Hello all -

Car: 1995 Civic, LX, 1.5l, Auto Trans, 100% stock.

I started noticing a slight/muffled knocking a while back when taking slight right turns (such as on/off ramps). I could also somewhat feel in under my feet and seems to be coming from only the driver side. At the time my axle had been clicking for a while also, so I ended up replacing the axle, lower ball-joint, and both the inner and outer tie rod on the driver side.

The knocking still continued and has been getting progressively more noticeable as time as gone on (1-2 months). And it tends to be even more noticeable after a long drive (30+ miles). I have checked for play by trying to wiggle the wheel at 9 and 3 o'clock / 12 and 6 o'clock and it's solid. It doesn't effect steering, driving, or hinder functionality in the least - more annoying than anything at this point.

I started thinking it could be the sway bar end links and inspected them today. There is no play by hand and the bushing look fine, but I'm not sure of the proper way to diagnose. I consulted the repair manual and it seemed to only cover removal and installation.

Wanted to get some opinions before I get new end links.

Appreciate any guidance.

 

Any bubbles on the tire. Is the tire rubbing somewhere in the wheel well?

Is the wheel splash guard possibly rubbing on the brake rotor?

 

The tire is true and round by the eye as I have checked it throughly, although I have not tried to rotate them.

The brake guard is not currently there, I removed it due to it becoming rusted and plan to replace it once the front brakes are due. The knocking was still present before and after the removal of the guard.

 

Any other ideas?

It does feel like there is some metal on metal action when this occurs.

 

Did you check to see if your door sills/trim are on securely?

 

Specifically those items, I have not checked, but I've been under/around the car plenty of times now and have never seen anything out of place or loose. Nevertheless, I will give them a good look over.

May I ask how the sills or trim would cause a metal/metal knocking under the drivers foot-well?

Thanks for the ideas everyone. I do appreciate it

 

I just had the same problem it ended up being a combo of a wavy rotor and a lca

 

I can't remember what those things are called, but it is #1 & #2 in this diagram here:

 

LCA could also be a possibility. But when I did my axle, I replaced the LBJ and the middle bushing on the LCA looked good. That leaves the other two points (far bushing and bolt/nut) which I will inspect. Is visual inspection the only thing to determine a bad LCA/bushing(s)?

Thanks! I will have a look at those also.

 

I have verified there is no trim or anything loose. Inspected all the bushing and from what I could see, they look fine, although I really couldn't see the rear LCA bushing.

The knocking (or clucking) is now pretty persistent. Happens when driving straight now and it seems that when I brake it 'encourages' the clucking. Still doesn't really effect the drive-ability or performance of steering in any way.

Final thoughts before I start replacing parts; starting with the LCA and UCA/ball-joint?

 

With your wheels pointed straight...measure the distance from the center of your rim to the back of the fender well, and measure the exact same way on the other side, this can tell you if your suspension is bent somewhere and setting one tire too far back in the wheel well or something and causing a rub somewhere possibly.

Also try taking the wheel of and doing a visual inspection inside the well for any rub marks or anything, and pay attention to the same thing on your tire.

Does anybody think this could be a rack end bushing?

 

I will do the measuring and see if anything is off.

I have had the wheel off and the car in the air quite a few times already and have not noticed anything unusual, so I don't think anything is rubbing.

 

Have you checked the K-frame bolts (as in the front subframe which has the sway bar connected to it) If these bolts are loose the frame with pop on certain corners. If the bolts are wandering...they are not easy to fix like mine. Had to cud holes in the floor to get something on the bolts so I could tighten them (broke the nut-weld off somehow on all four and the bolt wouldnt tighten)

just another thing for you to check

 

I'll check those out sometime this week. I'm almost positive it's a bushing or loose connection somewhere, just don't know where.

I did check out the measurement as stated above and it is squared up, so I don't think the suspension is shifted or anything.

Thanks for the help everyone

 

It will pop when you give it really hard acceleration if your K frame is loose...most the time.

 

It definitely does not pop in any circumstance that I have tried or encountered (including hard acceleration), but I'm still going to check them out.

 

Little update: Since the clunking seems to occur even on the shortest trips, I decided to see if I can check for play again and this time I am able to reproduce the clunk when shaking the wheel left to right and it appears to be coming in the region of the sway bar D bushing and the trailing arm (bushing end to sub-frame) of the LCA on the drivers side.

A buddy is stopping by tonight to lend me a hand in pin-pointing the issue and I will hopefully have a solid conclusion and get it replaced tonight or tomorrow. I'm pretty sure it's a worn bushing in one of those places.

Sway bar bushing is no problem, but if it ends up being the trailing arm bushing, do I have to drop the whole LCA to replace it?

 

have you checked the bushing that hold the sway bar to body? that would give you a clunk right under the drivers feet if its bad.

 

its the axle its busted

 

I have experienced clunking noise when the brake caliper has been loose.

 

Unfortunately, I'm back to square one. The noise I was hearing when I was inspecting myself was actually the steering wheel lock hitting. Once the wheel was held steady, everything was solid and no noise was presented.

I think I may release the sway bar and see if the noise persists to rule out those connections. Then I plan to replace the LCA.

Brake calipers are secure - checked them last night.

 

Did you check the wheel hub bearing. If you got a clunk it may have been on.Jack up car, hold onto the top and bottom of wheel and check for play in the hub bearing.

If the lca bushing is bad just try shaking it really hard to check for play. Same with the front control arms. But remember secure the car on jack stands so the car will not move, dont want you getting killed shaking you car

And check to see if that bolt that hold the front trailing arm into the subframe is still good. Alot of times on these old civics the bolt will start floating because the spot weld is broke. Try tightening and if it is tight you are good, if it just spins and spins it may have loosened up slightly and allowed play

 

I did check for vertical play of the hub and it's solid too. We shook the wheel as hard as possible (both vertically and horizontally) and everything connected to the hub assembly was solid, no movement by hand. I've started thinking that I can't reproduce the noise because it's being caused by load/pressure of the car and body roll (when taking slight right turns it's the worse).

There's only two connections directly below the floor board where I feel the clunk; trailing LCA arm and the sway bar mounts. So, I'm thinking it has to be one of those causing the noise.