coming back out really slowly or doesnt come back at all, the shock is dead.

While you've taken that all off, now is the time to inspect the bushings on that corner that the shock/spring attach too. It's also very possible that the bushings have gone bad in your strut mount. Look for any play or slop in the top of the strut where it attaches to the mount.

 

haha I did the push test and it bounced 5 times

Anyway, thanks for the advice ^ I'll try that out.