Rattle under hood? CV's? Springs? Help.
 

About 14 months ago I put in some Neuspeed Sport springs with a 1.25" drop.

Also, I put in new Tokico Illumina 5-way adjustables.

Just in the past couple of weeks, there has started to be a noticeable rattle under the hood. I notice it most when the weight of the car is shifting, but not necessarily when the shocks are compressed under bumps or load. Times when I am turning, or braking, or going over pitted pavement that isn't completely compressing the shock/spring assembly.

This leads me to believe that it might be a loose bolt in the assembly. Maybe a CV or knuckle that is coming loose?

Two parts.

1) Has anyone else experienced this problem? What is the likely culprit? What will a dealer charge to isolate and fix? Can dealers even fix noises? Seems unlikely.

2) Does having a low-profile ride mean that other parts of the steering/shock assembly are going to take a beating and loosen or break like this?

Thanks guys.

When I had my Si I blew out the CV joint, and it made a noise similar to what you are describing. Try jacking the car up and inspecting the CV joints/boots. Good luck!

when your cv joints go out there will be a constant clicking through out the turn...if your suspention is loose it will be more of a rattling sound. like v6master said...raise your car up and check the boot to see if it is ok...cv joints rarely go out unless the boot has exploded/ripped and there is no longer any grease left in them.

try to see if you can tighten that top bolt down on your strut assembly that sticking out into the engine compartment. when I upped my hood, i was able to turn that nut (might have to hold the top of the shock absorber's piston with a vice grip or insert an allen key wrench if equipped) THREE freaking turns. i turned the back one too. I thought i just hadn't tightened them up when rebuilding the strut, but I got a feeling they are backing off themselves. after less than a week, mine have started "rattling" again.:confused:

also check the cv boot. my boot has busted. i hear there is a boot (the rubber accordian thing going into the front wheels) repair/rebuild kit from the auto parts store. but with 160k miles on my '97 EX, I'm thinking maybe I should just go ahead and buy new CV joints.

sounds like loose or incorrectly reassebled front sway bar bushings. it happend on my accord and my friend's accord. take apart the endlinks and make sure the bushings/washers are in the correct order and torqued down right. when ever i would turn or go up a driveway, i would hear/feel noises

That solved my problem. No more noise. There was quite a bit of play on them. I think they either loosened or they settled in and allowed me to further tighten them after a year of driving. Thanks for sharing your experience with me!

Let's hope the back ones don't ever loosen up. They are a biatch to get to because you have to remove the rear interior panels. I also remember them being quite a pain in the ass to tighten in the installed position.


Ugh.

-Brian