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After 14 years all the ball joints and rubber bushings in the suspension are suspect, they’re probably starting to fritter and crumble. I’m going though my ’96 Integra which has the same issues. Basically the wheels are isolated form the chassis by rubber baby buggy-bumpers, about a dozen of them on the front and eight on the back. Take a flashlight and look at the front suspension. Everywhere there is a big bolt going through a suspension member the bolt goes through a RBBB. The rubber eventually cracks or starts to separate from the center or outer bushing hub. That causes squeaks and creaks and clunks when very loose. Unfortunately Honda wants to sell you the whole suspension arm for $80 to $300. But for $19 you can buy just the bushing and have a fine time cutting and hammering the bushings in and out.
In the snow and salt states the bolts will be firmly rusted inside the bushing inner hub so you’ll have to hack or grind the bolt and bushing out to remove the arm, so you need to spend another $3.50 for a new 14mm 1.5 pitch bolt. The Honda dealers don’t stock these so you have to go to a good car parts store that has the long wall of little bins and they will have the right bolt.
You can get the bushings sometimes from Honda for $40, or on eBay or Amazon for less than half that. What you do is find an on-line site that has the full original Honda exploded parts diagram and that MAY have the bushing part number listed, then Google for that and you’ll find it for sale elsewhere.
It’s a bit of a frustrating process as you have to remove one control arm at a time, only then can you tell if the bushings are bad, and by then you often have had to wreck the bushing by cutting it out. If you’re lucky you can remove the bolt from one end of the arm, then you can inspect that bushing from the side for frittered rubber, then with the arm free you can swing it which will flex the far captured end and you can listen for creaks and clunks.
Good luck. It’s not a hard job, and there’s no finesse involved, just a lot of trying to remove rusted bolts ( use 6-point impact sockets and a long breaker bar!), and a lot of hammering on parts to get them free. Don’t worry, use a 5-pound sledge hammer, those parts are made to take a huge beating. It also helps to have several small pry bars to pry the pieces apart.
Oh, you can also get clunks from loose ball joints, you do the obvious things with those.
After 14 years all the ball joints and rubber bushings in the suspension are suspect, they’re probably starting to fritter and crumble. I’m going though my ’96 Integra which has the same issues. Basically the wheels are isolated form the chassis by rubber baby buggy-bumpers, about a dozen of them on the front and eight on the back. Take a flashlight and look at the front suspension. Everywhere there is a big bolt going through a suspension member the bolt goes through a RBBB. The rubber eventually cracks or starts to separate from the center or outer bushing hub. That causes squeaks and creaks and clunks when very loose. Unfortunately Honda wants to sell you the whole suspension arm for $80 to $300. But for $19 you can buy just the bushing and have a fine time cutting and hammering the bushings in and out.
In the snow and salt states the bolts will be firmly rusted inside the bushing inner hub so you’ll have to hack or grind the bolt and bushing out to remove the arm, so you need to spend another $3.50 for a new 14mm 1.5 pitch bolt. The Honda dealers don’t stock these so you have to go to a good car parts store that has the long wall of little bins and they will have the right bolt.
You can get the bushings sometimes from Honda for $40, or on eBay or Amazon for less than half that. What you do is find an on-line site that has the full original Honda exploded parts diagram and that MAY have the bushing part number listed, then Google for that and you’ll find it for sale elsewhere.
It’s a bit of a frustrating process as you have to remove one control arm at a time, only then can you tell if the bushings are bad, and by then you often have had to wreck the bushing by cutting it out. If you’re lucky you can remove the bolt from one end of the arm, then you can inspect that bushing from the side for frittered rubber, then with the arm free you can swing it which will flex the far captured end and you can listen for creaks and clunks.
Good luck. It’s not a hard job, and there’s no finesse involved, just a lot of trying to remove rusted bolts ( use 6-point impact sockets and a long breaker bar!), and a lot of hammering on parts to get them free. Don’t worry, use a 5-pound sledge hammer, those parts are made to take a huge beating. It also helps to have several small pry bars to pry the pieces apart.
Oh, you can also get clunks from loose ball joints, you do the obvious things with those.
If the car has been sitting a long time then grinding noises from the brakes are normal, it’s all that rust.
If the car doesn’t go good then I would check the transmission fluid level.
If the car has been sitting a long time then grinding noises from the brakes are normal, it’s all that rust.
If the car doesn’t go good then I would check the transmission fluid level.
The bleed point is always at the uppermost point in the cooling system. In many cars this is the radiator cap, but if the radiator is mounted low then it’s often at the highest point of the top radiator hose at the engine, where the thermostat usually sits.
It’s generally easier to pull the radiator with the fans attached. Complications include times when they mount accessory relays onto the top of the radiator, or hide an AC clutch wire connector halfway down the side of the radiator. Also you might have transmission cooling hoses to detach. A good idea to have some large and tiny worm-gear hose clamps around to replace the old cheap bent-wire clamps.
