I am selling my 89 Maxima (a very sad thing to do but we must unfortunately) and everything is in top condition on the car except one thing that has just recently crept up. I am getting a thunk/clunk from the rear right strut area of the car going over bumps and it is getting worse -- more frequent and getting louder as time goes on.

I am able to recreate the phenomenon with the car turned off sitting stationary just by bouncing the rear of the car up and down with all of my weight. I took the back seat out and retorqued all the strut tower bolts down and that did not make any improvement. I am really at a loss at this point and can't figure out what is causing this sound? I don't want to sell this car in this condition in case something were to go wrong and seriously injure the new owners. I replaced the struts two years ago on all fours. I am wondering if something has come loose, any ideas for possible culprits here guys?

I am getting quite desperate at this point.

 

I don't know, maybe the rear stabilizer bar links broke? that clunk may not be that loud though, more of a jiggle. Or howabout a broken coil? Could a wheel bearing break so badly that it starts to clunk?

Not sure bud.

 

Crawl under the car, have a good look around..grab a few things and shake'um around..

 

a totally blown strut can clunk, diagnosing this over the internet is not likely

 

If it's not the strut it could be the strut mount. When they get old and tear from the rubber they make all kinds of ugly sounds. My Max is doing that now, but I have higher priority issues to deal with.

 

You know, I think the strut mount sounds like the most likely culprit here. What is the best way to visually verify this from underneath the car? I would imagine driving around with a broken strut mount would be more of an annoyance issue from the noise than it would be a safety issue?

 

the strut mount is inside the car, covered by the top cushion of the seat on each side of the parcel shelf (or whatever it's called).

it could very well be a safety issue.

as above, other causes can be sway bar mount (mine broke, never heard a clunking, tho), bushings, bearing, brakes....

 

are your rear parrelel links bushings stock?or poly-urathane like mine? (40.oo coutesy nissan kit)try grabing the tailpipe and wiggle it around to rule out bouncing exhuast?
is your jack clunking around? lugnuts tight?

 

yea i'll have 2 agree with you, mines does it but that comes from when i replace the cartridges i forgot to get new rubber things so now the spring is just contacting the metal mount it self, but im not bothered since im lookin 4 a new1 n e how

 

That's not the part he is referring to, you are talking about bump stops, he is talking about the mount on top of the strut assembly,

 

Oh ok I got you never actually knew wat it was, thought it was the same thing, but thanx 4 lettin me no

 

Okay, FINALLY I have something for you. A picture paints a thousand words. Please observe this photo and tell me if you see anything wrong. My first suspicion is that the strut assembly collar is not supposed to be protruding like that and has rattled loose and needs to be tightened all the way down. As far as the strut mount goes, I don't see anything wrong with it other than the thin layer of rubber on top (the orange stuff as pictured below) as all but disintegrated in spots and so it is just bare metal on bare metal, but that is not what has been making the sound back there. Please, chime in on this guys and let me know if I am correct in my suspicion and if there is a way to tighten that collar without taking the whole damn assembly out and compressing the spring (PITA!). Thanks guys.

 

both pics look normal enough. you can try tightening the "collar" but it may be in all the way.

 

Yeah, they look normal. After I installed new cartridges in the rear strut housing on my old Max the 'collar' would only screw in so far. I thought it looked wrong having threads showing but it was in as far as it could go and worked properly with no noise at all.

 

I had a clunking sound everytime i'd go over any bump, oscillating road surface, whatever, and i could recreate the sound if i went ape**** on the corner pushing up and down. The mechanic tightened what he said was the sway bar mount and the noise disappeared.

 

I had a clunk for a while after I hit the muffler on some railroad tracks while backing up (long story), it ended up being a broken sway bar mount that let the sway bar hit the exhaust but another time I also had blown struts causing a clunk. Is it possible that the sound could be caused by bad parallel link bushings, like the clunk from bad control arm bushings?

 

Anyone else have the same experience with that collar only screwing in that far and then stopping? I will have to pop over to the other side of the car to see if it looks the same.

The good thing is, I have done the homework and KNOW the sound is coming from either the strut itself, or from the strut mount (I have checked all busings, swaybars, linkages, etc). I had someone drive the char while I sat in the backseat with a tactile stethoscope right on the strut tower, my hand as well. And I can tell you UNMISTAKABLY the sound was coming DIRECTLY right out of that strut assembly right into the frame of me car. So that much is known at least.

Normally I love a good mystery, but this one is starting to chap my #$$.

I'll tell you one thing though, I sure appreciate everyone that has put in their two cents and welcome more ideas/commentary/smart remarks.

Soundquest

 

swallow pride, take it to a mechanic.

 

Realize a mechanic would do nothing more than throw new parts at the problem HOPING it would fix the problem and charge me $90 an hour for the labor I could so easily do myself. Not to mention...HUGE MARKUP ON PARTS.

But...on the other hand...if you are paying...with pleasure.

WE AT THE ORG LIKE TO DIO (DO IT OURSELVES) AND HELP EACH OTHER DIO. THAT'S WHAT THIS SITE IS ALL ABOUT.

But thanks.

 

Depends on the shop.
and it is DIY (Do it yo Damself!)

 

Yes, classically DIY, but DOY in the plural as I was using it. DIYD in your case. (Do it Yo Damself!)

 

I can't remember what it looked like when I changed my struts last year but I put the eibach cartridges in and the stock gland nut wouldn't screw in at all, the cartridge was too tall. The eibachs came with a new nut and it does have the top several threads sticking out like in your picture. These cars originally had oil in the struts and not a cartridge, since yours have been replaced (presumably with a cartridge) the gland nut may not be able to screw down all the way because of the cartridge height.

 

Thanks for everyone's help on this. I AM PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE I have achieved full resolution to this problem. The collar had indeed become loose and needed to be screwed back in all the way. I achieved that with some pretty massive channel locks and by removing the sand and grit from the threads with brake parts cleaner -- the collar screwed back in all the way, just as the other side was. Road tested it and there is absolutely NO NOISE at all back there.

Thanks again.

 

my fsm doesnt show any pictures of whats inside the rear strut housing
from the factory
I dont remember for sure but i think there is something at the bottom
you should have removed with the rest of the factory oil strut assemblys
before inserting your cartridge

mine make noises over bumps but ones lowered(sprints) with poly rear parrelel link bushings (now they are only 30 bucks!)
and some of the noises are duplicated when i wiggle the mufflers
I always do detailed inspections anytime im working on them or at oil change time ...... im also on sabotage watch

 

There may be something down there in the original setup but I'm pretty sure it was gone by the time I did the struts myself. The shop I had it done at previously had put in inserts so they should have taken out anything that was in there (doesn't necessarily mean they did), but I also looked in there pretty good to make sure they were clean and couldn't see anything.