My father has owned a 98 300 since new. He has had a chronic problem with knocking in the front end. Has had CV shafts replaced and other front end work done.
I'm thinking of buying this car from him but am looking for a fix for the problem. I spoke with a 99 300 owner who said he had the entire steering rack replaced and that fixed a front-end problem he was having.
It doesn't appear to affect the handling on the car.
Any comments?
Thanks, Bill
Please describe the symptoms a little more. Is it thumping when the car goes over bumps and irregularities in the road? If so, the most likely cause is sway bar bushings and/or sway bar end links - common problems on the LH cars. Neither will cost very much to replace, especially if you do your own work. If you can confirm the symptoms I described, then I can give you direction on how to proceed.
Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my adddress with the letter 'x')
stabilizer links, does it occur over bumps or potholes?
Glenn Bealsey Chrysler Tech
That's when it happens, over bumps and the like. It's more like a knock than a rattle. I'll ask him about the specifics but that's precisely the symptom as I recall.
Best car I've ever owned. We usually buy a car and get the 7 year 75k mile warranty for it and sell the car during year 6 with the rest of the transferable warranty. Makes a used car easy to sell at a decent price. I doubt my wife will part with this car on schedule.
A way to 100% prove to yourself if it is sway bar related (either sway bar bushings or end links) is to totally remove one of the end links from the car and see if the knocking is still there when driving over bumps. If still there, then it's not the sway bar. If the knocking is totally gone with the link removed, then it has to be the bushings or end links. (There is no harm or danger in driving it with the sway bar disconnected like that.)
Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my adddress with the letter 'x')
I'll give that a try next time I'm at the folks house. Thanks.
Really all the you to do is rock the vehicle to determine sway bar bushings. If you hear it when you rock it, its the bushings. The links will make noise hitting potholes and speed bumps, not when you rock the vehicle.
Glenn Beasley Chrysler Tech
I had bad bushings recently and I could not produce the noise by rocking the car. My guess is the damping of the struts prevented me from rocking it violently enough to slam the sway bar hard enough in the bushings to be heard. But there *definitely* was a noise difference (i.e., none vs. a lot) with sway bar disconnected vs. connected while driving over bumps.
Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my adddress with the letter 'x')
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