rear clunks still

[angelthepig]

my rear has been clunking aroound for a while, so i nstalled some ew poly-urethane bushings for subframe and i'd thought that would eliminate the clunking noise. anybody know what could cause this problem?

[matt black]

i have had this problem before .. for me, it was the bolt the hold the shafts to the differential... a few had fallin out and the rest were really loose. it would "clunk" when i shifted gears and when i was roling and stepped on the gas quickly...

matt

[angelthepig]

well it only clunks when i go into dips especially sidewalk dips i guess they're called?? but other than that i don't hear it, not even going over bumps on straights.

[dfw240_EE]

Is it a low dull thump or a sharper pop? I have the pop when I go over brake, and the thump when it shifts. The joys of a 13 year old car.

[sixxdeuce]

Could be the upper strut mounts. If its an S14 check the diff bushings on the rear cover also.

[angelthepig]

s13its more of a thuck sound

[sxseguy]

S14 front diff bushings are available and are fairly easily replaced. The rears are far more difficult to replace, but can be done as well, but just replacing the front ones usually takes care of the diff clunking.

One clunk that a lot of 240s eventually develop but that is often overlooked is axle play. The outer CV joint assemblies will often show several thousands of rotational play between the spider (12) and the housing with the splined axle stub (14). A good indicator of this problem is a cyclic, repetitive clunking/rubbing sound, especially on tight, low-speed corners. The sound is nowhere near as extreme as a front wheel drive vehicle with bad CV joints, but it is audible.

You can disassemble and clean the outer CV joint and check it for wear and play. The spider and housing may look undamaged, but dry assembly, without grease, will allow you to measure the play, which can also be felt by hand while rotating the shaft in relation to the CV joint housing.

You then have three options.

Option 1 - Live with it. If the pieces, especially the housing, look okay, reassemble it with good lube and check it again in a couple of years. While the problem can be annoying, it's not catastrophic and may take years to develop enough play to break a spider roller on a hard launch.

Option 2 - Shell out the bucks for new or reconditioned axles for about $180 to $600. You'd better buy new if you want to be sure, though.

Option 3 - Replace just the spider and housing, essentially rebuilding the assembly yourself with a new pieces to replace the worn ones. The part number for the outer spider and housing assembly is 39711-35F00 and should be about $225. The inner assembly is 39711-35F10, if needed.


Modified by sxseguy at 3:43 PM 6/20/2005

[angelthepig]

thanks for the info. i'll get to checking out whats wrong when it gets cooler in the daytime