My 2003 maxima with 160k AT had been making the sound of a bat hitting the under carriage when I hit any bumps. It is rather severe. I checked under the car and all seemed in order.

So today I added some oil and when I shut the hood there is the slightest amount of space and it makes an identical noise. So my theory is when I hit bumps the hood shakes and makes this severe noise. Is this common? Solutions?

Thanks!

 

Upon further Investigation it is not the hood. But I found it is caused by light braking.

 

Is it the heat shields? Stabilizer bar links?

 

Maybe a sway bar end link is missing/disconnected/broken?

 

I will jack the car up again and check it out. When my end links were shot on the other max it was not this severe this fast.

 

Suspension Chassis are very hard to diagnose since you definitely need to jack the car up and look at every suspension component that is connected, such as sway bar, ball joint, tie rods, control arms and bushing. so to eliminate it by visually inspecting it. Let say theory that you found a sway bar link on driver side is worn or loose, it recommended to replace the other side in pairs, since you are replacing in same time due to same age and mileage, just like you would replace your pair of sneakers.

 

it may also be a loose muffler/exhaust pipe. they can be quite noisy when loose, but simple to fix.

 

Put it on ramps. Get under the car. Have a friend shake the car up and down, left to right, and front to back. Clunks are visible.

 

i have a clunk noise in the car, it seems that it is the strut mount, hope it is, if not oh well.... im used to the clunk,

 

tie rod ends? do you notice any wandering or imprecise steering feel?

 

I had a similar problem with my 2000.. it was the swaybar end links

 

The clunking mystery on our cars is elusive. Some say it's a suspension issue, others say it's the engine mounts, heat shield, etc.

 

I spent so much time looking under the car that I forgot to check this. There is a rip in the rubber part of the mount. I think this is causing a severe noise when it shakes back and forth. It is not a clunk though. It is like a pipe being shaken around.

Either way, the mount has been ordered and hopefully the problem is solved. Thanks to everyone for any input.

 

are you sure it's even the strut mount? if you can't find the problem yourself, bring it to a mechanic that you actually trust, that way you don't get played into replacing a bunch of **** you don't need to. but our cars are pretty old man, the clunks usually mean suspension parts are going. might wanna just replace everything, like tie-rods, sway bar end links, if you do decide to go this route, not only will the clunking go away (hopefully) your car will feel alot more stable and handle better

 

So...

1. You tell the OP NOT to take it to a mechanic that would recommend replacing a bunch of unnecessary stuff.
2. Then you proceed to recommend to replace a bunch of unnecessary stuff.


Guys, I have yet to find a single Maxima that has a clunk that is completely un-diagnosable. They can be found. They can be remediated - WITHOUT just throwing parts at it. It just takes some diligence.

 

Might be crazy but I know when I hit a small bump i get a metal on metal noise that comes from the radiator support because its rusted and the metals hit each other a bit