Clunk from the Front

[dnale]

I get a clunk when going over speed bumps and on bumpy roads. I always figured it was the struts that were shot. The local place I get tires/alignments tells me the struts/springs are ok. I've looked at the end links and they look intact. Could it be a motor mount is bad?

The car is a 2002 P5 with about 150,000 on it. I thought just the msp's had the infamous "clunk".

Any help would be great.

 

[Diehonda]

Is it a creaking sound or a clunk? Mine creaks sometimes if it has been sitting for awhile or if it is cold outside. I have right over 160K and it is caused by the springs.

 

[dnale]

I'm pretty sure it's a clunk/thud. It's sudden, not like I think a creak would be. It comes summer or winter and the car doesn't sit much.

 

[P5inder]

Could be the steering column (had that problem with my Neon) or one of the front steering arms...I believe they have nuts on them to keep everything tight. If the nut loosens, the arm will rattle/klunk over speedbumps/potholes, etc.

I have that problem with my wife's Pathfinder...

Then again, I may just be making things up...and it could be something else entirely...

Check all nuts/bolts on all moving parts and undercarriage...clunking means something is definitely too loose.

BTW, I get a nasty clunk when I release the handbrake after the car has been sitting for the night or especially over a couple of days.

 

[dnale]

I'll have to dig into that option when I change over to summer tires. Which I planned to do this past weekend and then saw snow in this weeks forecast.

I thought for sure it was the struts and you would think a shop would agree so they could sell them to me, but nope.

 

[Diehonda]

Do you have any performance alignment shops in your area? I thought that I had a bent strut and took it to three places before I made it to the performance shop that said a strut was bent, hub assembly knuckle was bent, and that was the cause of all of the crazy tire wear. All of the other shops said everything was fine.

Bottom line, take it to more than one place.

 

[dnale]

There are lots of shops, but none that I know/recommend. If I replace struts I'm upgrading for sure. I don't have crazy tire wear. Nothing unusual that is.

 

[mazda protege 2]

my car does that to, even though its a protege i hear a clunk noise and it sounds its comming from under the floor board! i just greased all my joints and it has seemed to go away

 

[Kansei]

I'm experiencing this as well right now. .. mine kinda sounds like it could be coming from the front motor mount, but I inspected it the other day and replaced the nut that had apparently fallen off underneath it.

To all you guys, check your front sway bar bushings... to get to them, it's easiest to have the front wheels off. The bushing that mounts the sway bar to the chassis will cause a noise like this if worn out.

 

[dnale]

I swear I can almost "feel" it that it's from the left front. Can you pick up those sway bar bushing or are you looking at an all new one? Is it a simple energy suspension part?

 

[aMaff]

I had a similar issue not too long ago. Make sure the bolts / nuts on the strut top and bottom are all tight. Mine were abt an 1/8 turn loose. Clunk stopped after that.

 

[dnale]

I think I checked those first. I'm not sure how "tight" those are supposed to be. They were pretty tight without breaking out the torque wrench.

 

[aMaff]

what was the torque set to?

 

[dnale]

I don't know, I didn't use the torque wrench. I was hoping someone would have a torque spec and share with us.

 

[Kansei]

My strut bolts (top, bottom, side, north south, east, west, inner, outer, etc) are torqued to hundreds of foot lbs seriously they are though. I can also "feel" the clunk by my feet, and guess what's pretty much right on the other side of the firewall there.. the sway bar bushing

 

[mazda protege 2]

yeah thats what i felt, a clunk at my clutch foot, i jus greased my bushings and i havent heard it scince/. the dealer said that it just had to be greased to

 

[Kansei]

Yeah I was ordering other suspension bushings and rubber pieces so I figured I might as well just get brand new bushings for that (I'm over 80k miles so stuff is getting worn out). I'll hit them up with some Energy Suspension lube before installing them.

 

[dnale]

Now I'll have to stop some where. Is it a custom peice or is there a measurement for the bushing?

 

[speedymp5]

dnale I had this same problem on another car i owned, if the sound is coming from the suspension when it drops as in rebound from a speed bump or dropping into bump in the road etc... I found that my upper strut mounts had gone bad, swaped them out problem solved. Check them out

 

[dnale]

I'll try to look at it this weekend. I'm not sure how to tell if the top mount is shot though. With 150,000 on the car and not knowing when if ever the struts were replaced, it might be time to replace them, but I don't want to throw money at it if there isn't anything.