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99 Intrepid - Rear end rattling sound

My Intrepid has been making a rattling sound in the rear when going over bumps in the road, especially those bumps where the road has been dug up to repair a gas/water line lateral and then not repaved very well. When there aren't bumps in the road, all is quiet. It's really noticeable with the windows down, although I can hear it muffled when the rear seats are down.

Anybody have any suggestions about where to start? Anecdotal reports suggest the rear anti-sway bar bushings or links. Or struts/bushings.

Is there an easy way to determine if it is one of these? I just wanted to check it out, then will probably be off to my local mechanic. Are there any parts (OEM or otherwise) that are good to use (or avoid :)

Thanks!

gh

Reply to
Greg Houston
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You just need to get up under there and check it out, Greg. Could be any of the things you mentioned, plus there are lots of instances in the LH cars of the rear sway bar attachment to the strut rusting and breaking off (without some improvising, generally means replace the strut).

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Reply to
Bill Putney

Update:

My mechanic said my rear suspension is fine, and the rattle sound is coming from inside the muffler. He said there appears to be something loose inside, but due to the baffles he can't get to it and doesn't recommend doing anything about it until it's time to replace the muffler/exhaust.

He did recommend changing my front rotors. There was a bunch of rust (especially on the inside) which I was aware of from always keeping an eye on those heat shields. Even though I still had a bunch of life left on my pads, I agreed to just change everything. The slight pulsing that had begun to appear is gone ( I still blame that on the dealer for overtightening lugnuts once when they decided on their own to rotate my just rotated tires). I definately feel a lot more braking authority. I'm generally easy on the brakes, but it is good to have when you need it!

Incidentally my mechanic was lamenting that factory rotors don't seem to last very long on cars these days, especially on the American makes. He showed me several disks he had recently taken off that were only about 2 years old and were heavily corroded. Salt on the road doesn't help of course.

Reply to
Greg Houston

Suspension parts are always a good bet. Is there any situation that is worse/better? i.e. is louder when going over expansion joint-type bumps where both wheels travel together, or other bumps where just the driver's side or passenger's side suspension is exercised?

One often-overlooked item in cars of this age is the internal muffler baffles. They may be starting to work loose, especially if you have the original exhaust. You can check by simply shaking the muffler. A similar rattle drove me crazy on my 95 neon until I figured it out.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Falkiner

Update: My mechanic took a look at the rear suspension and found nothing offending. He said the problem appears to be inside the muffler, one of those baffles which you can't get to. He claimed there is a small hole in the muffler as well. I assume he means the actual muffler (as opposed to the separate resonator boxes before and after the muffler, but I forgot to ask). Sort of surprised me since the sound seemed deeper than some muffler parts, which I would expect would sound tinny. Anyway he gave everything a good bill of health and said it's not worth fixing at this time until the exhaust system needs work/replacement. Sounds good to me, although the noise is annoying on bumpy roads.

Jeff Falk> Suspension parts are always a good bet. Is there any situation that is

Reply to
Greg Houston

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