I'm scared, broken car?

[LaureltheQueen]

Okay... here's the problem. I'm not sure if it's suspension or drivetrain, and It needs to get solved soon, and the ashtray gets the most traffic. Every time I go over a speed bump straight on(sometimes even diagonally)I get a clunking sound in the back of my car. It occasionally clunks a few times, but usually only once. I checked my spare tire to see if it was loose, but that's not the problem, I got it up on a hoist this morning and checked the exhaust, and sway bar, which were my first 2 thoughts, and found nothing wrong, except the endlinks on the swaybar had space on either side(not sure if that's normal). All of the swaybar bushings on my 91 were dry-rotted, and falling out, and I had no such problem in that car. I hadnt heard the clunking since last night, so figured it was alright. I go to lunch today, and drive over a few bumps, and it comes back. I have no idea what it would be... My last thought would be my rear diff is loose, but I'm getting no leaks, and nothing during acceleration or anything, only when I go over bumps. It's really wierd.

[THAWA]

what about your muffler? maybe the hangers are so worn its causing it to slam up to something

[BAC5.2]

A) Every car get's the clunks or squeaks at some point.

B) Probably the diff clunking. I think Whiteline or someone makes an anti-clunk kit which replaces the super soft bushings with nice, hard, solid bushings. I'd look into it. I read a review on www.scoobymods.com and it seemed pretty legit.

[LaureltheQueen]

I got it up on a hoist this morning and checked the exhaust, and found nothing wrong

It's not normal clunks, it's scary loud freakish clunks

[QuickDrive]

what about your muffler? maybe the hangers are so worn its causing it to slam up to something

I recently accuired this same sort loud clunking over bumps, but when you corner hard and try slaloming, the car reacts fine, then it's deffinately hangers and exhaust, clunk clunk.

[LaureltheQueen]

i wiggled the exhaust, it doesnt have enough play to hit anything, and if it did, the sound wouldnt be this loud. if i can get a few ideas, i'll have the guys at the auto center at work throw it up on a lift and take another look.

[mikec]

I had a loud clunk from the rear end on my 91 wagon. It was the left droplink. The left control arm had rusted out where the drop link passed through it. It took me a while to locate the problem, because whenever I jacked the car up, the suspension would get unloaded and it wasn't visible that way.

I used some big washers to fix it.

[LaureltheQueen]

i'll check it out, though there's no rust anywhere on the car, not even under it.

[evolutionmovement]

I'd bet antiroll bar bushings. If not check the suspension bushings. I doubt the diff would make noise over bumps and not under acceleration. My inner suspension bushing's SHOT and makes some unpleasant sounds and I'm replacing it soon. Check that all the bolts are tight.

Steve

[LegacyT]

100% its the rear strut top mounts. Over time the center part with rubber separates from the mount housing. My rear clunked big time over bumps and holes, I got a used set of rear top mounts from ciper, put em in and no more clunking at all.

Mark,

[Yukonart]

Hmmm, if that's the case, the clunk will then migrate over to Ruby when the suspension is swapped between the cars.

Laurel. . .have someone drive your car while you sit in the cargo area or the backseat and listen to the top mounts. If you're back there while it's making the noise, you'll be much more likely to pinpoint its location.

[vrg3]

If the strut top mounts are at fault, would you be able to verify it by raising the rear of the car and seeing if the strut body moves vertically too easily?

[legacy92ej22t]

This is on the turbo, not Ruby?

I've encountered this sound before in the front on a Suby and it was a loose caliper mounting bolt. It really sounded like a suspension problem too. It was scary loud.

[elkaboom]

I know that sound! I'd also suggest it's a bad topmount, too.
My right rear was making viscious clunking/banging sounds every time I hit a bump of any signifigance, and although really unsettling for the first 4-5 thousand miles, eventually I learned to tune it out
However, I wouldn't reccomend going as long as I did with a worn topmount -if one is bad, chances are the rest are in the process of going bad. You can imagine what kind of incrimental damage will occur given enough time and rough road surfaces.
In my case, ALL of my struts were bad (with two being completely blown out -read: all the fluid was gone) and additionally, I ended up having to replace several other suspension related components due to the severe beating I inflicted on my poor Soob for several thousand miles.
The up side would seem to be that, overall, these cars can take one goddamn hell of a beating and suffer no serious (relatively speaking) damage, but anyways, yeah; if the noise you're refering to was anything like the noise I encountered, it sounds bad and feels even worse (think sharp metallic banging and shudder througout the car).
Get new topmounts.

[LaureltheQueen]

it's the strut tops. The guy at the auto center inspected it for me, he's got a 92 ls wagon, so I let him take it around the parking lot a few times, he loves it.

I'm also missing, nothing new plugs and wires and whatnot wont fix. The place that inspected my car will NOT be getting my repeat business though.

[evolutionmovement]

When I had the rear mounts go they banged all the time over every undulation or squirrel's fart anywhere near where I was driving. Good excuse for STI tops.

Steve

[BAC5.2]

Can you tell by looking at them if they are fubard?

[evolutionmovement]

With mine I tried to tighten the strut top and the nut just spun so the broken strut rod beat the bag out of the mount everytime something compressed the spring. Externally they looked fine.

Steve

[petridish38]

The place that inspected my car will NOT be getting my repeat business though.

I don't see how they could have caught it since a visual inspection would check out o.k. according to evolutionmovement, and i'm assuming that the noise turned up after you had the car inspected and bought it.

Andrew

[vrg3]

If the strut top mounts are at fault, would you be able to verify it by raising the rear of the car and seeing if the strut body moves vertically too easily?

The reason I ask is that my friend's Jetta's front strut top mounts went bad with this symptom and he found out during a safety inspection.

[LaureltheQueen]

When i came back to the auto center after i got off work, the guy who inspected my car said, "you said you had this up on a lift already, and you DIDN'T see anything wrong?!"
"no, i was only checking sway bar and exhaust"
"wow, yeah, they're really messed up, here, look!"
I didnt know what i was looking at, but he showed me that there was rubber separated from stuff... If it's dry today i'll take off the wheel and get a better look, and take photos for you fine people.