Anyone have a clunk in the front end and actually know what's causing it? I can't find anything loose or worn. I replaced the outer tie rods (aliitle loose) and sway bar links (thought I heard the clunk when the end of the bar hit control arm). I thought the sway links were the ticket but it came back days later when I replaced the other side. Now I'm thinking sway bushings??? 92,000 miles.
Thanks.

 

possibly the sway bar bushings themselfs.

 

Yes, that's my next replacement. If that doesn't fix it, I guess I'll just start replacing suspension wear items since it has 90K and we may have to keep it a while.
Thanks for the reply.

 

Sway bar bushings may have been it, I only took around the block to hit the usual bumps and potholes, seems fine. The old ones were alittle deformed, amazing what just alittle play will transmit to the rest of the car.

 

Thanks for the info. My '98 V has been experiencing the same thing for 3-4 months but I still haven't crawled under the vehicle to see what's causing it. It IS annoying but I just turn up the volume knob on my extensive stereo system to drown it out

I was gonna start with the bushings(the least expensive item) and then the end links if that didn't do the trick. I HAVE casually inspected the upper arm/balljoints and they seem fine.

I'm almost certain it's the bushings so I'll be ordering them in the very near future.

Thanks again!

 

Mounted the old ones looked fine, only after I removed them did I notice a tiny bit of distortion.

The parts guy at the dealer said he had the same problem and a mechanic said it could be the springs. Just thought I'd mention that, even though he still has the clunk and new springs.

Annoying-I don't even drive this, the few times I'm in it I couldn't stand it. Probably because because nothing was visibly broken or loose.

Hope it's the same for yours, I did the tie rods and endlinks first. It was going to be their time soon anyway. Lower balljoints are still boxed waiting for warmer weather.

 

Yeah, I know what you mean about the tiniest thing causing so much racket. I experienced the well-documented CRV rear end squeak a couple of years ago and it just about drove me crazy. It wasn't a known problem at the time so I was forced to find the root of the problem myself. I loosened the rear sway bar links and squeezed some grease into the boot. That did the trick for awhile but it resurfaced several months later. The only thing I did the second time was retighten the nuts and the noise never returned (knock on wood ).

 

I'll have to check that, my noise sounds more like the upper compensating arms are squeaking. But I'll try the grease FIRST.

 

I finally got around to replacing the sway bar bushings today. I coated them lightly with silicone dialectric grease(to prevent squeaks) and I slapped them on. At first I wasn't sure if I noticed any difference but the noise seemed to disipate the longer I drove. I'm still not sure if it's completely gone but it certainly has been reduced significantly. My V has a little over 132,000 miles and I plan to replace the front sway bar links as well.

I DID notice several weeks ago that both of the outer tie rod end dust boots were split and oozing a little bit of grease. I'm gonna check them out this weekend to see if there's any play in the joints. I think they're still fine so I expect to just repack them with grease and install the new dust boots which arrived today.

 

Well, I'm not so sure it was the stabilizer bar bushings afterall. After driving around for several days with the new bushings it was kind of hit and miss. There were times when I thought they were the root of the problem(hence, no clunk) and then the clunk came back in all its glory at other times. I'm really starting to suspect the end links as I did pivot them a little bit when I installed the bushings on the bar. Stay tuned....

I replaced the dust boots on the outer tie rod ends and upper arm balljoints today. I had a hard time putting on the new tie rod dust boots since the retainer ring is built right into boot. Luckily, l had a large socket(32mm) in my toolbox which was the perfect size to drive the boot onto the tie rod end. I gave it a good whack with a hammer and it snapped the boot nicely into position.