Howdy. A little new to the forum, but i need some opinions.
2004 Cav LS sport coupe 2.2 5-speed manual. There is a clunking noise coming from what sounds like the left front. Seems to follow tire rotation. No noises standing still. I can hear it under light acceleration, but it is much louder under deceleration. I jacked up the car and put it in gear (sounds dangerous, eh?) and no noise with no load on the drivetrain. CV boots look OK, not torn. I'm leaning toward a bad CV in the half shaft, but I wonder if it might not be the hub. I can't really tell if there is any play in the shaft or the hub. If there is, it isn't much. Right this minute it is in the garage getting the snow and ice melted off. I want to be sure it isn't a big piece of ice clanking around somewhere. There's a lot of ice in the rear but I'm not seeing any in the front and the noise sounds like it is right under the driver's footwell.
Opinions?
my car just started doing the same thing about 3 weeks ago and i replaced the hub but it was no help.....i have yet to figure it out
MY 01 Cavy....work in progress
check everything, ball joints, strut mounts, etc. Just because it "seems" to go with wheel rotation, doesnt mean it is. Also, start simple, make sure you dont have a large chunk of something stuck in your tire.
I've had bad struts in the rear that made a cyclical clunking noise when driving. Is there any oil on the outside of the strut?
2.2 97 Cavalier......the "Crapalier"
how about your differential?
]:-> 287 TimeSlips In Hand. Car Still Runs Strong... 3 Differentials Later ]:->
Check the wheel bearing for play by jacking the front up, then grab the tire at 12 and 6 o'clock and try to move the tire by pushing in with one arm and pulling out with the other.
Wheel bearing noise USUALLY goes away when turning in whatever direction takes weight off that side.
whew! i was beginning to think everybody hated me! thanks to all for getting back.
LazyEcotec, I will try the turning thing, but i can't feel anything on the 12/6 trick.
John Benham, finally got all the ice out from underneath after a mere 2 gallons of kerosene in the garage. no change. got the rims cleaned out, steering linkages, etc. nothing against the front half shafts or anywhere else up front. so far i don't think it's that. ( i am amazed by the amount of snow and ice that collects behind the rear wheels in the hollow spots back there.)
Masin tenn, a quick look at the front struts suggests there's no obvious oil on them, but i will look harder.
I will go through all the suggestions on things to check one more time. ball joints included. i'm really hoping it is as simple as a bad hub or bad left half shaft. a thrown tension spring on the clutch plate stuck in some odd place would be, shall we say, depressing?
odd thing i noticed as i futzed around the performance envelope the other day. if i drive slow enough at a constant gas pedal in first gear, the rough spot seems to occur in three's that match up to one rotation of the tire. meaning, one rotation of the left front tire brings me three "clunkpops" (don't know how else to describe it). kind of points to the CV at the case end of the axle.
actually this is my youngest daughter's car. when i asked if this was sudden, she said "yeah, but i play my stereo loud sometimes." therefore, if you play your stereo loud enough there are never any part failure noises until you run out of volume on the stereo? figures.
Based on the "3 clunkpops per rotation" description, I think you're on the right track with the CV. It sounds like something is binding. Normally, a bad CV will click when turning, but your daughters stereo probably drowned that out for long enough to develop this symptom!
Not to dwell on the strut, but when mine went bad a couple years ago, it made a single click / clunk and was speed dependant. I've never understood how a strut could make that noise when driving on perfectly smooth pavement, but it sure did. I had another strut go bad recently, but it rattled and caused a terrible vibration at 55-65 mph. Totally different symptoms, but the same bad part.....go figure
Honestly, I would probably go burn an hour letting a dealership tech diagnose your problem. They've undoubtedly seen some bad CV's on these cars.
2.2 97 Cavalier......the "Crapalier"
OK, here we go. i'm going to risk getting into this without going to a dealer for further diagnosis. based on what i see at the online parts houses in terms of exploded views of the left half shaft and CV's and the "3 clunkpops per rotation" i'm going to decide it's the inner CV and the amount of racket i hear suggests that things are damaged enough that trying to repair the CV might be a bad idea. (if i get a CV kit and open it up to find a mess i'm stuck until i can get a full half shaft.)
so, that said, anyone know the torque values for the various bolts and nuts involved? (ball joint nut, TRE nut, hub bolts, etc.) i think the axle shaft nut at the hub is 144 lb-ft on a 30 mm nut?
thanks in advance.
