Clunking and Thunking

[Dustygirl01]

Hi!

I have a 1999 CR-V that has been an awesome car. It currently has 120,000 miles on it.

However, whenever I drive over any little bump or dip in the road, there's a terrible thunking noise that seems to come from the passenger side front part of the undercarriage. Also, now I'm noticing rattling and thunking in the rear. We've put new struts on, and had the car to two different garages in an attempt to find what's causing the rattling and thunking. At this stage, we're thinking a bushing is out, but no one can find it.

Does anyone else here have any experience or advice?

I love my Honda CR-V and when it finally dies, I'll definitely buy another one.

Thanks!

[kb5jsu]

Hi!

I have a 1999 CR-V that has been an awesome car. It currently has 120,000 miles on it.

However, whenever I drive over any little bump or dip in the road, there's a terrible thunking noise that seems to come from the passenger side front part of the undercarriage. Also, now I'm noticing rattling and thunking in the rear. We've put new struts on, and had the car to two different garages in an attempt to find what's causing the rattling and thunking. At this stage, we're thinking a bushing is out, but no one can find it.

Does anyone else here have any experience or advice?

I love my Honda CR-V and when it finally dies, I'll definitely buy another one.

Thanks!

Do you know if the garages checked the Transaxle mounts?

Welcome to CR-V/OC. Glad to have you aboard.

[Dustygirl01]

Hi...

I have no idea if they were checked. At the one garage it was put on the lift, they tried shaking it around to try to get it to make the noise, looked around, and couldn't really find anything. They tried tightening up a few things, but it didn't solve the problem.

[2RedV's]

It most likely is the sway bar end links. With 120k miles on it, they are probably shot. It is very hard to diagnose but they are cheap to buy and cheap to replace. If the V clunks when going over uneven (not like a speed bump in the mall) bumps, this is a probable cause. You can buy them on eBay too.

[Dustygirl01]

Hi...

Thanks for the info. I will definitely check into that. My car does make the clunking and thunking going over speed bumps as well. That's kind of why we looked into the struts needing replaced.

At this point I'm thinking I need to take it to a Honda dealer for work as opposed to my local garage. The only issue is, where the Honda dealer is (the Big City) the roads are smooth and so they won't hear the problem. Get in on country roads and it sounds like the undercarriage is about to fall off.

What's your take on Honda dealers doing the work vs. a regular garage?

EDITED and UPDATED....I was at the grocery store today, so I drove my car over the speed bump. I usually straddle the bump and go around it part way so just one side of my car goes over it, the other side is on flat ground. Today I drove over it with all 4 wheels. It didn't make the clunking noise...however, when the front went over the bump, the back thunked and vice versa.

[2RedV's]

Hi...

Thanks for the info. I will definitely check into that. My car does make the clunking and thunking going over speed bumps as well. That's kind of why we looked into the struts needing replaced.

At this point I'm thinking I need to take it to a Honda dealer for work as opposed to my local garage. The only issue is, where the Honda dealer is (the Big City) the roads are smooth and so they won't hear the problem. Get in on country roads and it sounds like the undercarriage is about to fall off.

What's your take on Honda dealers doing the work vs. a regular garage?

EDITED and UPDATED....I was at the grocery store today, so I drove my car over the speed bump. I usually straddle the bump and go around it part way so just one side of my car goes over it, the other side is on flat ground. Today I drove over it with all 4 wheels. It didn't make the clunking noise...however, when the front went over the bump, the back thunked and vice versa.

Good job. When the sway bar links are going bad and you go over a bump equally, it puts no load on the sway bar end links, hence no noise. When you hit a bump unequally, it puts a load on them and you get the noise.

[kb5jsu]

This is all good stuff to know. I'll keep this in mind if I start hearing such noises. Thanks to both of you.

[2RedV's]

Here's a seller that has the aftermarket front ones so that you can see what they look like.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2-Front-Sway-bar-link-kit-for-Honda-CRV-1997-2001_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33592QQitemZ290090 180993QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

They are about $40 cheaper (if I recall correctly) than going with genuine Honda. I put these same aftermarket ones on my 99 but not from this seller.

[Dustygirl01]

Great...thanks!!! Are they fairly easy to install yourself?

[2RedV's]

Great...thanks!!! Are they fairly easy to install yourself?
If they are not too rusted and you can get the nuts off, it is easy. For the front ones, I found it easier to remove the front wheels and remove the lower A arm to obtain better access. Start by spraying the bolts/nuts with something like CRC-56 or similar to loosen them up a couple of days before you try it.

I just cut the rear ones off, but then I had access to air tools.

It shouldn't take a regular mechanic with a lift and good tools more than hour to do either set.

[Dustygirl01]

Sounds great...thanks!