Horsepwr

Alright ,this has not been a good couple of days !!My y 98 LS400 with 140,000 miles on it was making a creaking / popping noise when I would turn the wheel .Took it to my local mechanic ,and he said it was the lower ball joint ,so I bought one and put it in ,also replaced the outter tie rod end ,because it was worn .Put it all back together ,and it's still making the damn noise !!! I had my wife turn the wheel while I was under the car (dont worry ,we were stationary ),and it only did it a couple of times ,it likes to do it more while moving .
The Lexus dealership said it is very rare for the upper to go out ,but does anyone think that may be the problem ?It's the only ball joint left on the passenger side that could be worn out .Any suggestions ?? Strut mount ??????

amcdonal86

It is indeed very rare for the upper ball joint to go out. Could you describe the creaking/popping noise a little bit more? When does it happen? When doesn't it happen? Is it affected by whether the car is warmed up or not?

My upper strut mounts were bad, and they would make a crunching/creaking/rattling sound over large dips that loaded the suspension significantly, especially during cold weather.

Horsepwr

It does it in parking lot manuvers while turning pretty sharp into a spot ,and while cranking the wheel moving slowley in reverse .It does not do it while traveling straight ,nor braking in a straight line .It is mainly slow fairly sharp turning going foreward and backward .It does not do it during higher speed gradual turnes ,in fact I dont think it even does it a fairly sharp high speed turnes .The noise itself is I guess more of a popping noise ,and I can barley feel it in the steering wheel ,and again ,it is only when Im turning at a slow speed and sharp .I just went out and performed the test of jacking the car up ,and setting the wheel down lightly on a piece of wood and shook side to side ,and up and down ,all seems very tight ,no slop .
Anyway ,hope this gives you more info .Oh ,it does not matter ,hot or cold .

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

it is not at all rare for the upper ball joint to go bad, it just happens much more slowly than the lower ball joint. there will however, be PLAY if the UBJ goes out 90% of the time.

OP, check the steering rack bushings, and the U-Joint in the steering itself.

amcdonal86

I guess it's not that rare, but his car only has 140k miles on it, so I'd be surprised if it went out that soon.

Hmmm.... check out this guy's noise.

Is this similar to what you're hearing? Or is it more of an occasional pop?
http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums...ded&pid=392993

I would start out by flushing your power steering fluid. I had a loud popping sound similar to what you described and flushing the fluid made it go away. I think the link I just sent you, it turned out to be the power steering control valve.

Horsepwr

Broke down and took it to Lexus today ,and the tech knew what it was in about 5 min of driving it .Who ever did the last alignment on it dit not tighten the a 22mm nut down tight enough that holds the control arm to the sub frame .It was backing it's way out .So he put it up on the rack ,and tightened it down REALLY tight ,and boom ,it's fixed !!!!! .So anybody that runs into the same symptoms ,check those nuts .
Thanks for all your guys input .

amcdonal86

This is great. Thanks for following up.

melissac

omg i am having the same problem with my car we have narrowed it down to the lower control arm so maybe if we try this it will stop it. thanks for the info

amcdonal86

Just to clarify, for '95-00 (or at least on my '97) models, the nut that you want to tighten is the one towards the rear. If you tighten the front one, all you're doing is tightening a subframe support piece onto the LCA bracket, rather than tightening the LCA itself. I didn't realize that there were nuts on both sides, so I ended up tightening the wrong one, and I ended up replacing my LCA because of that (probably didn't need to be replaced).

In earlier models, I think the design was a little bit different.

steveski

I had a similar noise on my 95 when I backed up or while turning going forward over a slightly bumpy service. After much investigation my popping noise was the brake rotor cover (thin metal shield behind rotor) rattling on the steering knuckle. I physically pulled it away from the knuckle and the noise was gone.

I am not saying this is the solution for yours - however it is easy to check.

bdruff

Anyone have a picture or diagram? I'm trying to narrow down a creaking sound that the OP described exactly.

No popping sounds over bumps... So I don't think its Lower Control Arms