Front End Clunk/Pop, Cant track it down. Options

[jordisonjr]

For the past week or so i've had a random creak coming from the drivers side front suspension. Usually when turning the wheels, or turning and going up/down a bump such as my driveway. I greased everything up in the front end, and still no solution.

The other day I was driving and had to brake relatively hard, and there was a fairly loud 'pop'. Now, when I brake/take off hard there's a significant pop. I can takeoff from a stop gently, and sometimes there is a softer pop sound, and sometimes there's non at all. It also pops loud if I brake hard, and pops softly if I break gently. Also while stationary, if I turn the wheel to the left, at a specific point it will pop, and you can feel it through the steering wheel as well.

I crawled under the car a couple days ago and tried moving stuff around for about an hour, and could not manage to reproduce the noise. It's also seemed to have gotten worse since then. It seems to be related to moving forward/back, almost as if the LCA bushing is worn out, however, I changed these about 2 summers ago.

I'm curious if anyone has any insight as to what this could possibly be, before I take it in to have it diagnosed. I was leaning towards a ball joint, but the fact that there was no play/leaking in the joint, and i could not reproduce the noise, has me thinking otherwise. I will take a second look as it seems to have gotten worse since it first started.

Any input/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Jmk91]

Have you checked your r front strut mounts? There is a bearing thah could've went bad. Whenever you brake it shifts the weight of the car forward. Is it much worse when going over speed bumps or anything? Did you check your front brakes/rotors hit em softly with a rubber mallet and see if they are making the noise your hearing as well. Since you said you can feel it in the steering wheel my money is on the Mount but I could be wrong.

[jordisonjr]

Have you checked your r front strut mounts? There is a bearing thah could've went bad. Whenever you brake it shifts the weight of the car forward. Is it much worse when going over speed bumps or anything? Did you check your front brakes/rotors hit em softly with a rubber mallet and see if they are making the noise your hearing as well. Since you said you can feel it in the steering wheel my money is on the Mount but I could be wrong.

Struts and mounts were changed probably 3-4 years ago (without winter driving) but it is quite possible. Usually speed bumps don't make a difference. I haven't really noticed a pattern of what bumps cause it, its fairly random in that aspect.

Pads and Rotors were changed last summer, and I recently had to change a wheel stud on the passenger side, so maybe something in the caliper wasn't torqued down properly, although that wouldn't solve the pop upon acceleration.

How would I be able to tell if the mount has gone bad? When I replaced the old ones, they didn't look overly worn out or damaged, so I'd imagine these newer ones would be better condition in appearance.

[Jmk91]

You'd have to take the strut out and see if the mount/bearing looks okay. Try to spin the bearing and see if it spins or moves correctly. This is taken from kyb site:HOW TO TELL IF THE MOUNT IS WORN.
DRIVABILITY SYMPTOMS MAY INCLUDE:

Clunking noises
Vibration
Loose, stiff or noisy steering
Tire alignment
Tire wear

[jordisonjr]

Thanks for the input. Ill keep that in mind and probably have a look at it next week.

[jordisonjr]

Well, I took a closer look today, with the vehicle on the gronud, and weight on the wheels.
Upon starting and stopping, the entire wheel shifts forward/back and with the vehicle stationary, you can actually move the the wheel forward and back in the wheel well.

I've narrowed it down to a Lower Control Arm bushing/LCA related. 90% sure its the bushing, But will confirm once I know forsure.
Although it does still creek while turning the wheels, so LCA wouldn't explain that.

Now here's my dilema:

I replaced my LCA bushings 2-3 summers ago with Poly Bushings from poland(not winter driven, or raced) and once again, my control arm is clunking, upon breaking and acceleration. It appears to be the rear bushing making noise, but I need to take a closer look, but 90% sure it is the culprit as you can see the wheel moving forward and back in the wheel well.

I previously removed the arm myself and torched the bushing out, and had a mechanic press in the new bushing. I think he also removed the old "ring" on the inside of the control arm. Was this supposed come out, or should it have stayed in? Will I need to replace the whole arm, to utilize this "ring" where the bushing gets installed, or is my bushing simply worn out already?

I'm frustrated that I'm having to replace this again, as it seems like the bushing has been worn out prematurely.

[Jmk91]

For the past week or so i've had a random creak coming from the drivers side front suspension. Usually when turning the wheels, or turning and going up/down a bump such as my driveway. I greased everything up in the front end, and still no solution.

The other day I was driving and had to brake relatively hard, and there was a fairly loud 'pop'. Now, when I brake/take off hard there's a significant pop. I can takeoff from a stop gently, and sometimes there is a softer pop sound, and sometimes there's non at all. It also pops loud if I brake hard, and pops softly if I break gently. Also while stationary, if I turn the wheel to the left, at a specific point it will pop, and you can feel it through the steering wheel as well.

