Turning Right = Badness

[Clarkbug]

Hey All.

So my P5 seems to have hated me and turning right since I got it about a year and a half ago. At first, I had a strange harmonic resonance going on, and that was the passenger front wheel bearing. Then there was a noise that sounded almost like sheet metal popping (A "thunk-clunk" if that makes sense) that the garage couldnt find. Turns out that after driving it 400+ miles after they looked at it I blew my front CV joint boot. Grease galore. But it didnt fail on me, which is good.

Now I have more issues.

After I make a hard right turn, you can hear a noise and feel a shaking in the car as you straighten and accelerate. It goes away once I get straight and up to speed. It almost feels like something isnt rotating correctly.

It did this with my summer and winter tires, so it wasnt an out of balance thing. I had the alignment checked, and it came back 100% OK. I took it to a different garage, and they couldnt reproduce the problem, put it on the lift and couldnt find anything bad with the suspension bits.

So, my only thought is that my CV joint (I think the previous place put in a reman axle shaft) has gone bad again? The boots arent split, but if it was Reman maybe there was something that didnt get rebuilt right?

Any ideas?

 

[MS3_KIDD]

sounds like the CV joint is bad

when the boot tore and the lubrication was lost and the popping was heard, damage was being done
even after the boot was replaced, the joint was already condemned to premature failure

 

[Clarkbug]

Thanks for the reply.

Thats just it, I didnt have them just replace the boot. I had the whole CV axle replaced. Its just a reman part from the store.

Could it have gone bad already in 7 months?

 

[MS3_KIDD]

oh ouch

i cant see why it would have failed in 7 monthes under normal driving conditions unless it had been damaged b4 installation or unless theres something with the vehicle thats caused it to go or driving habits

 

[Clarkbug]

I dont know either, and thats what worries me. I drive pretty conservatively, so its not the driving habits. Im just wondering if it was a faulty part...

 

[SocialStealth]

Check your power steering fluid!
In the protege owner's manual it says you should not keep the wheel completely turned for more than 5 seconds, as it builds up too much pressure.

You may just be noticing the normal vibrations and rev changes from turning. This would explain why the shop didn't find anything. However, it could be an early sign of a power steering problem, or signs of age.

How many miles are on the car?
Have you ever changed the fluids?

 

[Clarkbug]

Ill check the PS fluid, but Im pretty sure thats not it. It doesnt have the same vibration/noise when I turn left, and I'm not even at the lock when turning. Its just any normal sharp right, just about any intersection.

I know that it might seem normal, but it just doesnt feel right in the front end of the car. Something is a little screwy, I just dont know what. The car has 67k miles on it, so not too much. I havent flushed the PS fluid, but everything else has been done so far, and Im coming up on another tranny fluid change in the future. (Red Line MT90 fluid used for the last change)

I just dont want to try and change out suspension parts if they arent bad to try and find this problem.

 

[slavrenz]

It does sound as if your CV joint is bad again, and with a rebuilt axle, unfortunately this isn't unheard of. My advice would be to take your mechanic on a drive with you next time and reproduce the problem for him.

Did it start doing this immediately after you got the new axle? If so, I might suggest that the garage messed up something in the installation, and the axle isn't seated square in your steering knuckle/transmission.

 

[Clarkbug]

Figured I would bring back a necropost... But I finally got things figured out, I think.

I finally had time to jack my car up and look at the dang thing myself, rather than having a shop or a friend look at it. All the CV boots look good, they dont feel rough when I turn or rotate them, and there is only one little thing that looks out of place, and thats a shield over a seal. No biggie, and wouldnt make my problem anyway.

It turns out that I have a torn passenger side motor mount. I didnt even think to check it until tonight, and its clearly ripped through on the side facing the firewall. It doesnt seem like thats a hard one to change out, and hopefully that gets rid of the annoying feeling I get when I accelerate!

 

[fishdonotbounce]

Ahhh. Yup that will give you the problem you've been having. That mount is VERY simple to change out. Just make sure to remember to put that ground wire back on there when you put the new one on.

 

[Clarkbug]

Now I just need to find a place that has one in stock....

Its been a while since I was on here, it looks like we dont have the same number of sponsor forums as before.

 

[fishdonotbounce]

no we sure don't. Go to onlinemazdaparts.com. They'll be able to hook you up.

 

[slavrenz]

Now I just need to find a place that has one in stock....

Its been a while since I was on here, it looks like we dont have the same number of sponsor forums as before.

I hope you've got an automatic - the OEM manual mount is like 50 dollars more IIRC.

 

[fishdonotbounce]

passenger side is 50 more?? Why is that? I thought that side the mounts are the same.

 

[Clarkbug]

Nope, Im a manual transmission.

Ive done some digging around, and am sorta confused. Lots of searching, and mostly just people saying how the aftermarket mounts make for a lot of vibration in the car, which is something I would like to avoid.

Im trying to find the right part numbers for one from the parts store, and that hasnt been easy either. So far I think I found a Beck-Arnley (Part 1041600) at Rock Auto for $60. But in reading other threads, that doesnt come with the portion of the mount that goes on the engine, so that involves me having to take it elsewhere to get it pressed out of the old mount, and put into the new one.

Online Mazda parts has the mount and its $143 bucks. I see the SLS mount is selling off of their page for $90.

So Im trying to figure out what is going to be the best approach here....

 

[Dpwhitehead1]

get either the SLS mount, or go with AWR. if you get AWR get the 70durometer.

that will be the least amount of vibration. the higher the duro, the worse the vibes get

 

[fishdonotbounce]

Meh if you have one poly mount it will cause more stress on the others. I'd say stick with stock. Make a WTB thread on here. Stock mounts sell for around 30 shipped. PM xDJ DUBx. He may still have the mount from the P5 he bought. If he's not using it, he will probably sell it to you.

 

[Clarkbug]

Thanks for the idea fish. Im a little worried about buying a stock mount given the age of even the newest P5's out there. I figure that most are going to be getting close to tearing apart anyway, since it seems to be a common problem.

I had similar thoughts about going with just one poly mount instead of having them all that way. But since its the passenger side mount, would the engine just be more likely to "turn" on this one, and most of the abuse would go on the front and rear mounts?

 

[fishdonotbounce]

Yea the other mounts will take more punishment due to a poly mount. I'm sure you'd be able to find a mount that isn't torn up or worn out though. I just pulled my rear stock one a couple months ago and sold it. It looked PERFECT.

 

[Clarkbug]

In some research, I see that lots of folks seemed to favor the Medieval mounts as far as using the hot pour urethane. However, I know that there were all kinds of issues with actually getting the parts.

Sloppy service aside, did they actually make a decent mount? Is there any way to get one that isnt completely buyer beware these days?