Pop Noise When Turning

I recently replaced my Front Lower Control Arm and Ball Joint Stabilizer/Sway Bar End Link and Inner and Outer Tie Rod Ends. As soon as I replaced those my 1999 Windstar began making a loud "POP" noise when I turn. It happens whether I turn left or right. It is not a continuous noise, it only happens once in a 90 degree turn. If I do a figure 8 and continue the turn it will make a PoP a 2nd time. It's quite loud and I can hear it from a distance. It's just a single "Pop" noise. Any idea what could be causing this? Thanks!

Man, I wish I knew ... as I have the same thing going on. I have looked underneath while wife oscillated the steering wheel ... never seems to happen then. I figure it will get bad enough that I can find it someday.

My current guess is the strut bearing mount on top of the RH strut. The front struts are not that old, but perhaps the bearing failed early. Anyways, just yesterday I picked up a replacement bearing from O'Reilly's. Yet to put it in. Stay tuned!

Since you replaced several front suspension components, I'd start by checking that all the bolts are properly tight.

A couple that seem likely are: frame to control arm bolt, strut to knuckle bolt, pinch bolt, and stabilizer link bolts.

Also, with the lower control arms, the pinch bolt that tightens the steering knuckle tight to the ball joint pin must be able to squeeze the gap down without any interference in the gap. I once had this problem where the gap was damaged keeping the pinch bolt from closing the steering knuckle down on the ball joint pin, and it seemed to cause a "pop" when turning, starting, and stopping.

It seems like it is something that is stable, until the lateral forces of a turn are seen.

One of my front end noises turned out to be a "close call". This happened a while back. Suddenly my Winnies front end had some steering looseness .. it was weird as occasionally the steering wheel would have an fixed offset of approx 20 degrees, and then this offset would disappear. But never would the steering feel as tight as it should. I inspected several times, and when I finally saw the problem I thought "how did I miss this?".

The rear cross member of the subframe supports the steering rack, and there are bent metal supports at each end that support the sway bar bearings. In my case the left end of this crossmember, several inches of weld, had broken. The left end of the rack and sway bar were still tied together ... but both together loose from the subframe. Occasionally the loose end would hand-up /stick about 1/2" inch out of location (this caused the offset). Dangerous! If the other end, now under some added stress, had broken ... well, who knows?

Mind you, this on a vehicle that is totally free from corrosion and rust.

Hi! It could be the problem which I had and tackled as in my post http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=1059167
The same I did on the driver side also and but this time I simply placed the one cm. ring above the mount.

The strut mount spacers are a good idea (if you can even find them now).

I had one that was tough to track down; turned out to be the subframe bolts weren't fully tightened due to lack of threads (hard to tell at first because they weren't noticeably loose.) A couple of shim-washers later, they're tight and the nasty thunk went away completely.

I already have the spacers on top ... now will try the sub frame support bolt washers.

I've done some more work and more searching... looking for noise and resistance to turning. And some progress made.

I jacked up the front end and removed the wheels and disconnected the outer tie rod ends. Turning the steering wheel now offered no resistance ... nothing wrong with rack obviously. I was surprised to find I could easily turn the RH steering hub by hand whether a jack compressed the strut or not ... so nothing wrong with upper bearing mount (this was really a surprise ... I had already bought a replacement bearing. Oh, well!). The LH was similar except for the brake backing was bent in such a fashion that if rubbed against lower control arm. This problem corrected by removing damaged potion of backing plate.

While accessible, I replaced the rear engine mount ... sure enough, the old one was broken. Good move!

The Winnie now drives a bit better, but the noise during turning is now more predictable. I checked the sub frame support bolts per Scubacat's suggestion. Bolts are OK, but I realize these isolators probably have over 300K miles on them .... so I've ordered new ones (F68Z5C148AA and AB)...$250 with taxes and shipping. Arrives next week. Stay tuned!

Getting close .... very close!

Before those expensive Ford parts arrive, I thought I might try a bit of gerry-rigging to see if the problem could be identified for sure and perhaps do a bit of correction. I made some rubber washers from gasket material (6"x6"x1/8"...Lowe's #PP25547) ... approx 3 1/2" OD, 2 1/2" ID. I installed one at each sub frame corner under the sub frame ... to offset compaction/distortion that had occurred in the original rubber parts. The LH rear corner was extra worn, so it got an extra washer above the sub frame.

