How To Find Suspension Noises 101 - EricTheCarGuy

hi kids eric the car guy here today we have a 2005 Acura TL I know Eric with another Honda but the principles in this video applied to many many vehicles and situations because this vehicle has what the owner believes to be a suspension noise and I've had a lot of requests from you about you know I've got a noise that kind of thing well this will help you nail down a suspension noise and that's the purpose of this video so the first thing we do if it's a customer's car of course it's your car you already know when the noise happens but you need to get in the car and you need to take it for a drive and see if you can reproduce the noise so we're going to drive around and see if we can hear the noise alright one of the first things you want to do is try to identify the type of noise is it a knocking noise it is a squeaking noise it is a squealing noise I mean noises come in all shapes and sizes but they can point you towards a given you know a given component or area to look if you got like maybe say a steering noise like say when you turn the wheel you hear like a rusty hinge kind of noise or maybe hear the belts squealing that kind of thing you can best hear that noise if you're just sitting still so start your start your checks by just turning the wheel from side to side and I'll shut up so you can listen I don't hear or feel anything abnormal here when the steering feels a little nope nothing here alright now let's drive now the I can hear it a little bit there now the owner says that this noise is coming from the right front no well how how well that microphone is going to pick that up quite a bit annoys there on this bumpy road well we took a trip oh there it is a lot also see how the steering wheel is moving if it's moving at lower speeds like that that's a tire issue that's either a tire wheel something's not round is what that is so tires are always suspect always just driving normally I don't seem to hear the noise alright let's turn around and head back to the shop okay here we are in a smooth parking lot and I was actually hearing it a little bit and we're not even going over bumps go play some miniature golf of course it's not doing it now we're just going to try something real quick as I pull out here and that's getting on it hard there was a bubble also pay attention when you break is there a noise when you break is there noise when you change direction when you go from Drive to reverse is there a noise then the idea is to do as much testing as you can to try and figure out what duplicates the noise so is it like I said a change in direction whether going from reverse to drive is it is it when you're turning the wheel is it just going over bumps is it just going over a lot of bumps is it only going over big bumps is it going over bumps when you turn the wheel is it making a noise only when you're turning the wheel is it a clicking noises the thumping noise this is a squealing noise is it a noise like a rusty hinge with all these things can give you a clue to what you're looking for but I think we're going to get our best results when we get this into the shop all right now we brought our TL into the shop let's start shaking it around rocking and rolling start looking for loose parts I started by popping the hood because I like to take a look at where the struts mount up on the top along with any of the other things under and around there that might cause a noise alright now let's open the hood and what we want to do is I like to I can't really see the upper strut mounts in this but I can listen in that area I pulled these covers off but you might not need to start with that but what you can do is you just kind of shove the car around move the suspension see if you can make it make the noise actually I kind of hear it right there hello drop that in my head watch out for these hoods sometimes they don't like to stay up and if that's the case I got a little trick for you since we know our noise is over in this area let's jack up this wheel alright now we've got the wheel off the ground we're down to its level I've only got it on the jacks so you don't want to be under it but grab the wheel at three and nine o'clock and we'll go back and forth grab a top and bottom wiggle here wiggle it all around and what your feeling for is loose parts okay I've got it supported on the subframe now that now that we're under here but these are the parts you want to look for you hear a rusty hanji squeaky kind of noise when you turn the wheel or sometimes when you go over bumps ball joints are a big cause of things like that so when you're pushing the wheel up and down back and forth you may need a buddy under here looking to see if there's any movement here where this boot is some suspension systems however when you jack things up off the ground like this will actually load up the ball joint you won't be able to see any movement in it in cases with like those what you need to do is put the jack up underneath the control arm and you know different different systems call for this so in other words just do this check anyway no matter what but look to see if if when you when you put the weight of the car on the on the actual suspension and Jack it up under this control arm then take like a pry bar and put it in here and cut pry up pry up to see if you got any movement in this area and then try it like this and try it once with the jack underneath here if you don't have any movement there you don't have any movement there that's one of the places