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AAARGH!!...98 maxima STILL clunking on the front right

My maxima makes a CLUNK-CLUNK-CLUNK sound when turning right and going over small bumps. I can hear it occasionally while driving slowly over semi-rough road. It's very loud when I'm going ~15mph, turning right and going over minor bumps. The car has 194k miles on and I've recently done PLENTY of work on the front end. Here is my list of things that have been recently replaced and no, I did not do all of this work chasing down one noise...

-sway bar bushings (this morning, I was almost positive this was the problem... nope.)

-control arm bushings (done last week)

-struts (including bushings, mounts, and bearings)

-ball joint (on the right side only)

-sway bar end links and bushings

-axles

What else is there? What am I missing? This is making me crazy. Yes, I do have a very slight leak in the power steering which is why I thought it was the control arm bushings. The car also pulls slightly to the right.

any ideas?

Reply to
jremignanti
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"What else is there?"

- wheel bearing(s).

- RH axle has extra support bearing, I guess that also was replaced?

Tst swap front tires to rear.

Reply to
wiikinki

Is that kind of sound (clunking) consistent with a bad wheel bearing? I would think that since the bearings are kind of sealed up that the noise from a bad wheel bearing would be duller sounding. This sounds like metal on metal. kinda like water pipes in an old house. Also it sounds like it's more under the car than coming from the wheel.

where is that extra support bearing on the RH axle?

Reply to
jremignanti

I have the same sound in my 97 Max. When you had the struts replaced did you re-build the whole strut assembly. I talked with a mechanic about the same noise and he told me that the struts need to be completely rebuilt.

-paul

Reply to
paul.flansburg

Yeah. I have new struts, strut mounts, strut bearings and all of the bushings.

Reply to
jremignanti

Where did you get your axles? reman axles are hit or miss...

Reply to
njmodi

Make sure the strut mounts on the bottom are tight. The top mounts are only about 40 ft-lbs but the bottom torque spec is about 200 ft-lbs.

Reply to
Monte

- Cannot hear the noise so its guessing game... If there is free play in wheel bearing, you can feel it by grasping the wheel and/or raisin wheel up and jacking up/down with a crowbar

- typical q&a is: q. "What u havent changed yet?" a. "xxx" solution: "change xxx"

- chassis is a flexible box. It 'lives' all the time, wheel position changes many millimeters durin axxel/brakin/curves. The elements where support structures are attached, are welded, and these points may be giving out (here car history counts) and givin out noise. 'Hammer/welding' is solution for this.

- njmodi is right about the axles, hard to get exact one. There are at least five different types which are lookalike but will cause problems now or later. In this case the noise should have changed after replacement.

..that 'extra' support; item [3.]

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Reply to
wiikinki

The passenger's side axle (noisy side) is new, not remanufactured. I don't remember the brand. I had my mechanic do that job.

I really don't think it's the wheel bearing since I only get the noise when bumps are involved. If it was the wheel bearing, I would probably hear it on every turn, right?

Reply to
jremignanti

Don't forget to check those motor mounts!

Chris

Reply to
Chris H

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