Strange Creak / clunk When Accelerating

[coreyrocks]

Hello forum members,

I am driving a mazda protege 5 2002, and have a problem. Whenever I go to accelerate from a stop I hear this strange creaking / clunking sound comming from the front leftish side of the car, and I have no idea what it could be. I have not had enough time to looking intesly at it, but from a quick glance there is noting immediately noticeable.

This sound primarily happens from a complete stop going forwards, and if I try to accerate really slowly it lessens the chance I hear it clunk (or pop?). Where should I initially be looking at? What are some possibilities?

As well, one of my back wheel has a slight wobble to it. If I grab it and shake it back and forth there is some give (most likely a wheel bearing?)

Any help would be great thank you!

 

[njaremka]

if all of the lug nuts on the rear wheel are tight, then it could be a bad bearing.

for the front, could be, quite literally, anything. i had a ford that only clunked over large bumps. took a mechanic 2 days to figure out that i had a control arm bolt that was broken. my suggestion- make sure you can duplicate the noise, then find a mechanic you trust and give him a test ride.

 

[coreyrocks]

Thanks for your input! Yeah it has been really annoying. Guess I'll have to go find a mechanic I trust this weekend And yeah im certain the lug nuts on the back are tight.

 

[CheeseHelmet]

I had an annoying clunk when my transmission mount was loose (only 1 of the 4 bolts was loose). I'd recommend checking all your engine mounts, if they've never been changed there's a good chance that one or two of them are torn and need replacing.

 

[coreyrocks]

Thanks for your reply CheeseHelmet. Yeah I'll check all the mounts too, hopefully it's as simple as 1 of the four bolts in the trasmission mount being loose lol!

 

[CheeseHelmet]

My problem was that one of the captive nuts that's welded to the frame was stripped, the bolt would only hold until about 30ft-lbs and then it would slip. This obviously isn't the problem you're having, but I was just trying to show you that even though the bolt was tight (you couldn't move it with your fingers or a short wrench) it was still loose enough to make noise. It was only after I repaired the nut that I was able to tighten it down properly (iirc it's about 65ft-lbs) and the noise went away.

The noise could also be coming from something as simple as a worn sway bar endlink, but if that was the case you'd probably hear the noise when going over bumps as well.

 

[coreyrocks]

Yeah I do not hear it going over bumps. It usually goes like this: Sitting stopped at a light, and then I go to accelerate and depending on the speed at which I accelerate, the faster I do the louder the clunking sound is. It only lasts for a fraction of a second (sometimes a second of rattling involved as well - kinda like a thunk - clang - clang). But as soond as I keep the slightest speed its gone, and it does not happen when I am braking or anything unless I brake to a very slow speed and accelerate quickly again.

 

[nilsonov]

like someone said, check all the engine mounts. i've had a tranny mount bolt come completly out causing loud clunk. also check your endlinks.

 

[Lewis7789]

Check your lower control arm bolts too. I have a creaking sound from a stop when accelerating slowly and have a broken bolt in my control arm bracket. I'm getting it welded up tomorrow so hopefully that will cure it.