92 accord - "clunking" in steering

When I turn the wheel on my accord, I notice a "clunking" noise that seems to be comming from the front suspension / steering somewhere. I figured it was the wheel bearings, but I replaced them both, and it still makes the noise. I also replaced the outer tierods to no avail. I am guessing it could be the lower ball joints. Anyone have an opinion? Thanks

You won't feel ball joints if they are bad, except as a feeling of "skating" around on grooved or seamed pavement at speed, usually.

Rack and pinion mounts loose or deteriorated bushings are common clunk producers, if you can just rock the wheel side to side slightly and get the noise, I'd look there first. If you have someone do it while you watch the rack, you'll see it shifting around on it's mounts if this is the problem.

Sometimes you can crack a tooth inside the rack and produce more of a click than a clunk, usually just as you go off-center. I don't remember seeing this in a Honda, so I doubt it.

Another possibility is that you have a bad bushing or broken subframe to body bolt, that'll cause the whole engine cradle to shift slightly when you steer and produce a hell of a clunk. When this happens, you'd generally also be noticing the clunk when you transition from power to coasting, or cornering on rough pavement, etc, anything that stresses the subframe directionally in an abrupt way.

Knowing a little more about the nature of the sound would help. Do you feel it in the column or the body more? Does it occur with the vehicle not moving? Can you hear it outside or inside the car better? Does it happen just at one wheel position, or anywhere in it's range of motion? One sound or several in succession?

I forgot...upper strut bearing plates are good for ominous noises too...

I check them by soaking the bearing plate with WD-40 and let it soak in, then see if the nature of the sound changes. Sometimes they are so bad you can just feel it when you lift the front end and grab the tire and steer it back and forth, you can feel the rumble in the plate being transmitted through the strut/spindle. If they are ragged like that, it's time to go...

I've even seen a few that were so far gone that they seized, when you turned the wheel the plate wouldn't allow the strut/spring to move freely, and the spring would twist and "wind up" as the steering was turned, which produces some really ominous noises. Kinda like someone was banging on the spring with a hammer as you turn the wheel....

The noise seems to mainly be when you are comming to a stop while turning the wheels or when you are pulling out and turning. There is no clunking ever above 20-30 mph, and it seems to be on the left (driver) side. The rack isnt leaking and the steering isn't harsh or stiff. There also isnt any play in the ball joints. I was going to take a look at the rack more closely this weekend.

Its interesting you mention about the springs... I put all new shocks and springs on the car a few months ago, didn't replace that rubber bearing. This past weekend I did actually spray WD-40 up in it, and the noise seems to have pretty much gone away. I think this weekend Im going to put the new rubber pads in. I also noticed that the spring isnt sitting in its seat at the bottom of the strut. I thought as I drove the car and the springs got to their working length it would seat but it didnt. Thanks for your input, I'll let you know what I find.

I think you've answered your own question...if the springs aren't fully seated, they'll grunt or clunk every time they get compressed or stretched beyond a certain point. I made that mistake once (not getting a spring fully seated), and it drove me nuts, and it was on an old Ford with type II front suspension (PITA to work on) so I didn't want to tear it down again. Solved it by driving over some RR tracks at about 50 mph, that knocked it into position :)

You have an actual bearing above the struts in the top of the strut tower on the steer end. Give them a look if you take the struts out again to locate the springs.

Sway-bar link bushing are worn causing bar to shift on turns, and when hitting bumps they bang off struts/body.Also ensure 25MM bar sway-bushings are good.
Ball joints and struts also make a similar noise as mentioned.

Sway-bar link bushing are worn causing bar to shift on turns, and when hitting bumps they bang off struts/body.Also ensure 25MM bar sway-bushings are good.
Ball joints and struts also make a similar noise as mentioned.

If you can hear your ball joints you better pull into the first front end shop you see... otherwise you're about to have a very bad day :lol:

The lower ball joints are non-load bearing on Strut type suspension, and can get pretty slopppy without the driver really realizing it....you might hear them if you had the wheel cut hard and were doing circles over rutted pavement or something...

I've inspected a couple of small FWD cars that a lower ball joint literally fell apart as soon as the car was hoisted off the ground, and the ball joint was no longer in compression.:eek: Nissan Sentra, most noteably. The drivers had no clue anything was wrong.:banghead:

stabilizer bar bolt assembly