Changing the Engine Cradle bushings?

[Hoags]

It has been a while since I have been here, but I still have the 96 GA GT w/manual trans. My qusetion is this, (I searched the forum with no results) My 16 year old son is getting the car in a week or two, I have not driven it in many months but I took it out the other day and I have a nasty bangging/clunking noise from the front end when hitting small pot holes and even on rough road surfaces. I thought it might be a bad strut, but it is coming from either side, is not limited to hitting the hole on one particular side. I was told years ago that the GA is known for the cradle bushings going. The car has 137,000 miles on it now. Sorry...the question, is it possible that the bushing are bad and causing the noise and if so how difficult is it to change them. Any advice or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Hoags

[grfnkl]

HOAGS! Your back! You haven't been on here forever!!! Welcome back!

Another though for your g/a I would say tie rod ends ( makes a similar noises as well).

[xeroinfinity]

Hey Hoags, Welcome back !

Have you had the car up on jack stands to actualy inspect the steering/suspension ?

Lower control arm bushings come to my mind more so anything.
And the sway bar bushings/Stabilizer shaft, and broken springs. Also calpiers can rattle if the pad clips are weak/broken.

Sorry if thats TMI for your visit back.

Glad you could make it back!

[Hoags]

Thanks Guy's,

I appreciate the suggestions, I have had the tie rods go in the past, this is different. I will however jack it up when the weather breaks around here and take a good look around. I will let you know what I find at that time.

As for being back, I am glad to be here and glad to see the familiar names. I have not been around much mostly because I have not been driving the car and my wife has said that all has been OK (except the front end noise). I will probably be stopping by more often now that the boy has the car. I know that something will need repaired after he drives it for a while.

Thanks again,
Dan

[xeroinfinity]

No problem Dan!
Hopefull its not to serious. And you're right about things going wrong when your sons driving.
My boys(and daughters) have been doing a number on thier cars already.

[Hoags]

Xero,

It has already started,lol, the kid came home the other day and said that there is something wrong with the tranny, it is grinding every time he shifts into 2nd or 3rd gear. I took it for a ride and it was a little tempermental so I told him to check the tranny fluid (a great little perk of the 96 2.4L w/manual tranny) the fluid level was a little low so I added about a 1/2 qt. and told him to drive it and let me know. That seemed to take care of that. Now it seems as if there is an exhaust leak some where up front. When I told him that the car is going to need exhaust work, he got real mad. I don't know if he is mad because it is leaking or the fact that he realized that he will not be able to drive for a couple of days while I get it repaired. It's not like he has to pay for it although I should make him pay the bill maybe he will take it easy on the car after paying a repair bill. Dloubt it!

Dan

[xeroinfinity]

Glad the trans wasnt an issue Dan! Kinda pricey fixing broken ones.

On your son paying for repairs, that can go two ways from my experiance.
Either he'll take care of it and wont beat it up causing break downs.
Or because he paid for repairs, he'll think he can run the DP out of it more often. lol

Ive made my older boys pay for and actualy do some repairs. That seems to keep them from doggin/beating it up. Though accidents do happen, and older cars do need typical maintenance/repairs as the miles roll on.

I hope my kids dont turn out to be gear heads like me!
Me youngest just turned 12 , he's already asking when he can buy a car. He's gonna cost me!

[doctorhrdware]

So that way he can learn to drive the car in your front yard.