Bill, I can help you nearly any day next week (weekend is spoken for...). Give me a call.

Bob

 

Bob: I will call....

Today George and I replaced a bad axle. No change in clunk.

Note I cannot create the clunk by accelerating or decelerating no matter how jerky I do it. Only rolling, even very slowly, over somewhat uneven pavement produces the clunk. Turning the steering wheel sharply back and forth while rolling, but not stationary, produces the clunk.

So, Bob, If I can create the clunk while rolling slowly down your street, maybe you can help me locate the source area by walking alongside the car.

 

1 - Could it be perhaps an electrical connector (or even a section of harness) that may have come loose from its mounting and is now hanging down in a loop with enough slack to swing into a body panel somewhere?

2 - Are you certain the battery hold down bracket is tightly secured so the battery is not able to shift within its metal box..?

3 - Have you've checked closely around all the coil springs to make sure that any component that's close (with clearance at rest) doesn't make contact once the spring compresses?

4 - Do you park underneath oak trees? Seriously. I have seen those pesky acorns get down into some amazing places, and being hard and round, they just keep rolling all around forever...

 

I would be checking the forward LCA bushings. And making sure the bushing has not separated......

 

Broken chassis? Sway bar mount?

 

chassis cracks can be found usually on the right frame rail between the lower control arm mounting points,
water fills the frame and then rust corrodes the metal,
your hint that its possible is if the tow hook plug is still installed .

also the sway bar mounts can rip off the chassis but this usually happens to cars that are tracked

 

Could someone have dropped a ball into the rear air condition vent and its rolling side to side.
I have found seat rail ***** that will get loose and roll up and down the tracks , and these are easy to hear spray grease keeps them quiet

 

Passenger seat belt buckle hitting 1/4 panel

 

Sway bar mounts and links are intact. Lower control arms are good. Seat belt buckles are not doing it. I'll look for frame rail cracks, but I rather doubt it.

Remember the car must be rolling slowly and there is NO clunk at all from steering even violently when stationary nor is there any clunk at all from acceleration or braking even when abrupt and repeated. But roll slowly over an uneven surface or steer sharply when rolling slowly, and clunks appear.

It sounds like something swinging side to side, striking a body panel with a thud. I was sure it was one of my HID ballasts in the fender. I strapped them down better, then I got rid of them altogether. I've gone through each wheel well looking for something loose as well as the front and rear bumper areas. As much as I have probed, I can't find anything substantial loose. What few items I have found hanging, I've secured. I padded the high pressure power steering hose as it passes near the inner fender and head.

The old car is developing some quirks. Remember I've had a high speed vibration (at 75+ MPH) for over 4 years that has not changed in that time despite 3 different sets of wheels and tires, new axles, tranny mounts, etc., etc. Nicole has the same vibration that has not been resolved.

Keep the ideas coming!

 

Bill for the shimmy check the rear lower control arm leaf springs for proper condition
NOTE they should be flat, if the car was ever towed then the blade may heve been used to hook a tow chain.

 

So I've now got a clunk on acceleration once I warm the car up. Motor mounts are new and so are transmission mounts. I think my torque tube damper is loose. Problem is I don't here it on decoration. I think I soon will. How soon do I need to tear the bearings out and call Constantine? Or get a rebuilt torque tube from 928int?

 

Stan: Those "leaf springs" are straight and never used to tow or tie down the car.

Some good news....I've localized the source to the right front wheel area by walking alongside the car while a friend drove it. Going to get under there again and go over every part of it.

 

well that narrows things down
I would suggest to remove the RF wheel and liner check the washer bottle the headlight washer hoses and the charcoal canister lines also look abve all of it to see if something might be rolling around on the top side of the fender well between the fender and chassis

 

Well, I went over to Bob's. Unfortunately the car was not clunking very frequently. Still, Bob heard it in the right front wheel area. We found slight play in the rotor. We disassembled to hub. Although we found the inner bearing seal was failing and the red synthetic grease was turning somewhat black. The spindle looked good. We cleaned it up, repacked the bearings and tightened things for now (will do bearings ASAP) with no change in the clunk.

Stan, I did as you suggested, taking the water bottle and cannister out, seeing nothing amiss, reinstalling it.

Bob and I found nothing loose. We drove around with only rare clunks despite rough streets. But on the way home I heard a lot more.

More observations:

Bob could feel the clunk on the inside of the right rocker area and the floor while we drove around with him in the passenger seat. Something substantial is swinging against a panel or inside a frame rail.

The sound is more metallic outside the car, while it sounds like a thud inside the car.

Sometimes it happens at very slow speed with the slightest provocation and other times no amount of jostling will bring it on.

I spent more time under the car peering up and poking everything that hangs under the car.

This is driving me crazy.

 

Loose horn assembly? It's located in there.