Don’t lose the bottom radiator donut mounts, they’re hard to find.
On a ’99 the radiator mounting bolts may be rusted 10mm jobbies and the heads may break off. So better be prepared to drill them out and retap the holes.
Otherwise it’s pretty foolproof, I’ve done it a few times and never had any major problem, besides the ones noted above.
The bleed point is always at the uppermost point in the cooling system. In many cars this is the radiator cap, but if the radiator is mounted low then it’s often at the highest point of the top radiator hose at the engine, where the thermostat usually sits.
It’s generally easier to pull the radiator with the fans attached. Complications include times when they mount accessory relays onto the top of the radiator, or hide an AC clutch wire connector halfway down the side of the radiator. Also you might have transmission cooling hoses to detach. A good idea to have some large and tiny worm-gear hose clamps around to replace the old cheap bent-wire clamps.
Don’t lose the bottom radiator donut mounts, they’re hard to find.
On a ’99 the radiator mounting bolts may be rusted 10mm jobbies and the heads may break off. So better be prepared to drill them out and retap the holes.
Otherwise it’s pretty foolproof, I’ve done it a few times and never had any major problem, besides the ones noted above.
It’s a 2003 Mustang with 2,300 miles on it?
The calipers, heck, the whole brake system may be all gooped up with rust, corrosion, sediment, and congealed brake fluid. Or maybe someone put the wrong kind of brake fluid in it and it swelled up the seals. Or it’s the original brake fluid and now all full of moisture and that’s caused corrosion problems.
You probably need to dissassemble the calipers completely and check them for corrosion and deteriorated square-cut piston seals. If the calipers are okay then the problem is upstream, so you need to check the hoses, ABS system, and master cylinder. I usually just replace the master cylinder, they’re only like $50 and in every case that’s been the hidden problem.
It’s a 2003 Mustang with 2,300 miles on it?
The calipers, heck, the whole brake system may be all gooped up with rust, corrosion, sediment, and congealed brake fluid. Or maybe someone put the wrong kind of brake fluid in it and it swelled up the seals. Or it’s the original brake fluid and now all full of moisture and that’s caused corrosion problems.
You probably need to dissassemble the calipers completely and check them for corrosion and deteriorated square-cut piston seals. If the calipers are okay then the problem is upstream, so you need to check the hoses, ABS system, and master cylinder. I usually just replace the master cylinder, they’re only like $50 and in every case that’s been the hidden problem.
Okay, good to know. I changed the big and small bushings without much trouble. Funny thing was the passenger-side ones were cracked and rusty, the driver side ones in much better shape.
The best way seems to be to have a hefty cutoff abrasive saw, as often the bolts are rusted solidly to the bushings so you have to cut though the exposed bushing center hubs and buy new bolts. The bushings can be pressed out with a $30 Harbor Freight bushing and bearing pusher tool, or you can cut through the bushing outer shell and the the shell will easily hammer out.
Total cost under $100 which sure beats the list prices for all the OEM parts!
Okay, good to know. I changed the big and small bushings without much trouble. Funny thing was the passenger-side ones were cracked and rusty, the driver side ones in much better shape.
The best way seems to be to have a hefty cutoff abrasive saw, as often the bolts are rusted solidly to the bushings so you have to cut though the exposed bushing center hubs and buy new bolts. The bushings can be pressed out with a $30 Harbor Freight bushing and bearing pusher tool, or you can cut through the bushing outer shell and the the shell will easily hammer out.
Total cost under $100 which sure beats the list prices for all the OEM parts!
if it happens right at startup, it could be from oil dripping down the valve guides and fouling the spark plug, or yipes, even a head-gasket leak where coolant is seeping in. Although you usually see blue or white smoke from the exhaust in those cases.
if it happens right at startup, it could be from oil dripping down the valve guides and fouling the spark plug, or yipes, even a head-gasket leak where coolant is seeping in. Although you usually see blue or white smoke from the exhaust in those cases.
A cat with loose insides usually has a mild rattley clang-clang clang kind of sound, and it doesn’t go away.
If it’s more of a buzzy sound and goes away in a few seconds, that’s often a starter gear that’s slow to disengage. That can be due to just lack of lubrication but often it’s due to worn or bent gear teeth. The good news is that on most cars the starters are not hard to change, two bolts and two wires and $120 for a rebuilt one.
A cat with loose insides usually has a mild rattley clang-clang clang kind of sound, and it doesn’t go away.
If it’s more of a buzzy sound and goes away in a few seconds, that’s often a starter gear that’s slow to disengage. That can be due to just lack of lubrication but often it’s due to worn or bent gear teeth. The good news is that on most cars the starters are not hard to change, two bolts and two wires and $120 for a rebuilt one.