2001 Park Avenue

[pcabn]

I have a 2001 Park Avenue 152,000 miles. Runs great handles great. But I do have a clunking sound coming from the rear of the car. I think it is something with the rear axle. It has new shocks last year. I can't find anything obvious and it doesn't seem to effect the ride or handling. I'm just trying to figure out the noise.

[maxwedge]

No way to pin this down from here, you need to duplicate the noise maybe by bouncing the car while you are under there feeling around. Too many things can do this.

[Tech II]

If you can create the clunk, at a low speed, over bumps, maybe you can ride in the trunk, and determine if its on one side or the other, in a parking lot somewhere.....

Try moving the exhaust(when cold)....move it side to side and see if it hits something like a loose heat shield....also tap the cat to see if anything is loose inside....

Have you looked under the vehicle to see if anything is loose, like a heat shield, hanger, shock bolts are tight, etc.?

[pcabn]

I can't find anything loose that is what is puzzling. It happens going over certain bumps, rough blacktop...... Doesn't make the car handle bad but I would still like to know what it is. If the road is smooth you would never know you are riding in a car with 152,000 miles on it. I will look at it again today to see if I can find something.

[Blue Bowtie]

You can remove the carpet folds and trim caps from the trunk, get in with a good lamp, and have an assistant jounce the car slightly. Look for motion between the upper strut stem and mount, and the upper mount and the body.

Try to avoid getting locked in the trunk.

[xs03mich]

Look at the rear body mounting bolts to the frame. The rust will start under the washer and the bolt will move/rattle when you go over bumps etc. It doesn't take much, just try to tap on the mounting bolts.
You can give the car the old shock test, but the bolt will not make a noise!
Drop the bolt that is loose, put a bigger washer on and you will be good to go.

[squekyj]

ive had this problem before look at the rear suspension and see if u have a rear sway bar if so the rubber links where the bar attaches to the control arms are prob bad .. they wont look bad u just kinda got to really inspect them to see ..