Of late I have been noticing that the front end is making a slight knocking sound only under hard acceleration, while turning the car does not make any sort of clicking sounds at all, but I'm left to wonder does that still rule out it being worn cv's, is it possible that it could be worn ball joins, or perhaps worn teeth on the axle? Any advice would be appreciated, this is on a 90 civic DX, 1.5 hatch.


Best Regards

 

when was the last time you serviced the front end? balljoints, tie rods, etc.
slight knocking? does it knock when you hit bumps? could be a bad shock,wheel bearings, cvs, balljoints,steering rack, tie rod, worn out control arm bushings.

 

Thanks for the heads up, hopefully I can get in today to have it checked.

 

I know my car makes some knocking noises and feels like parts are loose on rough roads and bumps, but I've check all the hardware and no bolts are loose. My shocks are relatively new and so are the axles. I've replaced most of the bushings, so I'm thinking lower ball joints and tie rod ends?

 

did you lift the car into the air and shake the wheel to see if there was any play? could also be your inner rods.

 

Look for wear on the connectors between the lower control arm and the sway bar. (4 small rubber bushings on a single bolt)

It could be tire balance. Try rotating the tires on one side back to front.

When you have your car up on jack stands:
-have someone hold the steering wheel in one position
-grab the tire at 3 and 9 o'clock
-gently rock the wheel back and forth
You should be able to feel any slop in the tie rods for that side.
Watch the outer tie rod end. If it looks solid, the inner tie rod end is probably worn out.

To check for wheel bear wear:
-grab the tire at 12 and 6 o'clock
-try to rock the tire
Movement could mean a worn wheel bearing.

What are good brands of high-quality economy tie rod ends?
(I need to replace mine soon; My crx has an intermittant slight pull to the right that's been getting worse. I replaced both wheel bearings recently which fixed some of my problem. I've been looking at Meyle, CTC, and way too many unnamed brands on ebay and other online auto parts suppliers; but, have no clue on actual quality of their parts.)

Who sells them?

Thanks,
ChrisS

 

The suspension will be looked at in the next few days here, thanks everyone for the suggestions, I'll report back here once I find out what is wrong so if anyone else has a similar issue they will know what to expect, btw the guy looking at it specializes in front ends and has been doing it for over 10 years. Let's just hope this doesn't melt a hole in the wallet :-P

 

Update: Had the car looked at by a professional and he said there was no immediate problems, although it was odd because when he was driving the car it wasn't making that sound, go figure hu. Its so wierd too because the sound is a cross between a blown cv joint, and a knocking sound, and a lose end. The guy also said that he could buy a used set of shocks and springs for me for 150.00 and said that it would be about 3 hours labour, don't know what to do about it at this point, should I get the parts and have him overhaul it? or wait? lol

 

Looks like it ended up being the ball joints. Thanks guys!

 

good shit man, good that you got that taken care of. i hate it when balljoints break! especially when they break while driving!