I have a 2000 with 120,000miles and stock suspension. I have had a clunking noise from the front end since I bought it.

It can be heard when you turn back and forth quickly at(at low speed) and when going over bumps. what would your first clue to what it is? bad shocks, ball joints??? I haven't had the time to look at it...

 

CV Joints most likely.

Put it in reverse and put the steering wheel hard left or right. This puts the most strain on the CV Joints. You should be able to hear it big time.

 

I thought that too. I replaced CV joints on my pathfinder last year. How often do these go bad? every 100,000?

 

If you hear a clunk when you turn the wheel rapidly it's most likely not the CV axle. It's probably the tie rods #1, Ball joints #2, and the upper strut bearing #3.

All of these can be checked in 10 mins by jacking up the front wheels of your car and taking the wheels off and just trying to push things around to see if there's any play.

 

CV joints make a "clicking" sound in those situations that is faster/slower with the rotation of the wheel.

If you're getting a "clunk" sound, it is most likely bad upper strut mounts. Then again, if you are still on original suspension with that many miles, there is a 100% chance that your struts have gone bad. The 00 maxima is infamous for the front right strut clunk...mine got it with only 50k miles. It's a factory defect.

1. change your struts. It's time, even if that's not the problem.
2. replace upper strut bearing (cheap)
3. check uppper spring isolator to make sure it's not torn.

It's not a CV axle.

 

If lowered with coilovers, it's the upper stut mounts.

If Not lowered, its the CV's

 

I agree. the CV joints are not a CLUNKING sound when you hit bumps. The CV joints CLICK rapidly.

Hey Irish,
How much is the upper strut bearing and how "Easy" is it?

What does the upper strut spring isolator look like?

 

My 03 had bad sway bar end links on the front. Same symptoms when rocking the car back and forth.

 

Not to muck this thread, but I've been having a slight clunking sound from the front/right strut area for a while now.

Most say to change the sway-bar bushings, but I'm just not convinced this is the culprit. I can't reproduce this sound while the vehicle is stationary, it only does it when car is moving, and it is almost constant, albeit barely audible, over slight road surface imperfections; not bumps.

I have Tok Illuminas on Prog. Springs for almost 30k miles now. The weird thing is, that when I set the tok's to 1 or 2 in front, that's when I hear it. When I set it to 3-4-5, nada.
I'm beginning to believe it's my strut piston / rod. I know it's not the CV, and I have a hard time believing the Strut Mount could make this kind of noise in straight-line driving. The susp. seems to suffer no handling maladies to speak of.
Thoughts?

I apologize for the thread heist.
gr

 

I'm having my car checked out this afternoon for a very similar noise (mine doesn't do it when turning, but it does it almost constantly on bumpy roads). I'll update if/when I find out what it is.

 

Much appreciated! This thing has been pissing me off for sometime now....

 

Tell me about it, I'm actually embarassed to have other people ride in my car because it sounds like the wheels are falling off. When it's just me I have to turn the radio up really loud or I'll go nuts.

 

To replace it you just pull the spring/strut assembly out, compress the spring, take the top hat off, and put a new isolator and bearing on.

The bearing is a white plastic/teflon piece (small)
The isolator is the round black rubber piece that sits between the top of the spring itself and the bottom of the upper mount.

 

Also check FSB endlinks and motor mounts.

 

i say your struts are probably shot, but to test, jounce [push down, release, push down wish motion of car] on a corner of the vehicle and if it doesn't go back to a standstill in a second, replace your struts

 

I had this problem and what had actually happend was my exhaust broke off and it was dangling bouncing up and down hitting the bottm of my car. lol

 

On mine turns out the shroud above the cat was loose and knocking around. Paid twenty bucks for the mechanic to weld it back on, and now I can drive my car without gritting my teeth.

 

Yea, I am just getting sick of it. I think it has gotten worse in the last weeks. I am going home in a few days and I will take off the front wheels and probe around a little bit.

 

Hijack.. wake from the dead... sorry - bs 15 reply rule I just read about.

I have to safety the car - mechanic said inner tie rod end.. I had it changed with someone else.

When you grab the front right tire @ 9 and 3 and yank it back and forth - it 'clicks'. It also has a slight clunk/clink from time to time when passing over a pothole.

What is causing this?
Is it the outer tie rod end, wheel bearings... etc?