LuckyPants

2004 RX330, AWD, 101k miles. Picked it up a few months ago after an EF-4 tornado totaled my Honda CR-V. Look up the November 17, 2013 tornado in Washington, IL if you're interested.

There is a noise (clunk? knock? rattle?) coming from the front half of the vehicle when driving over bumps or uneven road surfaces. I hear it at highway speeds as well as when going slow. I can be just creeping along and if I roll over a bump or swerve a little from side to side I hear the noise.

I can easily recreate the sound in my garage by either pushing up on the top of the front passenger door frame (when the door's open) or lifting up on the front passenger wheel well. I put the vehicle on jack stands and could not recreate the sound by pulling/twisting the front passenger wheel different directions.

It been difficult to locate but it sounds like it coming from approximately the center rear of the engine bay, below the engine. I though it might be the sway bar bushings at first but they look OK and the perceived location doesn't match the bushings anyway. There's no play in the sway bar as far as I can tell.

Any ideas or suggestions?

kiwi

sounds suspension related, grab a hold of the sway bar links while you or someone else re creates the noise.

if you feel it there, replace, they are pretty cheap, about 40 bucks each, and while you are there replace the bushings too.

you might have to guess a little, so start with the cheapest stuff first.

another spot might be the rubber cushion which goes under the spring (between the spring and the strut seat) that could be worn out.

LuckyPants

Good call. I checked the front passenger sway bar link and the top boot was torn, so I had my son rock the vehicle while I held onto the link. Sure enough, the ball in the top joint was knocking around in the socket. I'll order new links and replace the bushings while I'm in there as you suggested.

By coincidence I just ordered new sway bar links for my son's '03 Accord this morning -- his front passenger link is busted as well. I should probably get new bushings for his car too...

Thanks for the advice!

kiwi

links in general tend to wear out.

if they are the original ones, make sure your hack saw blade is new / sharp. thats how i got mine off. luckily the new ones have a hex for a wrench in the future.

one last note for the bushings, buy some silicone grease meant for sway bar bushings, if not you might get a squeaking noise. i used to lube them up pretty good when i worked at acura, inside and out, cant use too much.

nipponbird

The silicone grease is a good tip, I can vouch for that.