to look next you want to check your tie rod ends right here and that's the one and it disconnects to your power steering rack and you want to look back up in this area and you want to look back up in here and when you're when you're moving the tire like back at that side-to-side this is where you'll look be looking for movement but look for movement in here or sometimes in here if the movements back here it's an inner tie rod if the movements out here it's the outer tie rod watch the power steering rack video and you'll see how to do each of those the other thing if you remember from the element video that I did stabilizer links so you want to make sure that these guys right here are not loose broken these these are the enclosed style of links but some of these links are like stacked up bushings things like that and I've seen those break quite often so you want to make sure that you might even want to get a pry bar in here because sometimes especially these that are sealed like this you won't see the movement so you'll have to like get a pry bar up under here and move actually move the bar and see if you hear or feel any clicking that's happening if you don't then you can rule those out control arm bushings so look look where the actual control arm meets the body and look for any movement there sometimes you might you might see movement or something like that in that area that's another place and back to steering sometimes I've seen the mounts watch the Pontiac video sometimes I've seen the actual mounts for the power steering rack be broken loose or cracked on the subframe and in that case that would be you know obviously a different type of repair if you have a clicking on turns CV joints are big for this with a front-wheel drive car if you're turning right and you hear the clicking then it's the left axle if you're turning left then it's the right axle so that should help you identify it if you don't see like a split boot or something like that sometimes you'll get a remanufactured axle it's not so good another place I want you to check is these other upper control arm bushings and ball joints I sometimes you can squeeze these and you'll see movement here but when you move the tire in and out you'll you'll see some movement here also the bushings in the back where this attaches to the actual body those are also suspect so it may be that this whole arm starts to move next look at the coil springs you may see like a broken coil or something like that you also want to take a real good look at the strut itself if you see any oil residue on the outside of the strut then the strut is probably bad because they're filled with oil and once the oil starts to leak out they don't dampen as they should some some places call these dampers now lastly if you're having real trouble finding the noise you don't find any loose parts like I'm not finding here here's something I want you to try bottom line is you're checking everything that moves on the suspension and if you're in a position like I am now where you checked all the suspension parts there's no leaking struts no broken coil springs no loose ball joints no loose upper ball joints and they're loose bushings on either one of the control arms inner and outer tie rods are good the rack is is seemingly good where it is and you're like what the heck I hear the noise and I'm still not finding where it is Road simulator simulate a bumpy road and hit the tire with the hammer but hit it like in the tread just like it would if it was driving down the road and hitting a pothole or something like that you become the pothole and then give a listen for around the suspension I am not hearing the noise at all a lot of times what I find when I do this reach your hand up and put it on top of the caliper and that's that's what I'll do one while I'm beatin on stuff is I like grab different components if I hear the noise and you'll actually be able to feel it as you're hitting the tyre really should have put my safety glasses on to keep this dirt out of my eyes I don't really hear the noise but this this guy here will help you find the rattles and things that are here and if you got a lift even better because you can really get a good swing on it and swing it from like don't just do it like in the tread do it on the side a little bit hit it there hit it here hit it hit it all around until you can really get the noise to resonate you do and then just put your hand on the suspected part and you'll feel the noise you'll feel the vibration that it's making alright something else I forgot strut rod bushings these strut rods run from the core support to the lower control arm and pretty much keep the lower control arm located in a certain spot if these bushings go bad you'll you'll hear a clunk like either as you accelerate or break and just as you have that backwards or forwards movement and this is what it looks like outside of the car but and this is actually for my clutch video of it you can you can check these bushings and if the bushings are bad that could be responsible for a clunk so make sure you check as many parts of the suspension as you possibly can and try to move it around as many ways as you can before you're done okay we've shook the suspension by hand we pried on it with a pry bar we've looked for leaks in the struts we've looked for broken coil springs we've looked for broken parts another thing I want you to look for is any time you see a fastener with like orange dust or any bushings or anything like that with orange dust around the outside that's a