KeninBlaine

A couple of months ago I posted about a weird phenomenon occurring with my car. Since it occurred again last weekend I thought I'd post an update. My car runs perfectly when limited to shorter trips, say under 30 miles or so. But once in a while when I take a longer run like I did last weekend (approximately 40 miles), a knocking/rattle develops that sounds like a loose suspension joint under the passenger side of the car. It is hard to tell if it is towards the rear or the front, but is most noticeable when driving slowly, say 10-20 mph (when road noise is not sufficient to mask it). On top of that, a groaning sound becomes evident in the front right strut when turning the wheel (including while stationary). When I put my finger on the top of the strut in trunk and had someone turn the steering wheel, it felt like what a metal rod turning inside a rubber clamping device would feel like. But if you leave the car overnight, there are none of these symptoms the next day unless I take a long enough drive.

On Monday I drove it sufficiently to get the noise back, then dropped into my local shop that installed the Damptronics last spring (about 10k miles ago) so they could hear the noises. I'm leaving the car with them when I leave town tomorrow for the weekend, so they can take a look and fix whatever is wrong. The mechanic thought it might be a sway bar bushing. I'm hoping it will be obvious when they get it on the hoist and look at everything. But just in case it isn't obvious, I'd appreciate any info or opinions some of you may have from any similar experiences. I'll provide updated info about whatever the shop finds later this week or early next week.