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I have a 1997 Chevy cavalier. when ever i apply the brakes i hear a loud clunk or pop sound coming from my car. i think its coming from the passenger side. it only does it when i apply firm pressure on the pedal such as coming to a stop at red a light or stop sign. If i just tap the brakes to slow down a little it doesn’t do it. any ideas on what this could be.
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From reading all your posts, to me it sounds more like the strut bearings/mounts. If you hear a clunk noise when turning the wheel back and forth lock to lock, like a bung bung bung noise the strut bearings are seized, the noise is the coil spring binding then snapping free when there’s enough tension on it. The clunks could be the mount being separated. Lower control arm bushings are common to separate in these cars like said above and when you brake the control arm could come up and smack the cradle giving you the clunk when you’re braking.
The wheel bearings could cause some popping noises while driving straight down the road, but if their that bad usually they’d be howling so loud you couldn’t hear yourself think in the car. The play you think is in the inner tierod could actually be the wheel bearing being loose and not the inner tierod.
I don’t know if you have found your problem yet but I have a 93 cavalier that had issues with a clunk noise from the passenger side. The first thing I check was the torque on the axle nut because a loose nut there can cause a clunk that sounds like a damaged inner CV joint. I ended up replacing the tie rod end, sway bar links and struts but these didn’t fix the noise. After searching online I checked my motor mounts and sure enough they had dry rotted. I replaced both motor mounts plus the tranny mount and the noise has been gone ever since. By the way the engine in my cavalier is a 2.2.
My brother has the same problem in his 2000 Cavalier except his noise was in the back. Never got around to checking out what the problem was however haha. Maybe it’s just a thing with Cavaliers.
i took my car back to the mechanic and had him take a better look at it. so he put the car up on the lift. He said the inner tie rod on the passenger side is loose. and the bearing on the driver side needed to be replaced as. I explained to him that there was no howling when driving but he still insists on it being the bearing. He said the bearing is worn causing play in the assembly which was making the sound when steering. He also said that my driver side strut was ‘blown’ im not entirely sure what he meant by that though. because the strut just seemed worn with a little leaking fluid. he didnt mention anything about my control arm bushings. so right now im looking at two struts 1 inner tie rod on the passenger side. and 1 wheel hub assembly and an alignment. that just the bare minimum. the boot on my driver side outer tie rod end popped and as a result all of the grease has oozed out. I’m still debating as to whether or not i should just replace both the inner and outer tie rod for both sides or if i should just replace the boot on the tie rod end and the loose inner tie rod. what do u guys think? and when i do the struts im planning on replacing the actually strut as well as the mounts but was going to reuse the springs. would it be worth replacing the spring and is there a way to check the springs condition?. Thanks for all the help you guys have given me so far its greatly appreciated.
Im still skeptical on the wheel bearing being at fault. What testing did he show you to prove that the wheel bearing is bad?
I with everyone else on the strut mounts.
However, if you let this mechanic do all that work, as him what he will do if the issue is still present once the ‘repairs’ have been completed.
Quoted From dreamer2355:
Im still skeptical on the wheel bearing being at fault. What testing did he show you to prove that the wheel bearing is bad?
I with everyone else on the strut mounts.
However, if you let this mechanic do all that work, as him what he will do if the issue is still present once the ‘repairs’ have been completed.
All he did was have one technician shake the the tire back and forth like u would do when checking tie rods and up down. and he would stand under the vehicle with a flash light visually inspecting the components. i guess he supposedly saw excessive movement in the assembly?
I will defiantly be sure to replace my strut mounts when i do the struts.
I was going to do all the work myself. i priced everything out. for just parts and alignment i would spend less than $500. That’s with 2 new wheel hub assemblies, 2 struts, 2 inner tie rods, 2 outer tie rod ends, and strut mounts. so what i have decided is that ill replace my struts, mounts, and tie rods and then go get an alignment. and if after all that the noise is still there then ill replace the bearings. will i need another alignment after the replacing wheel hub assembly? even if my bearings are at fault i would be willing to bet at least 60 – 70% of the movement and noise is coming from my struts and tie rods.
+1 on the bearing not being the problem. Please do me a favor and watch this video and perform the checks you see in it, that way you will have a better understanding of what the problem really is and perhaps instead of spending $500 you could be sp
Come to think of it I’m also going to throw in the wheel bearing video if nothing else just so that you can hear what a bad one sounds like.
Now we’re getting somewhere, did you happen to see the video that I did on the Grand Am Ps rack replacement? What happened on that car is the welds that hold the PS brackets in place had broken and the entire rack assembly would shift on the mounts which was something you could feel in the floor as the rack is just on the other side of the gas pedal if you think about it. +1 on also checking the mounts, engine mounts often cause a ‘clunk’ during accel or decel when they get worn out. Here’s a link to that video.
IDK about the PS rack welds breaking. because if i recall correctly u mentioned that it was very difficult to steer the vehicle. my steering is loose but i sill have relatively good control of vehicle especially under 50 MPH. the movement is about 2-3 inches at most. it most noticeable as the speed is increased. around 75 mph the car will start to sway left and right. as the speed is increased the worse the sway is. ill try and take a closer look at the welds next time i climb under there.
As far as the control arm bushing how do i go about determining if there bad and the severity of the problem. i haven’t gotten a good look at them but i went looking around during my last oil change and from what i could tell they looked ok but ive never had to diagnose bad bushing. so i just need to know what to look for. do i do just a visual inspection? or should try prying with a pry bar looking for movement? any tips and tricks would be great.
one more thing is that every time i hit a bump or a rough spot in the road my car likes to jump to the left. im pretty this just caused by my left strut being blown and my right strut being worn which as result is causing uneven dampening across the suspension. this has just become apparent in the last couple of days. would u guys agree with that or is there something else going on here?
You can do a visual inspection of the bushings on the control arm as well as using a big pry bar obviously when the vehicle is supported safely by jack stands.
I would also do a visual check of the engine cradle to make sure there is no damage there.
Do you have anyone that can operate the steering as the vehicle is supported by jack stands so you can get a better visual on the noise to try to isolate it?
im going to try and record a video of the problem and sound next time i get it on stands. i might have someone who could steer while i take a look at it.
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