loose part because a lot of times what happens is is whatever component it is that's loose we'll get a little bit of moisture in there it'll start to rust up and has a move that rust will come out so that's a good indicator that you found your noise if you see like orange dust around the outside of like say a bolt or a bushing or or anything like that but now that I haven't really heard it but yet I heard the noise when I was rocking the whole car back and forth I'm starting to suspect something else so I'm gonna remove these plastic covers get a look at the upper strut mounts which these are underneath this tie bar up here but wait a minute I think I just found the noise alright now I haven't seen this too often because it's got to be pretty bad to get to this point but take a look at this here engine mount I saw the cracks to start with when I pull the rubber back see all the shiny metal look at that and you can see that this piece of aluminum is sitting right down on top of here and I bet you if I put my floor jack underneath this it would lift up and come right off of there because I don't think that's a mount motor mount anyone look at that I'm just moving the engine with my hand you're going to be jacking on the oil pan with a block of wood between your jack and the oil pan okay we got our Jack in position yup yeah that shouldn't happen so destroyed engine mount is the cause of our noise coming from the right front not really a suspension component okay I'm not this isn't a video about how to replace engine mounts it's it's a video on how to find a noise but here's the bullet points take it for a test drive listen for the noise listen to if there's any specific thing like is it turning the wheel is it just driving over railroad tracks just driving over speed bumps this happens slowly does it happen quickly is it like a rattle is it like a bang is it a thump is it a thud and then also don't forget that there's wheels in the back too so just good ease is easily be coming from there something I'd also would like you to try and I'm going to show you that real quick alright now here's another strange one that I found that might help you here's that here's another check if you got a rattle or noise in the past I've had cars that have been a rear-end collisions or had aftermarket exhaust systems on them these things are on rubber hangers so this will move so some of these will move quite a bit and you'll be able to take the whole muffler assembly but just grab the muffler assembly and shake it back and forth because sometimes where they mount on the rubber mount sometimes those brake and like I said sometimes the components themselves get bent up but I've seen on a couple of occasions where it was actually the exhaust that was bouncing around causing a noise that somebody thought was a suspension issue okay so here's our old engine mount we don't need no stinking engine mount as you can see it's destroyed so let's take it for a drive and see if our noise is going all right here it is moment of truth yay no more noise one more one last thing I'd like to mention before I before I let you go is tires I know I talked a little bit about that wobbly steering wheel earlier in addition to that you need to make sure that the proper pressure if the tire pressure is too low every time you make a turn will sound like you're in a Starsky and Hutch episode and if they're too high it'll bounce like a basketball all over the place so too high a pressure is going to make the suspension work a lot more because the tires are going to be all bouncy too little tire pressure is going to make the tires scrub quite a bit particularly on concrete you're in the parking garage you're going to hear a lot a lot more that's squealing and you normally would those are also things to watch out for and watch the wheel bearing video for that noise but something to keep in mind with that noise is not always a wheel bearing in fact often times I find that that's also a tire issue so if you've got abnormal tire wear that's another thing to look for run your hand along the top of the tire and feel for any high spots or any abnormalities it should be relatively smooth I mean not so smooth you don't have any tread left but you know your hand shouldn't be catching on stuff if it is it could represent an alignment issue or something going on with a suspension that's affecting the alignment that's causing the tires to wear unevenly but uneven tire wear could cause also like a low groaning noise as you're driving down the road so keep that in mind but it could also be a wheel bearing and what you do to confirm it is you just swap the tires like take the tires on the front moving to the back and then take it for another drive if the noise changes or goes away you know it's a tire issue but if it stays the same then it could be a bearing issue and see that video for how to how to pursue that there's a couple more things I thought of since then all right back to you Eric I've also seen situations where somebody had some stuff in their trunk that when it shifted it would it would make a lot of noise be amazing the things that I found in people's trunks I'm kind of scarred from it actually the main point is look for loose stuff look for that orange dust that's an important clue use that hammer hit that wheel try to reproduce that noise don't rule out brake callipers if you do get a noise out of a brake calliper i've service them and sometimes it's the brake pads some brake pads are better than others some brake pads fit a little loose