Front End Clunking Noise Fixed
 

Just wanted to share as it was a hard diagnosis till it let go. I had a clunking in the front end mostly when turning and fortunately it decided to let go as I was backing into my driveway. The passenger side outter tie rod end pulled out of the adjusting collar. So replaced the tie rod end and the collar took her down for an alignment and good as new.

glad you got it fixed and that it was not a real expensive fix (tie rod end). I spent quite a few dollars throwing parts at the front of mine to get rid of a clunking sound. It turned out to be more severe, but happy it is gone and pretty much have a new front end now. congrats, Mike.

Mike, What did it turn out to be?

they replaced the left strut, steering gear, sway bar bushings and that appeared to fix it. prior to that they replaced both axle seals (twice), i replaced sway bar ends (twice), they replaced tie rod ends (inner and outer), they replaced lower ball joints and also pinion seal. It ended up getting a lot of money thrown at it (and parts, but mostly money). I had actually already decided that it was getting traded in the last time I took it in, but apparently I got to the right person this time - and he got it taken care of. I bought the truck right so I was not upset about putting some money in to it - I was just sick of picking it up and it was still doing the same thing. I have not worked on vehicles much myself in many years and my issue was that I knew that there was something wrong in the front end and I would not risk any issues while driving (safety). This is my daily driver but it is also our family vacation vehicle and if the experts could not fix it - I was not keeping it. But that was at about 53k miles and I am now turning 61k with no issues. I absolutely love this thing to the point that I am not certain I will even go back to a truck. Plus now that Momma (my wife) has her little sports sedan - she is probably not going back into an SUV ever. Damn my apologies - I wrote a lot. Rant over, hoping I can hold on to this one until they offer the new engines, but I may end up with a 6-speed one and maybe a little longer, None of my vehicles have parked in a garage in 9 years. Thanks, Mike

Soooooo, did they ever indicate which part they thought actually fixed the problem? }> (usually, its the last part they replace.)

Well yeah, why would they go and replace more parts after the problem is fixed!

"they replaced the left strut, steering gear, sway bar bushings" - after this it was fixed. They never did say what the real problem was - they just said it is now fixed and I did not owe them anything. So it was the strut or the steering gear. Truck had been wrecked (when it was a new born) back in 05. But it is fixed now. Thanks, Mike.

Well I am chasing mine down now. Thought it was the sway bar end links. Nope so now I am looking at the sway bar isolators or the entire airbag strut assembly. It is frustrating though because I can't get it to knock when the vehicle is stationary. Suspension loaded or unloaded. Not going with the steering gear though as it only knocks on bumps and rocking the vehicle side to side while in motion.

Sounds like an issue with a loose upper or lower control arm. This could be due to worn bushings or worn ball joints.

I completely agree but when I get the pry bars out I cannot find any loose or too much play in anything. I guess I can start with the upper A-arm and go from there. I too would be pissed off to take it to a stealership only to drive out with the same noise after a $500-1000 bill.

I too have noticed a clunking sound coming from the pass side while decelerating and accelerating from my 99 Expy. I just this evening tracked it down to the tie rod outer bushing. It is totally squished! My question is Do both passenger and drivers outer tie rods have to be replaced in conjunction,or can I get away with just replacing the worn outer tie rod? It is only the passenger side that is bad.

Yes. .

Thanks for answering so quick. Thats why your PDQ. I just bought the replacement tie rod end from Ford for $58. Not too bad a price I thought. Can I replace the tie rod end while the car remains on the ground? Does the weight of the suspension have to be off of the tie rod end in order to replace it?

Well, replaced both outer and inner tie rods. The inners were a surprise. There was a small leak in the boot and it was leaking grease. Unfortunately it was late and could not get a Motorcraft part. It took about 3+ hours to do, as I have never replaced tie rods before. Pretty straight forward job. Test drove it briefly to make sure it wasn't pulling too bad. I didn't die and it tracked well. I called it a success! No noise on the way to the alignment shop. Once I left the shop.... same clunking, though not as bad. Old receipts show lower balljoint and inner tie rod replaced almost two and a half years ago on the same side. I guess I'm gonna go after the upper ball joint and control arm bushings.

I have the same noise going on, but on the driver side. I haven't had the chance to seriously take a look at it. I do know my bushings have to look sickly since the truck sat for over a year with out moving and before then they were look pretty worn. I didn't drive to work tonight and just worked from home since I am not to sure what is the true issue. Will try to take a look at it after I go to auto zone and get a code pulled from my lovely ladies pain in the @ss windstar.



__________________
98 5.4 Eddie 4x4 176K (body) med 70k (engine) she's back!
88 Stang 5.0 HO (stock for now)
01 Windstar LX (a huge pain in the you know what :-X19 )
95 Mazda Protege Dx 1.5L Rotory 5spd 222,252 miles (wrecked - gone but not forgotten)