I crawled under the car a couple days ago and tried moving stuff around for about an hour, and could not manage to reproduce the noise. It's also seemed to have gotten worse since then. It seems to be related to moving forward/back, almost as if the LCA bushing is worn out, however, I changed these about 2 summers ago.

I'm curious if anyone has any insight as to what this could possibly be, before I take it in to have it diagnosed. I was leaning towards a ball joint, but the fact that there was no play/leaking in the joint, and i could not reproduce the noise, has me thinking otherwise. I will take a second look as it seems to have gotten worse since it first started.

Any input/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I hope it was a ring related issue.. I just ordered the front and rear bushing kit from gt4-racing out of Poland assuming that is where you.ordered yours from. I hope I didn't spend 264$ for 3 years of bushings lol.

[jordisonjr]

For the past week or so i've had a random creak coming from the drivers side front suspension. Usually when turning the wheels, or turning and going up/down a bump such as my driveway. I greased everything up in the front end, and still no solution.

The other day I was driving and had to brake relatively hard, and there was a fairly loud 'pop'. Now, when I brake/take off hard there's a significant pop. I can takeoff from a stop gently, and sometimes there is a softer pop sound, and sometimes there's non at all. It also pops loud if I brake hard, and pops softly if I break gently. Also while stationary, if I turn the wheel to the left, at a specific point it will pop, and you can feel it through the steering wheel as well.

I crawled under the car a couple days ago and tried moving stuff around for about an hour, and could not manage to reproduce the noise. It's also seemed to have gotten worse since then. It seems to be related to moving forward/back, almost as if the LCA bushing is worn out, however, I changed these about 2 summers ago.

I'm curious if anyone has any insight as to what this could possibly be, before I take it in to have it diagnosed. I was leaning towards a ball joint, but the fact that there was no play/leaking in the joint, and i could not reproduce the noise, has me thinking otherwise. I will take a second look as it seems to have gotten worse since it first started.

Any input/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I hope it was a ring related issue.. I just ordered the front and rear bushing kit from gt4-racing out of Poland assuming that is where you.ordered yours from. I hope I didn't spend 264$ for 3 years of bushings lol.

Yep those are the bushings I installed.

[Jmk91]

That's what I was afraid of... Let me know the outcome. Last thing I want to do is install all new bushings for 3 years of use.

[jordisonjr]

That's what I was afraid of... Let me know the outcome. Last thing I want to do is install all new bushings for 3 years of use.

Just looked back into the instal threads where I was asking for assitance, they were installed roughly around Jul 2011, based on my old posts.
Ill keep this thread updated.

[Box]

CV joint perhaps?

Also who keeps a car more than a year or so anyway?

[jordisonjr]

CV joint perhaps?

Also who keeps a car more than a year or so anyway?

90% sure this has turned out to be a Lower Control Arm bushing, or something else related.
Here's what I've found:

Well, I took a closer look today, with the vehicle on the gronud, and weight on the wheels.
Upon starting and stopping, the entire wheel shifts forward/back and with the vehicle stationary, you can actually move the the wheel forward and back in the wheel well.

I've narrowed it down to a Lower Control Arm bushing/LCA related. 90% sure its the bushing, But will confirm once I know forsure.
Although it does still creek while turning the wheels, so LCA wouldn't explain that.

Now here's my dilema:

I replaced my LCA bushings 2-3 summers ago with Poly Bushings from poland(not winter driven, or raced) and once again, my control arm is clunking, upon breaking and acceleration. It appears to be the rear bushing making noise, but I need to take a closer look, but 90% sure it is the culprit as you can see the wheel moving forward and back in the wheel well.

I previously removed the arm myself and torched the bushing out, and had a mechanic press in the new bushing. I think he also removed the old "ring" on the inside of the control arm. Was this supposed come out, or should it have stayed in? Will I need to replace the whole arm, to utilize this "ring" where the bushing gets installed, or is my bushing simply worn out already?

I'm frustrated that I'm having to replace this again, as it seems like the bushing has been worn out prematurely.

I wish I could change cars every year. For what I paid, it wouldn't be worth it to get rid of the Celica now.
No one wants them anyways, they just compliment yours when you own one.

[Box]

When I sold mine it was out of the blue after I had decided to finally keep it, ironically enough. I did notice it seemed like no one wanted it, or if they did they wanted to give peanuts for it. Aside from the one that bought it anyway. I guess most people wanting FWD manual cars want Hondas and Acuras, everyone else wants an automatic they don't care about. My brother had a hell of a time selling his 5-speed Maxima.