Clunk when turning left from a stop - 94 buick century

[purplegrog]

I have a 94 buick century with ~102k miles. If I come to a stop, then turn the wheel to the left before executing a fast turn (hit the gas hard, to get across multiple lanes of traffic, for example), I hear a loud clunk coming from the driver side front. I initially thought the problem was a bad CV joint, but the boots on the inner and outer CV joint look fine to my (unqualified) eye. Making turns at speed is not a problem. I've tried doing the 9 and 3, 12 & 6 test with the wheel (grasp the wheel at 9 & 3 or 12& 6 and rock) and have had no play, so I assume the tie rod ends are fine.

Anyone have any suggestions as to what the clunking sound could be?

[tempfixit]

Try grabbing the cv shaft and moving it at inner or outer joint to see if there is any movement in them. Does it do it after braking only?? Also check your ball joints for wear.

[purplegrog]

Actually, it never does it when braking. It only makes the noise if I gun it while the wheel is turned. This might sound elementary, but when checking the ball joints for signs of wear, what exactly am I looking for?

[tempfixit]

IF you have a floor jack, jack the left lower control arm with the tire on off the ground then using a pry bar under the tire try moving wheel upwards several times to see if there is any movemnt at all, if so the ball joint has wear and will need to be replaced.

[tnt_heavychevy]

I've experienced something similar to this, my sway bar (stabalizer bar) had actually broken, not the linkage but the bar itself,lol, and whenever leaned that way, it would clunk on its broken self.