if that's the case they'll rattle around inside the caliper when you hit bumps seen that a few times and I usually start with servicing them and if that doesn't work I usually end up well let's put it this way if they're really cheap pads I recommend replacing the pads going from there look for missing shims on the brake calipers themselves if those shims are missing yeah things are going to rattle around so feed those little shiny pieces of metal they need to be there on some calipers not every caliper has them of course if they're missing how would you know good question parts guys should know you should check with him see if there's supposed to be any shims in there because many times they'll come with a new set of brake pads shake the wheel side to side top to bottom look for loose ball joints both upper and lower look for the bush look at the bushings where they attach to the body for the control arms both upper and lower there look for broken coil springs broken coil springs honestly don't often make noise what they do is they affect ride height so if you've got a broken coil spring the car will have a tendency to lean to that side with a broken spring so if you got a car you look at the front it's got the Detroit lean go into it then you might you might suspect a coil spring issue and if it's not broken it could just be old and sagging some people are heavier than others in there a little harder on the suspension and it's usually on the driver's side that you'll see that particularly if you go to put it on a linemen track and you notice that the numbers are way off on camber the only way to correct that is actually to replace those Springs because Springs control ride height we're going to do a whole suspension video now I'm the wheels are trained at some point we'll talk about all the different parts on what they do look at the dampers shock absorbers struts whatever you want to call them and check them for leakage if there's any oil leaking out of those it's a good indication that they're bad so you won't necessarily hear the noise like we can hit the tire or anything but if you see leaking struts that leaves an air pocket inside the strut and the strut will bang around internally also check the nut the nut where the top of the strut goes through the tidy upper strut mount look at that nut I've seen times where the bushing that the strut goes through inside the upper mount will get loose and that'll rock back and forth that was a part about bounce in the car and rocking it back and forth and lastly like the cradle bolts like the whole subframe on front-wheel drive cars in particular there are times when you have to remove that whole subframe like say to put a transmission or an engine or something like that in and let's say somebody was in a hurry and they didn't tighten everything all the way or you know for whatever reason those are not tight once again look for that orange dust that's usually a pretty good indication you got a loose loose fastener something like that I've I've cured noises just by zipping up a bolt but you got to be thorough you got to be methodical and you've got to pay attention ball joints also like they sound like rusty hinges particularly if you just like the first test we did just sitting there turning the wheel back and forth you hear like a grinding noise squeaking rusty hinge kind of noise then put your hand on the ball joint like like just leave the car on the ground have a buddy turn the wheel back and forth and just just put your hand unlike the lower control arm and feel around the ball joint keep your fingers out of those moving parts but you can usually feel where noise is coming from and the closer you get to it lastly chassis here we talked about it before and finding a noise I've actually had to spend days sometimes putting chassis here and in different parts of a car parts of the suspension to try to figure out where the heck that noise was coming from those were tough those were really tough so there there are some that they're going to be hard to find in this one this one's a little tricky I'm glad I'm glad we saw this because don't rule out those engine mounts and it was interesting how it acted it wasn't it didn't necessarily make the noise all the time but pretty much when the engine got a chance to rock back and forth and sort of ride on that mount so it was good to have that information I have about talked this one out so i'm eric the car guy you can always find me at eric carr gomm or follow me on facebook and twitter you can visit me over on the forum we talk about stuff like this a lot of times and how we fix them and which I solve people's problems that's a good time be safe have fun stay dirty I'll see you later

Channel: EricTheCarGuy

Views: 3,828,976

Rating: 4.8228612 out of 5

Keywords: Noise, suspension noise, car noise, front end noise, tire noise, clunk, bump, roar noise, ball joint, upper ball joint, stabilizer link, stabilizer noise, axle, axle noise, cv joint, cv joint noise, bad cv joint, spring, coil spring, broken coil spring, strut, damper, bad strut, bad damper, leaking strut, loose bolt, loose parts, bushing, loose bushing, loose control arm, automotive education, how to, auto repair, car repair, eric the car guy, ericthecarguy, etcg

Id: scFbb43fwqk

Length: 23min 56sec (1436 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 19 2011

Reddit Comments

[u/Matt_Wright_111]

Good stuff. Been using this technique since my dad taught me. Good thing to keep in mind. Better to learn every why. But good diagnosis.