96 max still making clunking noise
 

I have now officially replaced every bushing in the front suspension including 2 new LCA's with and ball joints. I still get a clunking noise in the front end and it gets worse every day. I'm thinking it may be my engine/tranny mounts. Here are my symptoms. When I brake, I get a clunk. When I accelerate from a stop, I get a clunk. Sometimes now when I make a sharp turn I get a clunk. If I hit a decent sized bump, I also get a clunk. If I floor in the lower rpms mostly between 2,000-2,500, the car shakes. Or when i'm cruising in 5th around 60 mph which is around 2,500 rpms, the front end shakes slightly. Now here is my other issue. I posted in another forum that my radiator support is rusted out where the cross member bolts up to it. It seems that as of now the crossmember is not what's causing the noise cause it seems to be on secure enough to where there is no play but a few more months of corrosion could change that if not fixed soon. From what i've read, the easiest way to replace the mounts is to drop the cross member which I am afraid to do because of the rust. At the moment, I do not want to screw with the cross member or anything bolted to it until I get that issue fixed. I had a friend watch the engine for movement while I power braked it and feathered the clutch and he said there is little movement of the engine but it seemed to move more when going forward. Also it did not make the clunking noise when I power braked. Any ideas or opinions?

Can you post a picture of the rusted Xmember?

I've been working similar but not so severe problems. I have a slight vibration at 2500rpm and also suspected engine mounts after a front end rebuild.

Trying to replace the mounts this w/e I was jacking up the emgine & tranny to take the weight off the Xmember bolts (I thought this was why I couldn't turn them) I saw quite a flex in the Xmember leading me to believe that it supports quite a significant load. This is reinforced by the sheer size of the mounts - they wouldn't make them any bigger than they need to.

If your Xmember is rusted out then I think you have a major structural issue here that needs some professional welding. It needn't cost too much but you need metal not rust in this important structural integrity point.

unfortunately I don't have a camera otherwise I would post pics. I got an estimate from my friend up north and he told me if I bring it to any body shop they will most likely charge somewhere between $500-600 since that's what his estimate book said. He said If I wait until I move back up to NY he'll do it for $300 but I don't think I can hold out like this for 5 months without causing damage to other parts.

I've had that clunk for years now, but only does it when i drive over bumps or rough roads...... What the hell is that noise????? Noone yet has found it, i just blame my strut??

Yea!

I got this noise too! It only happened recently though, i made a quick turn(no cars around) doing about -30mph and my tired went screeching.
It was fun, but 5 min later i went over a bumpy road and i started hearing that clucking noise near the tires, or under the front part of my car.

I had a similar noise... I dont know if you have replaced your half shaft bearing on the passenger side. That's what was making the terrible noise for my vehicle. Instead of taking the half shaft apart I just replaced the entire thing for $50 at Autozone or something. It was surprisingly cheap and it was worth having a brand new half shaft... fixed the horrible sound too. Dunno if it's the same problem that you are having... but it might be.

That's a possibility. Did you have the same syptoms as I did? How can I test to see if thats the problem?

have you checked the carrier for the brakes, if its loose by any chance?

Yes I actually just did a brake job on my car about 2 weeks ago and the noise was around far before that.

I have replaced both my axels, cv joints and new brakes with no luck what so ever........ As long as my wheel stays on im happy, I've put 35,000 miles on my car since ive had it and its had the noise the whole entire time so i don't worry bout it too much.... I would like to figure out where it's coming from however..

For a while it didn't bother me cause it only did it every once in a while. Now it's so bad that it's embarrasing to drive through a parking lot. It makes my car sound like a piece of crap.

Hrm... Mine had similar symptoms when the bearing on the front half shaft went bad... You can just always just take it into an NTB or some auto place that does free assesments and ask what their opinion is on it... sometimes they really suck as telling you what is actually the problem and say that 100 other things are wrong too that need replacing TODAY... but if all else fails... let someone else look at it :)

I had the "clunk" for years. When I finally had a shop that does steering racks look at it, they found it.

They put in a rebuilt rack and the car is tight!

I wish I would have done this first before all the other parts I had replaced that did not fix the clunk. I had the clunk for a couple of years at least.

Yours may be different -

I spoke to a friend today who is an ase certified tech and he told me it probably isn't a bad mount. He said that if it was, the motor should move excessivly in the engine compartment (which it really doesn't bad enough to say the mounts are bad). I just can't figure out what else would cause those symptoms. So I guess i'll take a look at everything this weekend and see what I can find. I just know that i'll have trouble finding a place that does free estimates and diagnostics. Every place i've brought my car to in the past charge anywhere from $60-80.

The noise you could be hearing could be worn stabilzer end link bushings, at least that was it for me., it is a cheap part and easy replacement, here is a how to link:

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=474610

True that.........haha but seriously, I would start by checking worn sway bar bushings, ends and mounts/brackets, steering rack bushings, and strut tops..........

If you feel a shimmy upon accelerating on a turn (such as pulling out of a business driveway onto a main road...somewhere where you have to turn the wheel quite a bit as you accelerate) then I would say axle

Good Luck
Anthony

i have a similar noise, and my mechanic said that's my left control arm bushing. he ordered it, so hopefully, i'll let yo kow if that fixed it.

Thanks for the replies and info but everything you guys just listed except the right side cv axle were just replaced recently including new stabilizer bar end links. The suspension system itself is basically brand new from top to bottom. The only thing I havent replaced that you guys listed is the right cv axle. I will look into that along with the steering rack and see if one of those are the culprit. I feel a shimmy when turning and when driving straight while accelerating in the low rpms as explained in an above post.

thats what happened to me, I did a quick-fast turn and soon after is when i heard the cluncking.