rear suspension clunking noise

[chadwick609]

I had my rear struts replaced about a year and a half ago. Before that this noise was non-existent. There has been a loud clunking noise coming from the rear passenger area of the car. That whole area of the car also rattles violently when i go over any road imperfections. I have taken the car back three to four times to the garage where the suspension was originally repaired , and they replaced the strut each time. The noise did not go away. I now work at a car dealer and I had the head mechanic look at it, he tried for about forty five minutes to figure out what it could be and he coudln't come up with any solid conclusions. Any help would be greatful.

[MIKEMAN]

Loud Thumping noise

It could be that your upper rear strut mounts are shot, and or they were not tightenend properly when your new struts/shocks were replaced.
I had the exact problem, and I put up with the noise for about a month before I removed the assembly placed it into a vice and tightened with an impact gun. . . Problem Solved, Good-Luck

[chadwick609]

They looked at the strut mounts when they were trying to figure out the noise, they were tightened to the car, but I will check and see if they can take it off and tighten it in a vice like you said. Thank You

[Mach10]

Haven't seen the rear suspension of a lumina, but it could be a couple of things:

1) broken spring or spring perch (happend on our minivan. Made a HELL of a racket, only top coil snapped, so it didn't sag)

2) Worn out/missing spring pad

3) bad bushing in control arms

4) loose spindle nut (if this is the case, consider your wheelbearings officially "boned"

5) Worn ball joint(s)


If you mechanic managed to miss ANY of these, find a new one, and never look back.


Easiest way to tell is to pick up the car on stands, grab the rear wheels, and look for play (pitch, yaw, lateral) and go from there.

[cutlass supreme FE3]

so what was causing the clunking? I have this same problem now.

[3100 MPFI]

ummm. What is the YEAR, MAKE, and MODEL of the car?

There are different setups depending on if your car is a GEN 1, or 1.5, or 2 w-body, that will also be different if you are in a n-body or j-body, or a minivan.

Kinda need to know what we are working on before we can diagnose.

[bszopi]

Its a 1988 Olds Cutlass Supreme )(http://60degreev6.com/forum/f106/me-...g-hi-to-t41962).

And I wouldn't expect the OP to answer, considering this post is 3 yrs old...

[RedZMonte]

you don't have rear ball joints or coil springs in the rear so no spring, perch, spring bushings or control arms (2 lateral links and a trailing arm in place of control arm.. Multi link rather then a wishbone..). Coil over strut where not used in the rear untill 1995+ in the monte carlo and luminas then later in the 1997+ Grand prix's. All 1st gen w-bodies have a multi link rear suspension and a mono leaf spring. Some have Sway bars some do not... if its a DOHC i think you should have a sway bar... Not 100% sure on the '88s

make sure the upper mount is good. Make sure the strut is tight to the mount, and make sure the mount is tight to the car. double check the 2 large bolt holding the strut to the spindle. check the sway bar bushing and center mounts, if you have a swaybar. check the mono leaf in the rear make sure its secure and make sure the ends of the mono leaf have the rubber bushings on the tips.. if they bushings are gone or worn your leaf will clunk on the knuckle. check the lateral links (from center of car to knuckle) if they are bent they could be hitting the rear sub frame (they where bent to shit on my old lumina)..


There isnt alot to the rear suspension its actually a pretty simple design.

Hope this helps... I don't know alot but i know these cars suspension pretty well.
S

[cutlass supreme FE3]

thanks that was alot of help.
i will take a look once the snow is gone and we get some plus temps.