Pop/clunk in steering

[Craig 94 TA GT]

I noticed a clunk/popping noise that you can feel when you turn right or left going low speeds or at a stop. You can literally feel something seems to be popping in place when you turn the wheel. If you turn it back the other way, it gives a smaller pop/clunk. If you turn it back in the original direction, the clunk will happen again. The initial clunk seems to be random - happens only sometimes, in any direction.

I took a look at the rack, steering shaft/u-joints, and nothing is rubbing. I can literally feel the most "clunking" when touching the steering rack. So I'm guessing it could be either a tie-rod end or a wheel bearing? Also, maybe it's my imagination, but the car seems to wander a bit more with inperfections in the road.

Does this sound to be a tie rod end or wheel bearing? Thanks in advance.

[formula_gramps]

Craig,

Unfortunately with the symptoms you cite, any of those possibilities you mentioned could be the culprit--- as well as a number of others.

I usually find the best way diagnose front end problems due to wear of a component is to simply jack up one side at a time, lock the steering wheel, and work the road wheel up and down and side to side to side to see if any slop can be detected. If I can feel it, (and it's likely you'll feel it more with the wheel attached because of the increased leverage), then I remove the road wheel to increase visibility of the suspension/steering components. It's usually not that hard to see where the "unwanted" motion is coming from. More than once over the years when I finally found the cause it scared the hell of me to think I or my wife was driving around with that condition!

Among your list of possibilities I would add lower ball joints, the ones pressed into the lower control arms. I replaced both sides last fall on my '94 Formula. Didn't have any luck trying to press them out in place, even with a special tool, so I just pulled out the control arms and brought them to a shop that pressed out the old ones and pressed in new ones. Even with a fairly large bench top press the guy that did the work told me they were tough to get out. Those suckers are really in there....... Naturally, when I put everything back I needed an alignment big time.

You want to find out what this is soon though. Worn tie rod ends or ball joints are potentially dangerous situations to be driving around with. Other potential problems, while perhaps not as dangerous will expose additional components to a range of motion they were not designed for, causing further wear and expense, such as damage to the rack for example.

If it's not something you think you'd fix yourself, you'll probably find that a lot of front-end shops in your area will do a free front end safety inspection as part of the alignment process. Any shop worth it's salt won't do an allignment on a car that has failing suspension or steering components.

Hopefully it's something fairly mundane like a worn bearing.

Good luck!!!

[Craig 94 TA GT]

Thanks Gramps. You are right though - it is a ball joint (or possibly tie rod too) but probably a ball joint. Thanks to Steve's help too (Z ya later on the forum), I held the wheel jacked up at 12 and 6 o'clock and the whole wheel moves. It feels like the wheel is loose, which feels really bad. I jacked up the other side and the wheel was tight, no movement at all. It's probably on the verge of being unsafe.

I could try to do it myself, but since the bearing needs a press, I might as well take it in. I've done almost everything myself with the car, but steering is nothing I want fool around with, so I'll let a shop take a look.

[formula_gramps]

Sounds like a solid plan. Even if you did all the work yourself, you'd still have to take it to a shop and get aligned, and probably use the shop to press out the old and press in the new. This way when you drive it out, it's done!

I'm curious. I had the same situation on my 94'. One side was really worn, the other, seemed ok. The side that was worn on mine was the passenger side.

I just found it a little odd that they could both be in such different shape.

Anyways you're doing the right thing. Nothing like doing 80 mph on the highway and having one wheel suddenly point East while you're heading North......LOL.

[Craig 94 TA GT]

Wow, yours was the passenger's side? Thats were mine is shot too. I recall years ago though - it was raining so hard and I was in a place I've never been to...there was like a curb that came out to the road, and I hit it at about 15. It knocked the crap out of the car, but everything was fine. I don't know if it had anything to do with this, but the impact was so hard, I've always wondered if it caused some kind of damage, or premature wear.

If I head to the strip, this setup will trap over 110, so having the wheel fly off at the finish line, or even on the 2 hour drive up to the track would really suck!!

Thanks again for your help.

[Jeffs Black 97 Formula A4]

I'm trying to figure this out as well. Only seems to happen when the car is cold, goes away when car is warmed up.

[formula_gramps]

Jeff,

No way for me to know for sure, and this is based on experience with other cars rather than my 94 Formula, but every time I have had the type of symptoms you describe: a thumping sound from the front end that seems to go away after the vehicle warms up, it turned out to be a bushing somewhere. Makes sense too, as they will expand a little when they get warmer.

It can be hard to find, unless you do what I did, and give up looking for it for a while. Pretty soon what happens is, the bushing wears sufficiiently that it makes noise all the time, even when the car is hot. Makes it a hell of a lot easier to find then......not that I'm recommending that as a legitimate diagnostic procedure.....LOL!

Intermittent problems like these can make you crazy!

[Craig 94 TA GT]

The shop called me today and said the wheel bearing hub was bad, causing the huge amounts of play in the wheel. They also told me that the a-arms bushings were so worn out that it was probably making noise there too. I'm just having them do the wheel bearing hub to get it fixed for now. The a-arms, I'll probably do myself and just replace them with new Spohn ones. The shop would charge $500 to do them, so I can do the Spohn ones myself cheaper. What's weird is that the k-member is new, so I wonder why the engine shop didn't notice the a-arm bushings when putting the Spohn k-member and motor back up there.

[Jeffs Black 97 Formula A4]

Jeff,

No way for me to know for sure, and this is based on experience with other cars rather than my 94 Formula, but every time I have had the type of symptoms you describe: a thumping sound from the front end that seems to go away after the vehicle warms up, it turned out to be a bushing somewhere. Makes sense too, as they will expand a little when they get warmer.

It can be hard to find, unless you do what I did, and give up looking for it for a while. Pretty soon what happens is, the bushing wears sufficiiently that it makes noise all the time, even when the car is hot. Makes it a hell of a lot easier to find then......not that I'm recommending that as a legitimate diagnostic procedure.....LOL!

Intermittent problems like these can make you crazy!

So which bushings should I check out?

Also, with the engine off and cold, I do notice a small amount of play, and can feel the pop even when I turn lightly (again, goes away after the engine has been running for at least 5 minutes, and the play is gone as well).

EDIT -- When I had the dealer look at it, the first time around they said they found some loose bolts which they tightened. However, it seems the clunk returns once cold, goes away once warm. So I took it back to the dealer and this time they tell me they don't see any issues with the steering. Can I trust them?