I've got a 1989 5-speed Maxima SE with 189K miles. For probably the last 30-40k miles I've had a poping noise that I hear sometimes I take a hard right (but not left) or make a quick stop or start. It only "pops" once and it comes from the driver's side front tire. I always ask about it when I have it serviced--most of the time I am told they don't hear it. About a year ago finally got the dealership to admit to hearing it and they said they noticed it when they went from backing up to going forward. They tightened everything imaginable but the poping continues. They recommended replacing the lower ball joints, so I went ahead with that but I still hear the noise. I've had the CV joints inspected on many occassions and was always told they are fine. It only bothers me because it seems with time to be getting louder and more frequent.

I don't know if this is related to the suspension...I've yet to have any work done on that. As an aside is there any reason to warrent new shocks? The car isn't really bouncy, although I occasionally hear unpleasant noises when going over large speedbumps.

Any thoughts?

 

open ur hood... stand at the wheel(of the side is question).. push down on the quarter panal hard enough to make the suspention load a bit.do u hear the sound when u push down?? if so it should be comming from the top of the strut go to your local shop and have them blast that strut bolt with an impact gun. (tighten it up)
- if u don't here the sound then it could be your rack and pinion (bushings?) or axles.. but the axles usually sound off when the wheel is cut the eather side...

 

I think it is a Lower Control arm Front bushing you can get it from internetautomart. it is 10 each. here is the link
http://ww6.aitsafe.com/cf/add.cfm?us...om/3rdgen.html

 

The lower control arm is the same thing as the transverse link? Do you think I should go ahead and replace both sides or only the side making the noise?

 

I tried the first suggestion of pushing down on the car above the wheel and didn't hear any noise.

 

Sometimes when I took hard right turns in my old max or hit a hard bump it would click. Turned out it was the bottom spring retainer on the strut clipping the splash guard.

 

I'm gonna go with axles.
the best thing to do is put the car up and look for stuff that doesn't look right I.E. torn boot, rubber bushing looking cracked and worn

 

I've always thought that it was the axles, but every time I have the car checked they say the CV joints are fine and none of the boots are torn. It's definately not a repeated clicking noise like I hear described by failing axles, but a single pop.

 

I used to have something like that. It would make a loud thud when I would change momentum of the car ie changing from reverse to forward, coming to a quick stop, etc. It turned out to just be one loose nut on the front on the control arm. I know you said they tightened everything, but it couldn't hurt to just tighten everything you can find related to the suspension down there. Other than that, maybe ball joints or upper strut mount.

 

could be motor mounts or ball joints if it's a single pop

 

Wow...I'm having the same problem! The only difference is that its on the right side(passanger) and not on the left. I replaced the lower control arm and the sound (POP!) dissappeared...temporarily. The poping noise doesn't come when the car is cold, but after a couple of minutes of driving, the sound begins. The scary thing is that the sound is louder now than when i replaced my lower right control arm...my suspension was replaced within the past year or two and i know my struts and shocks must be good cause i go over bumps with no problem. It is the front/back motion that causes this problem. I don't know if this changes much, but anyone got any more ideas?

 

check struts as mentioned and stand on corners that it is coming from as mentioned. Replacing front end parts can get expensive. If you want to check engine mounts have someone put E-brake on put it in gear and give the engine a little gas the engine will tilt if broken (lift up). Be careful if manual. This is a two person job but if you had the hood up. And your in the passenger seat you can see the engine lift but i recommend a secound person. Mine was a loose strut nut.

 

actually, I remeber one car that the cracking sound was actually the frame being broken

 

Sigh. I'm not sure how to proceed, except to perhaps keep ignoring the pop as I have for the last 30,000 miles. I'll check the motor mounts as someone suggested.

I'm probably not savy enough to do my own control arms. Do you guys recommend buying new ones or just the bushings as someone suggested? New ones run $162 from courtesy parts. Also the guy there said its recommeneded to have the car realigned after replacing them...is that recommeneded by you all? Craig, do you have a dealership/independent mechanic you recommend in the Atlanta area?

I've had the ball joints replaced 1 year ago...so since the sound was before their replacement I doubt its them. If I go from reverse, come to a complete stop, and then start forward I usually hear the pop.

I'm not particularly enthused by just turning a mechanic loose on the car...it's getting old and while I know the engine can handle more miles its the other things that are starting to become problematic. It's hard to know when to quit on an older car.

 

new control arms $87.50 ea
though I am hoping to get that price down some more.
I have high hopes for vegas

 

i bought my control arm from a local store called GB500. It only ran me about 58 bux. If you are interested contact me and I can let you kno more.

 

Nope, sorry I've done all my own work on this car and only had it to a shop for tires and alignment. If you want help with replacing control arms, I could probably do that for you. I dont know if I could diagnose the problem for you, but I could change out a couple parts for you some weekend if you come up this way.

 

I have a popping noise coming from the front somewhere too but what I found with mine is it's not as far forward as I had feared. The source of the noise that I have found is the door hinges. Mine are extremely worn and when the door is shut, when the car flexes from accellerating or going around turns or certain bumps, they will "pop". I verified this by grabbing the door while it's closed and going down the road and pulling on it. You really can't feel the movement but it makes the noise. I have yet to fix it. I did purchase new hinges, just haven't replaced them yet. If anyone knows of a way to replace the hinges without having to disconnect all of the electrical connections and then pull the door off I would really like to hear it. That's what's been keeping me from replacing them.

 

I also had a similar popping noise that I traced to the doors after thinking it was coming from the front suspension. Make the weight of the car to shift at slow speeds and notice when it pops- and then try the same thing with the door open (mine was the driver's side door). If the noise is gone, youve found the problem. Loose bolts are also a good thing to check. Look at the suspension and the brakes.

I finally replaced my hinges a few months ago. You dont need to take the door off completely to do this- just do one hinge at a time. This will also keep the door alignment consistent, though you may have to adjust it once youre done anyways. The one problem is that you have to remove the front fender to get at the bolts for the hinges. The most time consuming part of the job is aligning the fender again once youre done.

 

Sounds to me like the sway bar connecting links - they mount to the lower control arm and up to the sway bar.

The rubber bushing basically disappear over time.

About $11 apiece if I remember right.

Tim