Hi guys

Have an issue with my car, and won't be able to have it looked at for a few days...any thoughts in the meantime would be appreciated, as to what this could be.

I have a '97 SE 5spd (canadian, so VLSD), 190K kms

When gently starting to move off from dead stop, I sometimes hear a few cracking/clicking sound (similar to how a CV joint sounds when failing), but when going completely straight. From what I can tell, coming from front right corner. It doesn't make the sound every time, but often enough to notice. I *think* it's not the axle, I tried to accelerate with wheels fully turned, and it doesn't click.

I had a look behind the wheel, nothing obviously wrong there (i.e. no loose parts )

Front corners both "bounce" in the same way when pushed down (i.e. not much). No noises coming from the suspect corner while doing that.

Car drives normally (aside from dead rear O2 ), and the noise doesn't occur in higher speeds / gears (definitely not after 1->2 shift, may occur on that one, but I can't hear it well enough to tell)

Any ideas?

Thanks.

 

are your lugnuts loose on your wheels?

 

lug nuts are tightened...

 

Dude i have exact the same problem with my max also 97 5spd going to the shop 2morrow and i will let you know what was it

 

is it a constant clicking sound or just when you are going over rought road?

I had clicking on rough roads and it was the strut bearing assembly that holds the strut rod at the top. if you open the hood and look at your struts, the nut on the end of the strut should be dead center in the assembly that looks like rubber. both of mine went bad (not at the same time) and gave me intermittent clicking noises on rough pavement.

 

It's not a constant clicking...it's just 2 - 3 clicks when starting to move, and I think that's it....it's *possible* there's some clicking later too, like on rough road, and I just can't hear b/c of road noise, but I'd say it's unlikely

I'll have a look at the strut tomorrow...

SpeedyMaxima, definitely let me know what it turns out to be

Thanks all. Any further ideas still welcome

 

it could be clutch chatter, i have the same thing, not really a problem, just noise when i go from a full stop

 

Have you had any of you're bushings replaced recently? Specifically lowe control arm bushings?

 

OK i had the same problem today and went to the shop to fix it ,go and change the drive axel the whole shaft and forget about any noise i fixed 100$ with installation its definetly the drive axel,forget about other components its the drive axel

 

Is it in the front or rear of the car? I heard the same type of noise, but it was more of a clunk in the right rear. I think my right rear caliper is sticking a bit, and after I release the emergency brake and start to roll the brake finally releases.

 

Drive axle, hmm...was the inner joint going bad? I'm pretty sure it's not the outer one, the boot is in one piece, and doesn't click in turns; you may be right though, the noise "makes sense" in case of axle

Re: clutch chatter: forgive my newbiness here...wouldn't the clutch be on the left? Or is chatter a more general noise thing? I'm fairly sure the noise is coming from the front right, but could be wrong i guess...

No bushings have been replaced recently (not in the 2+ months I had the car)

Thanks for all the ideas, if anyone has anything else...I'll probably be in the shop some time soon to get my rear O2 swapped out, will get them to have a look at it. In the meantime, is the consensus that as long as the noise is not intensifying, it's ok to drive like this?

Thanks.

 

I had a similiar issue, replaced Stablizer end links, and my problem was resolved.

 

Ok, had it looked at (one of my mechanics rode with me for a few min)

Was told it's likely the motor mounts drying up / cracking...we decided to wait until it rains (hot and dry around here) to see if the noise would go away, to confirm this hypothesis. If not then will keep investigating.