A few questions for the group here. I am having two fairly new noises that sounds suspension related, one up front and one in the back (actually maybe two).
On the front, I've had a small noise that sounds similar to a loose steering knuckle or something, that only really happens as I hit small dips while turning. I.e. driving over a drainage dip while turning from one street to another. Sometimes I can replicate this by driving up my driveway (the transition from street to curb) at slow speeds while turning. Trouble with this one is I can't really replicate it at all outside the vehicle. There's no place to get leverage to try and rock the vehicle up front (I feel like i'm going to buckle the 1/4 panels if I grab or push on them). But it very much sounds like a metal popping noise.
On the rear, there seems to be two noises, one sounds like something loose, the other is metal clunking. Both happen pretty regularly when backing up and down the driveway going over the curb. One of them happens if I stand on a tire, grab the luggage rail and shake the car back and forth. It actually sounds like something inside the fuel tank is rocking back and forth and knocking, but I can't crawl under in time to hear it quickly and my wife is too small to get the vehicle to rock while I'm under it. There's also a loud metal popping noise that I can hear inside the vehicle and if I roll down the windows I can hear it as well.
In general, I'd really like to be able to figure these things out a little bit, to point the techs to them. I can't drop off a vehicle and let it sit there for 2 days (or more) while they troubleshoot, with zero loaners and no spare car, I need to have a way to get kids back and forth to school, practice, and go meet my customers. Does anyone have any good suggestions for troubleshooting noises on these? I've crawled under several times and banged on stuff, grabbed as many parts as I could and shook things back and forth, just can't seem to find anything. I've checked all exhaust components, heat shields, spare tire, skid plates, sway bar end links, etc.
Thanks in advance.
**************Update***************
So it appears I have figured out both of the noises. at least I believe so. After pulling off the front wheels/tires, double checking everything I could including taking off my skid plates, checking everything under them, checking intercooler, checking exhaust, etc, I decided that the only thing that's changed in quite a while was putting on the Moog sway bar end links. So I decided to take off the two front Moog links, and put my Energy Suspension parts back on. Tightened everything up and tested it on the curb, and sure enough the front noise appears to be gone.
Then, on the back, to help troubleshoot, I just disconnected the rear sway bar, from the Moog links, and tested on the curb, voila, noise gone. So I readjusted the rears, cranked them down real tight and so far the noise is gone.
They were all very tight before, the only thing I can think of is that the studs on the Moog links are definitely smaller in diameter than the holes on the aftermarket sway bars. I'm a little curious if that diameter difference creates a situation where they might exhibit this popping behavior over time. They are still tight, but they begin to move inside the holes. Just a mere thought. So for now, I'll leave it this way, but I'd like to get the moog's working again.
thanks.
