Annoying Clunk Sound- Strut Bar (The Mother thread)
01-25-10, 12:04 PM
#167
Can someone point me the way to my subframe bolts on my 2000 LS? I just replaced the lower ball joints, which did noticeably tighten up my front end, but I still have the "thunk" over speed bumps.
01-25-10, 04:30 PM
#168
But the fact of the matter is, we don't really know what parts on your car may be worn. I was reading this thread back to March 2008 or something, and two people mentioned that the car clunks when cold then goes away, and some replies were along the lines of "spray your bushings with silicone".
Well, strangely enough, there are shock absorbers that bleed down at night, and you hear the internal valving clunking against the pistons until they charge back up from motion. Could be anything, the important thing is to get in there and check your car since it is your car that is making the noise.
So the lower ball joints were not the magic cure-all? Well, at least you have reset your "wear clock" to 0 on them. I had upper control arm bushings clunk on sharp bumps on my old '90 LS400. You could test by prying the arm forward and backwards. It clunked at the forward bushing.
Colin
01-25-10, 06:19 PM
#169
To tell you the truth, you have gotten a lot of answers here along the lines of "It is definitely the (insert favorite part here)."
But the fact of the matter is, we don't really know what parts on your car may be worn. I was reading this thread back to March 2008 or something, and two people mentioned that the car clunks when cold then goes away, and some replies were along the lines of "spray your bushings with silicone".
Well, strangely enough, there are shock absorbers that bleed down at night, and you hear the internal valving clunking against the pistons until they charge back up from motion. Could be anything, the important thing is to get in there and check your car since it is your car that is making the noise.
So the lower ball joints were not the magic cure-all? Well, at least you have reset your "wear clock" to 0 on them. I had upper control arm bushings clunk on sharp bumps on my old '90 LS400. You could test by prying the arm forward and backwards. It clunked at the forward bushing.
Colin
But the fact of the matter is, we don't really know what parts on your car may be worn. I was reading this thread back to March 2008 or something, and two people mentioned that the car clunks when cold then goes away, and some replies were along the lines of "spray your bushings with silicone".
Well, strangely enough, there are shock absorbers that bleed down at night, and you hear the internal valving clunking against the pistons until they charge back up from motion. Could be anything, the important thing is to get in there and check your car since it is your car that is making the noise.
So the lower ball joints were not the magic cure-all? Well, at least you have reset your "wear clock" to 0 on them. I had upper control arm bushings clunk on sharp bumps on my old '90 LS400. You could test by prying the arm forward and backwards. It clunked at the forward bushing.
Colin
01-25-10, 09:33 PM
#170
Look under the car where the control arms and strut bars attach. Subframe is black steel assembly holding engine and suspension parts. Now look at the frame of the car, it will be the same color as the car was originally. Along the frame look for holes in the subframe and there will be bolts sticking up from the black to the painted parts. I could not find any reference to subframe removal in my manual, so I am vague once again.
01-25-10, 09:49 PM
#171
My front driver side is making this type of noise , does not look like the shock is leaking , its only the driver side front. It is quite annoying because the rest of the car id so quiet. Its hard to pin point where the noise is coming from. 2004 LS430 sport suspension 87,000 mi.
01-25-10, 11:42 PM
#172
My front driver side is making this type of noise , does not look like the shock is leaking , its only the driver side front. It is quite annoying because the rest of the car id so quiet. Its hard to pin point where the noise is coming from. 2004 LS430 sport suspension 87,000 mi.
01-26-10, 05:58 AM
#173
Look under the car where the control arms and strut bars attach. Subframe is black steel assembly holding engine and suspension parts. Now look at the frame of the car, it will be the same color as the car was originally. Along the frame look for holes in the subframe and there will be bolts sticking up from the black to the painted parts. I could not find any reference to subframe removal in my manual, so I am vague once again.
01-28-10, 05:52 PM
#175
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For what its worth I put the poly bushings on my 96 and now I have lots of groaning and popping sounds. Maybe I did something wrong to cause the noise... but if I did it over again I would buy the factory strut rods.
02-12-10, 11:27 PM
#176
Steering shaft 1999 LS400
Today, i tried tracing where the problem might be. In the picture you see the shaft with U-joint. This pictured u-joint is fine(no play), but when I grab this u-joint and twist it, there is quite a bit of play. Now, is this the intermediate shaft (like vfr said). If that`s it, the part is around $180 plus shipping. Has anyone changed it? Where do I start?
Any advice is appreciated, as always. This forum has been a great help, I am very glad I joined it a few years ago and learned a lot about my car.
Val
02-12-10, 11:33 PM
#177
Just wondering if it normal for the strut rod bushings to be stretched like this when the car is on stands? They are kind of twisted as you see, not parallel to the bracket.