"Clunk" noise when I turn left to right

[labonnevillastrangiato]

Hi there!
My car is making this funny clunk noise when I turn the wheel from left to right. It seems to be coming from outside of the car, so it's not in the steering wheel itself. Could there be an intermediate shaft in need of greasing? Tie rods were replaced under a year ago, drive axles look good. Any ideas where I can check next, or if this is something I should worry about??

Thanks!
Adam

1993 SSEi

[Blownville]

Try greasing your ball joints. Mine are snapping too and I greased one side and it stopped. The other side wont take any grease cause the valve in the fitting is broke. I plan on replacing mine soon anyways. Also check your strut mounts to make sure they are turning freely.

[ColdScrip]

After the turn and clunking, does the car pull to the direction in which you turned?

[labonnevillastrangiato]

After the turn and clunking, does the car pull to the direction in which you turned?

I've noticed the car pulls strongly to the right. It had an alignment done not too long ago, which makes me worried.
When I had my tires done, the guy mentioned something about the strut not swiveling freely. Could that be it??

I will try the greasing as well.

Any other advice as always is appreciated!

Adam

[ColdScrip]

I had a worse case of your problem. Think of your strut as this, from the top to the bottom.

strut brace bar in the engine bay attaching to top of strut mount
|
strut mount
|
strut bearing
|
i forget but its like a metal peice separating the bearing from the pressure of the strut
|
rubberized circle which is between the metal piece and the spring

Basically that bearing is what goes bad. It is plastic and metal with lubrication. Mine was so bad that when I took the strut apart, I couldn't move the bearing at all. Not even with any type of tool. The bearing was froze up. Your clunking and thus pulling is coming from this upper mount bearing. While someone is turning the wheel, look up from the wheel into the top of the strut. As the wheel turns you will see the top of the strut *boing* and clunk as it bounces to place, instead of moving freely.

For me it was only on the left side so determine which side its coming from. To replace it, the entire strut must come out. I recommend replaces the strut, bearing, and upper mount. Make sure you buy new boots. I reused my springs as they were FE2 and the FE2's are about the best stock spring ratio for our cars. I did this to both front struts. After the job get an alignment, you'll need it. If you get an alignment now you'll be wasting your money as the bearing is still froze and will knock it right out of alignment.

Get Monroe sensa-trac struts or monroe reflex if you can find them, monroe bearings, and monroe mount.

I bought from rockauto.com and advanceautoparts.com

[labonnevillastrangiato]

Thanks a lot for your advice.
Is it dangerous to drive it like this??

Adam

[ColdScrip]

I drove it clunking like that from left to right for 1.5 to 2 years and it never caused anymore problems. Perhaps some more wear and tear on the suspension parts as only my left inner tie rod is bad, but thats all.

I recommended replacing so much as its such a big job to do...you might as well because you don't want to have to go back in there. An alignment is about 60 bucks and you'll need one after messing with the suspension. So its best to not have to keep paying for alignments down the line.

Also to add to my example the strut shoots up and goes through the center of all those pieces.

[Boreas]

Ive been running on bad strut mounts for years in my 93. I just keep shooting down oil to shut it up. To me its not worth the money since its not in good condition and I will be looking to get rid of it within a year. If this is a car you are going to keep for over a year then yea id do it, but its not safety-critical like ball joints.

[92BonneSE]

So how does one oil these said parts?

[Pontiac1]

There are two plastic covers near the ends of the strut tower brace.Pry the covers off,you will see three holes around the top .Use a heavier oil,like gear lube,90 wt.Fill the holes and allow the oil to sink in a few times.I did this to my 92 se and it shut the noise off. Tim

[ColdScrip]

Like I said I had a BAD case of your problem. I tried tons of different types of oils for those holes, even when the problem started and it did nothing. I even had help and we pried down the top of the strut to shoot oil up into the bearing from all sides. The bearing was literally froze up. So if you do this procedure and don't get any results out of it, yours is probably froze as well.

Oiling only helps to allow the bearing to move freely again. It is however only a temporary fix.

[labonnevillastrangiato]

Thanks for the advice. I might try the oiling trick first and see how that goes. Perhaps with a helper I can stick my noodle in there and see if I can see if the bearing is rotating or not??

Adam

[labonnevillastrangiato]

Last night I removed the strut covers and sprayed some high pressure grease from an aerosol can. It seemed to make it a littler quieter, however that clunk is still there. I think I'll take it to a garage to get checked, and I'll report my findings. Thanks for your help.

Adam

[92Ville]

So how does one oil these said parts?

Hey nice slide you did with the green Bonnie, did you just hit the brake or use the E- Brake . Man I miss my 92 5.0 Stang She would burn rubba so sweet it was as if you were on snow when ya matted it I was the dough nut master In a Stop & Shop parking lot I would put on two fat rear tires for the thick black patch affect + I didn't want to ruin my brand new Z series tires on the Ponies Set up 2 orange cones my brother and I would take turns doing figure 8's Oh the good ole days

[repinS]

Holy old thread, Batman!

92Ville, in the future, please refrain from bumping very old threads such as these (you'll note the last reply was on May 28, 2008), especially if what you have to add is not related to the topic. Thanks!