sparklemint

So I jacked up my car one day to change the oil. I used a hydraulic floor jack and jacked it up by the center of the crossmember cradling the engine. From what I understand, I should be able to jack the car up in this manner and the suspension would hang freely as the car raised into the air, correct?

Well, as I'm jacking the car up I hear a popping noise. I'm not for sure what it is but I didn't want to jack up any further so I let it where it was and did the oil/filter. At that point the tires still weren't even off the ground yet. Ever since then, I've noticed popping/clunking noises coming from the front as I go over bumps, particularly at slower speeds.

I have one suspect on what may be the problem, but offhand I don't know what it's called, so I took a picture and circled what I think is the problem area. If anyone has any suggestions I'd really appreciate it. If I'm not making myself clear I can try to get more detail for you.

sparklemint

For some reason I completely forgot to mention its an 88 IROC-Z, 305TPI with all stock suspension components to my knowledge. 110,800 miles on it

Angelis83LT

well that would be the draglink i believe.. or a tie rod. late and i am foggy. either way. The jack point is the same one i have used forever.. once i jack a side up so i can get the jack under the crossmember.. I have never put the jackstands on the front swaybar though.. i would not think it would be the best.. ussually i set them right under the spring on the a arm and have it cradle the inside of the circle that the spring sets in.. now the poping sound could be a balljoint... that is common when it needs to be replaced.. and if it is indeed popping you should replace it as soon as you can.. do not want that to come apart and lose all steering and such.

KniteWulfe

Well I have a very similar problem, however I cant seem to get it to clunk when I jack it. If I did it might be easier to figure out what it is. On mine its kind of a clunk/rattle on bumps, and also has an icky POP when turning especially while in reverse near but not quite at full lock. Replaced my bearings, tie rods and -idle?- arm but still there. The ball joints feel solid and theres no slack either whay on the tire while lifted. Nobody at the shops can seem to figure it out either. After fiddling around underneath for quite a few hours we started to assume it was the shock, but I am not so sure because it sounds like a bit of a rattle too. Just wondering if this sounds like it might be the same problem, otherwise any ideas as to what it might be will help. Sounds like its on the front passenger side but hard to tell.

80's Al

I would say ball joint....

I had to replace mine when it started poppin when turning the wheels...

Don't be suprised by what you see when it gets pulled out...mine literally was ready to fall out !!!!
If you have someone else or a professional remove it, ask to see it...it will give you a whole new perspective on gettin the lube-job done on you car on a regular basis !!!!

80's AL

KniteWulfe

Usually when a ball joint gets bad it will have some slack when moving the wheel top to bottom while jacked and with the wheel off the ground. Usually a tie rod will move side to side if its bad. My wheel feels solid, so I'm clueless but the ball joint is definitely something you want to check. You could cause serious damage and/or crash if that baby goes.

sparklemint

Well I educated myself a bit, and the part I was referring to is the tie rod, and in particular the outer tie rod end. The reason I think it's the problem in my case is because it looked like they were straining for some reason as I jacked the car up, and it looks like they've been "stretched" and theres a lot of bare metal showing, where I think it should be pretty well covered in grease.

I enjoy fixing things myself but in this case I really don't know what the problem is so I think I'm just going to get an appointment at a shop I know and trust as soon as possible.

Angelis83LT

well. perhaps the collar part on the outer tierod end had stripped itself or was broken somehow.. if i had my book i cold tel you the specific name.. but i do not and my mind is wobbly today. Anyhow.. the pop from the bal joint does not always mean that you will have slack in the movement of the tire and such... especially if it is a sealed OEM one (i have seen a few of those) Where you can not get grease into it.. they are uncommon though. Another thing to think about is do you lube your own car or take it somewhere like a "15 minute oil change" place to get the oil dropped and everything lubed? because in my experience all over this state, they never seem to lube things on the bottom. they drop the oil... check your fluids.. try and sell you an air cleaner you don't need, and say your done. I have actually taken a few things apart to find absolutely no grease at all in them only 3 days after going to one of those places.. needless to say i grease everything myself now. But yea.. perhaps there just is not any grease in the area's it needs it and is binding metal on metal.

soldier79

I'm having the same problem that cracking sound when I turn the wheel sharp to pull into a parking space or something and I was told it was probably the strut mounts.

