Driving home from work today and notice a clunking sound in the front right suspension when I go over bumps.....been winter weather here so alot of salt on the roads, etc....Any ideas what this could be? I have thought maybe strut is loose at top, or one of the various bushings/tie rod ends/etc. got torn up by the road salt and went bad....****es me off.

 

I would guess that one of your front struts is defective. It could be the piston rod or the strut bearing.

 

damn...my car starting do this yesterday....time for a new suspension set-up...too bad it couldnt wait till after x-mas

 

You live in one of the pothole capitols of the world. I know your suspension gets put to the test.

 

hmmm, I dunno...I have had bad struts on previous cars and this doesn't seem the same....seems morelike something "loose", like the strut bolts are not completely tightened or some suspension part is just loose. Supposed to make it into the high 40s tomorrow so may have to take the wheel off and jiggle things and find out what it is. All the road salt and junk...thought it might more likely be some kind of bearing or bushing. Not sure how road salt and ice could ruin the strut itself (esp. cause I only have 40k miles on the car)....guess I'll have to find out the old fashioned way - take it apart!

 

It could also be the front sway bar being loose on one or both sides.

 

According to Haynes manual - "abnormal noise at the front end" could be:
1. lack of lubrication at balljoints and tie rod ends
2. damaged strut mounting
3. worn control arm bushings or tie rod ends
4. loose stabilizer bar (yeah charliekilo
5. loose wheel nuts (not that)
6. loose suspension bolts (that's pretty vague)

 

Maybe it would be better if you checked for loose nuts and bolts before taking anything apart. Use a torque wrench set to the proper value. That would alleviate some things from your list of possible causes.

 

yeah obviously I will do that first, make sure nothing's loose that can be just tightened.....maybe I should have said "...the old fashioned-way - get under the damn car!"
thx

 

Irish,
A little trick that has helped me in the past.
Carefully jack under the control arm. Put hands in 12 and 6 o'clock
position and do the push with one hand pull with the other alternating. Do again in the 3 and 9 positions. If you can dup the clunk, then the job of finding out where just became easier.

 

thanks Mick I will try that. I assume you mean push/pull on the hub, right?

 

Damn, Im having the same problem ! Its coming from the front drivers side for me. I know its not a blown strut, because I know what that feels like. It only makes noise when you hit a bump. It just klunks......WTF !

 

that's exactly the same here. kloogy, post if you find the problem b4 I do, I will do the same. Though could be different for us....you have alot of mods, and my suspension is stock.....

 

I had a different clonking coming from the same spot last time. But that one happened as the tires rotated. After 2 months of looking, it turned out to be a messed up bearing..... this one is not as annoying, but its starting to pizzz me off !

 

I've got the same clunk at the driver's side front wheel. It's going to be relatively nice this weekend so I'm going to see if I can find the issue. If I do, I'll definately post it up.

 

would it be scary if i said it's SEMI-happening to me as well. not when i go over a bump, but only when my left front is full epanded (let's say taking a left turn) and i hit a bump, i hear a slight clunk. i've heard it on more than one occasion so it's not just my imagination. i'll check it out tonite. everyone submit their results.

 

Irish,
Do it with the wheel on or you wont have enough leverage
to make anything happen.

 

The clunking noise in mine turned out to be the driver's side sway
bar link. I put the car on ramps and had a friend bounce the front
corner of the car until I could trace where the sound was coming
from. A new link plus two new 14mm locking nuts (can't reuse
the existing ones) cost about $40. The sound caused by even a
little play in either of the two ball joints on the link seems to be
applified by the sway bar.

 

Put a new sway bar link in it...might as well do both sides and nip it in the bud. Common problem on these types of suspensions. Just a small amount of play in these and you'd swear to god that something is ready to let go or break off. This is assuming the rest of the front end is tight.

 

sway bar link huh....I was about to order new struts (which I probably will anyways), but maybe I will have to try the sway bar link. The sound I am getting is only present when the suspension is "slack" (i.e. not accellerating or braking hard),,,,
DanL, where did you get the parts (dealer or just like Advance Auto?)....I am in the same general area as you, so just wondering. Also, how long will it take to swap these out....haven't done any suspension work on this car yet....different from my Honda and Acura (and Triumph!)

 

You can only get them from a dealer. The driver's side link costs about $38
and the passenger side about $21 -- if you can convince the parts department
to sell them to you at their discounted cost (what they charge other shops).
Otherwise tack on about $10-15.
You may also want to check with Dave B if your dealer insists on charging
full list price. Also, make sure to get the replacement nuts as well.
They're special lock nuts and I believe they cost about $1 each.

The links can accessed by jacking up the car and removing the wheel. You'll
definitely need a good five point socket and a breaker bar. They're
on there tight and are designed to bind (that's why you can't reuse them).
I spent about 45 minutes replacing mine (only did one link) -- 10 minutes to
jack up the car and remove the wheel, 20 minutes of straining and cussing,
and 15 minutes to put on the new link, replace wheel, and lower the car.

 

Do you mean a six point socket?

 

Never said I could count!

 

i have the same problem too, mine makes this reallly annoying noise whenever i go over little bumps. I am gonna have the dealer check that out next time i go in, the sway bar link seems to be the problem since i am pretty sure its coming from the bottom part of the car

 

BTW, although the sounds seemed to be coming from the passenger
side of my car, the bad link was actually on the driver's side.

Also, one thing I found is that I could stop the sound temporarily by reaching
under and twisting the bad link as far as it would swivel (the link has a
ball joint on each end). I guess there wasn't as much play when the ball
joints were at their extreme position. That only lasted for a day or so until
the link swiveled back into it's natural position, but it proved the link was
the culprit in my case.

 

just replaced the pasenger side link.....no dice...sound is still there. dammit! maybe i'll have to do the other side too. Stupid Nissan engineers put the bolts in the most inconvenient spots possible.....to get to them and crank them easily you need a ratchet extension. Just my luck couldn't find mine so did the whole thing with 2 14mm box-ends (using a large box end wrench overlapped to get more leverage). Make sure you have an extension if you are going to do this, bc the torque wrench doesnt easily fit in.

 

could this noise be under the squeaks and rattles TSB?

another possibilty is to come from the dashboard, something could be loose there and it could sound like its coming from the bottom of the car but its not

 

No, I had a buddy put his head at the floor of the passenger compartments (where your feet go) while driving and he was sure it was from the suspension area....I have this bad feeling it might be the control arm balljoint...having my dad (who has been restoring classic cars for 30 years) look at it while home for Xmas next week, hopefully he can figure it out...otherwise time to take it to the dealer....can't take the whole suspension apart in fron t of my townhouse....

 

Well, finally brought the car into dealer....worrying all the while that my extended warranty explicity says "does not cover strut/shock replacement"....ummm.

Anyhow, the "clunk" did indeed, as I feared, turn out to be a bad front right strut.....damn. Surprisingly, though, they replaced it under the extended warranty (minus the $50 deductible)...service was great, they did it same-day even though the place was slammed with repairs (day after Xmas!) and only a few of the mechanics were there. Anyhow, all is now well with the max and I strongly suggest anyone in the D.C. area go to Browns Fairfax Nissan....ask for Matthew, he's honest and will not try to screw you.....