Much improved! The front end is tighter and quieter than it has been for years ... and I have to have things just so to hear the faintest noise now. I probably should have installed two washers on the LH front corner. But this faint noise may be somewhere else entirely ... its so small I doubt if I will ever find it ...or care too.

I'll just put those new parts away for some later date.

FINALLY!

After installing the new upper and lower sub frame bushings, and going over every suspension fastener again with the torque wrench, the front end of my Winnie feels tight and makes no mystery noises. It can be difficult getting 100 foot lbs while lying on back, but using a wrench extender ... I was able to do it.

...now to work on the EVAP system!

Did you happen to replace the strut bar bushings as well (shown as #4 in the link below)
https://oem.alpics.info/pics/FORD201512/source/upload/cgm/SCTILL/0016/G001603903.gif

I haven't been able to break that nut free on my vehicle!

No, my '99 uses the wishbone styled lower control arm, so the strut rod doesn't exist.

OK. I tried to get it off once, but the rod wanted to turn with the nut, even with some significant attempts to hold it. I gave up trying rather than causing more problems...

If new parts are available, including new nuts, you might consider cutting/grinding the old rod in two.

OK. I tried to get it off once, but the rod wanted to turn with the nut, even with some significant attempts to hold it. I gave up trying rather than causing more problems...

You might try holding it with an 18" or 24" pipe wrench wedged against the frame or the ground. You can get some cheap ones that are decent for occasional use like this on amazon or harbor freight.

Unfortunately, before I could figure out what was causing the "Pop" noise my Windstar had another problem. I drove it to work one rainy morning and when I returned to my car after work it would not start. The battery would not try and the only noise I got was a very low tone single "Clunk." I tried replacing the starter and that didn't work. My 2 neighbors who have experience with cars said they believe the engine went bad. While saying this, however, they are still puzzled by the fact I drove it to work and there were no signs of any problem, no strange noises - nothing out of the ordinary. I have tried a lot of different things, but it is now just sitting and has not started since. I had to buy a different minivan. If you have any ideas of anything else that could be wrong other than the engine please share them with me. Thanks! And thank you to everyone who relied trying to help me with the "pop" noise.

Unfortunately, before I could figure out what was causing the "Pop" noise my Windstar had another problem. I drove it to work one rainy morning and when I returned to my car after work it would not start. The battery would not try and the only noise I got was a very low tone single "Clunk." I tried replacing the starter and that didn't work. My 2 neighbors who have experience with cars said they believe the engine went bad. While saying this, however, they are still puzzled by the fact I drove it to work and there were no signs of any problem, no strange noises - nothing out of the ordinary. I have tried a lot of different things, but it is now just sitting and has not started since. I had to buy a different minivan. If you have any ideas of anything else that could be wrong other than the engine please share them with me. Thanks! And thank you to everyone who relied trying to help me with the "pop" noise.

This really sounds like an electrical issue to me. Do you have power inside the van (dome light, etc.)? Did you test the battery voltage? If the battery is OK (>12 volts at least), put your meter on the starter connections and see if you get voltage there while someone else turns the key. My guess is it's not getting proper voltage. As a totally wild guess (if I had to wager a bet at this point) I'd say you have a bad ground somewhere. Check the ground connections for corrosion or to see if you forgot to rehook something. Have you done any other work to the van lately? If so, what?

I'd be surprised if the engine "went bad", but try to crank it manually. Put a socket on the crank bolt and turn it clockwise with a breaker bar. It'll be hard to turn but as long as it moves at all, that's probably not the issue.

Wow, your replaced the starter? No small task. Did you use a proven starter? Remember most of the parts houses can do a bench test on a starter.

I agree that there is likely a electrical issue. There are all sorts of relays, sensors, and switches that can go belly up and prevent starting. After a couple of embarrassing non-starts ... I installed a permanent jumper wire from the 12v control terminal on the starter up to the battery area ... neatly, and securely stowed near the battery. When I get a no-start, I place the tranny in P, raise the hood and touch my jumper wire's bare end to the positive terminal of battery. Never fails! It jumps around all that "stuff" that can fail.

Can you turn the engine with a wrench on the crankshaft balancer (front pulley) bolt. I had my engine hydrolock once, the cowel was cracked and allowed water to pool on top of the intake plemum.

A leaky intake seal allowed the water into the intake port and filled a cylinder. Since you cannot compress water the engine cranked about 1/8 turn and the piston hit the water and stopped dead.

Spining it over with the plugs out and it ran, Got another 60.000 miles out of it before the rust got to bad and I had to let it go. Water in the cylinder could have bent a rod, I got lucky