Angelis83LT

never even thought about those..

bulletboy29

I had a weird popping noise that turned out to be a loose trans mount. I could turn the bolts by hand! It sounded like it was coming from the front of the car though. Might want to check that out!

KniteWulfe

yeah im starting to think my problem is the tranny mount too, I noticed i had a mild clunk when i went into reverse the other day... gonna check it out soon, my car goes into storage in 3 weeks cuz i leave for korea for a year. still doesnt explain the clunk while turning though.

Kat

iTrader: (4)

Or the it was the jack sliding on the k-member...

Kat

bulletboy29

The loose trans mount on mine caused a clunking noise while hitting bumps and turning while accelerating. It sounded like the right front wheel was going to fall off. I shook that front wheel over and over trying to duplicate the sound and never could. I just happened to check the bolts on the trans mount while I was changing the oil. Now I'm just waiting for something else to tear up!

83 Crossfire TA

iTrader: (2)

1- it’s a tie rod end
2- DO NOT put jackstands under the sway bar bushings. At best you’ll crush the shells causing them to bind and ruin the bushings. At worst you’ll bent the sway bar.
3- the shiny area is probably because the tie rod got twisted back and forth and the tie rod boot exposed a new area, you should be able to grab it and twist it back if it really bothers you
4- assuming that nothing is actually worn out, the popping is probably because you jacked the suspension allowing the arms to hang free which resulted in the springs moving around a little in their pockets. It probably did a little popping as you jacked the car, as you let it back down, and for a while after you did it. It’s really no big deal, pretty typical for f-bodies and actually a lot of other cars that have springs that seat in pockets on the control arms

creepingdeath

My car does the exact same thing. when i start to drive forward after stopping while turning and going over bumps it sounds terrible kinda like the front end is just going to fall apart.

sparklemint

I took the car to a shop and they diagnosed the problem as bad stabilizer links and replaced them. It took them like 20 minutes to replace and was a pretty cheap fix. No longer makes any noises at all.

Guess I was wrong about the tie rod ends after all

80's Al

Me too....

Glad they put your mind @ ease.....

soldier79

Is there another word for stabilizer links?

91formulaSS

end link?

sparklemint

Beats me, I don't really know anything about suspensions and steering components. I've only done work on the engine so far. They called them stabilizer links and it took a pretty short time to diagnose and replace, that's all I know.

Angelis83LT

by what i can gather the "stabilizer links" are attached to the sway bars. by what i can read anyhow.. do a search for them on google.. you will get all kinds of links for them. most from honda, and nissan cars. but they all talk about them in conjuntion with the swaybar.

*edit*

Was just looking at the spohn swaybars and came across this picture.


The stabilizer links would be the two short parts in the center with the two bushings on either end them i believe.

Anvil

Stabilizer link/end link -same thing. Check to see that each end link, left and right, look the same.By that I mean there should be a bushing on top and on bottom of swaybar and on top and bottom of A-arm(4 bushings per side).Sometimes 1 bushing will break but the end link will still look somewhat O.K.

CaysE

I thought this at first, too, but I decided to give it a try anyway since I had no other decent jackstand points as I do some suspension work (and I have spare parts in case I break something). I've had the RS on stands on the sway bar bushings for a few weeks now and I can still move the swaybar by hand with the endlinks disconnected, and the shells are still round.

83 Crossfire TA

iTrader: (2)

I’ve had to make new ones for a TTA (they’re different, GM doesn’t make them anymore and they space the whole assembly down to clear the intercooler, kinda like some of the mustang ones), that someone creased after putting jackstands on them which caused them to break when driven hard later.

The rear ones I don’t even understand why someone would do, most jackstands that will fit will also slide between the axle and the sway bar allowing you to support the car by the axle.

One thing like this that I have found myself doing is that I will occasionally put a jack stand under a control arm bushing shell, but I have a couple of jack stands that I ground the head on to match the radius of the bushing shell so as far as I can tell they don’t even leave any real marks.

86LG4T56

Don't mean to hijack this post, but I"ve got the popping too. I replaced my front springs last weekend and now when I hit sharp bumps my left spring pops. Will this go away by itself?

naf

iTrader: (7)

If the springs were not indexed properly they are likely to make a popping noise.

If you've installed them correctly they may pop for a few miles until they seat and get comfortable.