Car still makes poping noises

Damn car... i have no idea where these poping noises are coming from.. I also changed my end links last week with moog parts... i did the job myself ( piece of cake ).. think it would resolve the front end poping noises.. but the noises are still there and, my top plates are brand new all four.. Just a funny thing tho i noticed when it rains and, I dirve my car in the rain all day or somthing the noises go away..... of course the water acts as a lube doesn't it.. ??? I wish i knew where to look next.. My car is like in mint condtion but yet doesnt go the way i want it to go. Is there some places that i can put some lube and, what kind of lube might lessen the pops or make em go away..??... If you guys can help, i would appreciate it very much.... sounds like dried up parts.

thanks guys :wink:

well iv spent the whole day yesterday driving in the rain... and, my car went smooth like a new one.. no noises what so ever... Today again i started hearing some noises coming from underneath. Is this a joke or what.. anyone know where i can spray in some lube somwhere to lessen these noises. Obviously it musnt be to serious, because it would make noises in the rain also. Somewhere enderneath the rain must penetrate, reducing the poping sounds... I tell ya in the rain my car goes great..no matter what bump I hit and, no matter how rough a take a curve.. pretty weird huh.. ?? :sunglasse

Could be a few things. Though if its something you feel in the floorboards my money is on either the steering rack itself or the ball joints.

If it were steering rack you'd notice detioration in the steering over time. Maybe a bit more stiff or takes a bit more to get the wheels a given direction.

Ball joints are a different story. They'll start popping when the seals that hold the grease go out. The factory ones are not serviceable, and they're a whole lot of fun to get out. I went through three titanium drill bits getting mine out. Then I forgot to grease them. Now I think I need yet another pair. WOOHOO.

alright thanks..but why it doesnt do in the rain..???

alright thanks..but why it doesnt do in the rain..???

Grease dries out as a result of broken seal, bad popping. Water gets in and rehydrates the grease, could make it work again.

I'm no chemist, though.

Ok thanks.... do you recommend a good lube for this.. my car goes great... Id like to tuff it out.. you know at leats wait until it might get worse. Its more of a bugging noise then anything else.. I dont feel like its gonna break or anything.. Just cant stand hearing those noises.. which dont do all the time.

thanks again.

Therein lies the problem. Factory ball joints aren't serviceable, meaning you can't lube them. You'll have to replace them. You can get them cheap or you can get them expensive. With my experience, I'd rather drop the coin on a pair of high-end, low friction, non-serviceable ball joints. But that's just me.

Oh, and if you got to do a replacement, brings lots of titanium drill bits, 1/2". And, dear god, loc-tite those bolts. You DO NOT want a ball joint to come loose or you're in for a world of hurt.

But, if you insist on trying to stick some grease in there, its all pretty much the same stuff under different brand names. Just go to your local parts shop and tell them what you need to do, they'll point you in the right direction. Grease is cheap.

hi there... i went out tonight with my girlfriend and yes the poping was very often... practically at every intersection.. but not on the highway..... we just put the music up LOL..... well on my car i guess there are 2 ball joints on each wheel right..?? the top one which is greasable... and then there is another one at the bottom of the table... which one do you think might be the one.. because the top one looks like the tye-rod to me and it is greasable from the top.. because there is a valve for the grease.. :rolleyes:

Errr, only one balljoint. The other is a tie-rod end. I don't think they're greaseable from the factory, but if they've been replaced, then they might be.

And between the two, the balljoint is the more load-bearing and most likely to make those kinds of noises.

Factory ball joints on my car were greaseable... so were the replacements i found with a lifetime warranty. They also came with lock washers and i got those suckers as tight as i could....

alrighty so tomorrow im going to get the ball joints changed.. do you think i should change the 2 sides... because obviously the car will need an alignement, right ???

ok thanks

I guess, in theory, you should get an allignment after that. Then again, my car drove just fine w/o an allignment when I replaced mine. Then I replaced the tie-rods a week later, though, and that obviously required an allignment.

Besides, if it hasn't been alligned in a while, you might as well. They say you need one every six months, but I've found that if you drive w/o hitting curbs that you'll be fine for a year or so.

alrighty thanks..ill let you know how it goes..
i dont think ill change them myself... the old ball joints have a cutter pin so they stay in place... are they really hard to change.. and how much torque must i put. ??? Just asking but im pretty sure ill bring the car to my mechanic.

thanks

I did mine not knowing exactly what i was doing... them being rivioted in place threw me a loop hole... I think trying to taking out/ put in the damn control arm bushing was more of a bitch than the ball joints.

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/9857/20060525image00159yc.jpg

tell ya what tho, they make a nice addition. Wouldn't hurt to do em while you got yours out.

hey Classic... the table bushings have been done last August when i got the car... are you saying that the tables need to be fully removed to change the ball joints. ??

Errr...those control arms can stay in. Just pull the hub and move the axle. Less work.

alright thanks overallcoma..

I personally preffered to use a drill press rather than with a hand drill. Or you can use a grider and try it that way, but your going to have some shady lookin control arms. Its ur call man... do as you please.

Hi Classic... i dont think i will be attempting this task myself... Im just gonna bring it to this garage i know where they specialise in allignements and, they will check if its the ball-joints.... Im pretty sure its that.... shouldnt take them much time to do... ball joints and allignement will probaly take around 2 hours to do.... Im praying that its not mores serious then that.... I also hear somtimes kinda the same noises coming from the back end.. Now i know that the back end has no ball-joints and, my shocks and top-plate are new... might be my table bushings at the back... or maybe a bearing.. Never seen what a bearing in the back looks like.. In any case ill get it rather done or checked out... Ill let you guys know what it was.

thanks everyone for all the positive replies.. we can learn an awfull lot from the forums.... at least in what direction the head for... cool man

bye and thanks..

:)

sorry for posting again..but i did just a search on this forum and somwhere i read that.. those noises might come from sway bar bushings being to dry... might it be that ??? And if ... is it a long job to do to grease the sway bar bushings..??? Seeing as my car doesnt make those noises when it rains... Damn cavs... take up alot of my time and energy here... ouff.... :banghead:

I couldn't see any harm in loosening up the sway bar bushings, getting some grease in there, and tightening them back down. I'm pretty sure you won't have any issues with the nuts backing out.

Meh, give it a show. Worst case scenario a bolt backs out and you have to but a $10 bushing kit.

I finally got the car fixed this morning.. It was the stabaliser bushings... wow.. was quite a big job to change, those little suckers.. I also got the car alligned.. Car finally goes great... Hopefully it will stay that way...

Thanks you guys.. :grinno:

stabiliser bushings? You mean control arm bushings, sway bar bushings...

I'm curious on this myself because I have some nice popping going on after getting steering work done and I want to know potential sources.

sorry i mean sway bar bushings... yes.. car finally goes great now..

I think you should check em... you might have the same problem as I had..

Mine are not OEM, they're replacements from when I broke one of the bolts. But I might actually go ahead and but a new bushing set. This time making sure they're rubber instead of the polyurethane ones they gave me last time.

(I'm not aiming for performace, just smooth riding)

Question, though: The pop on mine is only coming from one side, I'm pondering if the sway bar would cause that to happen. I know when I had the rack replaced recently that the sway bar links got cranked down VERY tightly.

noise was coming from one side too... the passenger too..

glad ya finally got it fixed.