[torradan]

Why do these things happen when it starts getting cold?

So just got home from vacation, start driving back to TO from Niagara Falls, and after a bit, I notice clunks, squeaks, thunks, and probably a couple other noises. They're pretty loud, and I can feel it on the floorboards.

The noises come when I start, sometimes when I stop, and definitely on bumps and speedbumps -- most of the time on bumps, but not always, which has me scratching my head.

Stuck my head under the car to check as much as I could visually and yanked on everything while on break at work, and everything seems solid. CV boots look good, what bushings I could see looked fine, and end links are snug.

Pushed down on the front quarter panel, and got a thunk noise on the passenger side when I compressed the suspension a bit. Did it again, and nothing happened. Tried 10 minutes later, and got a thunk again.

Blown strut sound like the culprit?

Want to try to get a few ideas before I put it up on stands to inspect it further.

[oldeguy]

Sounded like a spring or two until I looked at the age of your Focus. Ball joints maybe? Struts usually give a real hard ride with no cushion. Look for a wet spot around the strut where the seal is.

[torradan]

Took a quick look under the car, as I can't get it into the driveway to lift it up. The ball joints, for lack of a better word, look "deflated" on both sides (Is it entirely possible that both would go at the same time?). The boot looks solid, and and I don't notice any grease leaking. Tried to look for a picture of a healthy one, but google doesn't seem to have a picture. Took a closer look at everything, and I don't see anything out of the ordinary. Would take a picture of what mine look like, but I'm not really wanting to stick the Canon under the car, and the other camera has dead batteries :(

Don't notice and leakage out of the struts either.

Oh, car has 60k miles on it, so whats that, about 100k km?

[torradan]

Ok took a couple of pictures, not sure if there is an easy way to tell a healthy one from a sickly one.. does that one control arm look cracked? Only just noticed it after I looked at an enlarged picture. No flashlight handy so thats all I saw after the flash fired.

Passenger:


Driver:

[Focus man. Focus.]

A blown strut will look wet around the part where the polished shaft comes through the top. Like it is leaking oil. It may be your upper mounts. They have bearings and rubber bushings built into them. Check for uneven tire wear as it will throw off the alignment. Other than that I would take it into the dealer or suspension shop and have her checked out.

Other than that Todd I don't know what to say.

[OAC_Sparky]

At this point over the internet it's hard to diagnose clunks. The best way to check is to get the tire up in ther air.

After checking:

-sway bar links
-springs for breaks
-struts for leaking
-strut mount nuts for tightness
-wheel bearing for looseness (in/out)

then you can move to the tie rods/ ball joints

-grab the tire (up in the air) and jerk it left-right, if you hear a clunk or play it's the tie rods/control arm bushing

-grab the tire and rock it up/down or put a crowbar under the tire and jerk up on it if it clunks it's likely a ball joint/control arm bushing.

-upper strutmount can make a clunk but usually they clunk/squeek when you turn the wheel.

Also, if you have put a camber adjustment kit in (the kind with the modified strut bearing and offset plate) that they have been known to snap if you've overtorqued the strut bolt).

Hard to diagnose this stuff over the internet, but that's the sequence I normally use to pinpoint suspension problems.

[torradan]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I know its impossible to diagnose clunks, and I'm sure my descriptions of the noises aren't all that good.

Going to commandeer the driveway after work today and put it in the air and hopefully find a problem. With hopefully a simple fix.

[torradan]

Really easy fix.. but what a racket it made!

The portion of the end link that bolts to the sway bar came loose a bit. 2 turns of the wrench and it's tighter than a nun's you-know-what.

[Focus man. Focus.]

torradan,Nov 7 2009, 11:44 AM Wrote:Really easy fix.. but what a racket it made!

The portion of the end link that bolts to the sway bar came loose a bit.  2 turns of the wrench and it's tighter than a nun's you-know-what.
[right][snapback]296962[/snapback][/right]

How would you know how tight a Nun's you know what is? :lol:

[OAC_Sparky]

Focus man, Focus.,Nov 7 2009, 01:56 PM Wrote:How would you know how tight a Nun's you know what is?   :lol:
[right][snapback]296969[/snapback][/right]

They're all tight to me.

Ooops. Not in Handicapped Parking. My bad. :lol:

Notice on the list in my post above, what was the first thing I check? B)

[ZTWsquared]

OAC_Sparky,Nov 7 2009, 04:42 PM Wrote:

Focus man, Focus.,Nov 7 2009, 01:56 PM Wrote:How would you know how tight a Nun's you know what is?   :lol:
[right][snapback]296969[/snapback][/right]

They're all tight to me.

Ooops. Not in Handicapped Parking. My bad. :lol:

Notice on the list in my post above, what was the first thing I check? B)
[right][snapback]296973[/snapback][/right]

Kudos to your diagnostic skills - and, oh BTW - outrageous exaggeration is allowed everywhere - doesn't have to be just in HP :rolleyes: