Clunk from rear

[hot_sd]

Has been there on and off for the past 3 years or so. Finally decided to investigate. The noise can be described as a clunk and happens when the car is pushed up or down. Once it is pushed up and the noise happens it will not be heard if it is pushed up again. However, pushing down will cause the noise but once it has happened then it needs to be pushed up to be heard.

By investigating the best I can tell is that it is the spring that is causing this noise. Difficult to diagnose by listening so I tried holding various parts while moving the car up and down and the vibration is sharpest at the spring when the noise happens.

Any ideas why this could be happening. Do I need a new spring.

[geozukigti]

Well, the spring is supposed to have a rubber seat it sits on at the top. If that's gone, you may have clerance issues, but I doubt it.... unless the spring is broken. A clunk is usually due to bad struts though.

[hot_sd]

Hey thanks for the info. I did inspect the rubber seats and as far as I can tell they look OK - of course they could be split where the spring sits as I cannot see there. Any way to confirm whether it is the spring or the shock without removing the components - don't want to have to do it twice - once to diagnose and then once again to repair/replace.

[geozukigti]

There's no real way to check them yourself without removing them. Shops use machines to determine wether they're bad or fine. They aren't all that hard to remove. I'd just take one out and see if it's any good. Before you take them out, see if you see any shock oil leaking out of it.

[hot_sd]

ok thanks. I cannot see any leakage (at least from below). When a spring is classified as broken - does it actually break into 2 pieces or does an internal fracture class is as broken. Maybe I can put in new shocks anyway just for the hell of it (90K miles on the meter).

[metrompg.com]

my '92 does this too. it seems to be coming from where the spring sits on the control arm. i think as the control arm moves, the spring shifts a tiny amount when compressed, and then a tiny bit back when uncompressed. the sound is amplified/transmitted through the coils (i also held the spring while doing this, and the vibration is strongest there.)

i was going to try squirting some oil on the spring seat and see if that quiets things down.

[hot_sd]

Yes, that's a good point also. A friend suggested pretty much the same thing. I think I will also try that first before pulling things out. Maybe the spring sometimes gets twisted from its normal position and causes this in which case removing and reseating may fix it.

[dmcdd]

Take your bowling ball out of the trunk?