PelicanParts.com

Keep us posted. I would have thought motor mounts as well but maybe you found the issue. Thank you for your order.
Mark/Pelican Parts

Bruce In Philly

Yea, I am taking a chance here.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

makemann

Bump. (See what I did there?)

Any news on if you solved the problem?

kkswow12

sub'd

makemann

Bruce In Philly, did you ever solve this issue? I have a similar sound in my '09 Carrera.

Bruce In Philly

No.

I replaced the sway bar links.... seems most advice I had was here... and no it did not work. I still have the clunk. Only $100 for two and I did the job in 1 hour total. Really easy.

So..... I think it is one of the control arms. Unfortunately, there are five arms in there. I had a 2000 Boxster S that I got 197K miles on the chassis and went through quite a few control arms.... the one that always went, clunked, was the lateral one with the fork on one end. I also replaced the one this one bolted to that had the ball joint in it.

Pull up the catalog and you will see the ones I am referring to.

http://www.porsche.com/usa/accessori...artscatalogue/

I pulled the wheel yesterday and saw the arm with the fork is really tough to remove as the forward end requires the pan to be removed.... I need a lift. Otherwise it is a simple unbolt, bolt procedure.

The arm with the ball joint is one that is used to adjust camber. You can replace it but you need to mark the camber bolt thingy to get put it back and keep your camber setting. This is not hard to do.

As I write this, I don't know what to do. If I take it to the dealer, it will cost over $1,000 to replace.

The lateral arm costs about $220 from Pelican, but the TRW OEM is half that (but you have to buy two). The one with the ball costs $465 but the TRW OEM costs just $165. I have no problem buying the TRW parts... they are the same.

So..... you can see taking it to the dealer is very expensive and doing the work yourself is cheap. Of course the real problem is diagnosing which part is the problem.

For my Boxster, I had one of the highest mileage cars at the time and dealer could not find the clunk. They, knee jerked and replaced the links and of course it did nothing. So the shop foreman put on a set of chassis ears and we drove around and found the clunk to be the forked, lateral arm. And because I had a few of these replaced over the years, I suspect it to be that one also... if not that, then the once it bolts to with ball joint.

I just don't know what to do right now..... I may just throw in the towel and take the car to my indy (that dealer shop foreman now has a shop). I know what he will do.... put on the chassis ears and go for a ride.

I have been posting questions about this clunk for 6 months and not getting good answers. I am a bit surprised by this.

Given that the cost for dealer work is so darn high and these parts are relatively cheap if you buy the TRW OEM from Pelican, and they do wear out.... I have no problem buying them and just replacing them as a gamble. But I see I can't get to that one darn bolt without a lift..... you have to drop the under-tray.

Stay tuned.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

Bruce In Philly

Can you describe you noise?

Given my experience with my long ownership of the Boxster S, and so many years on the Boxster boards, I found that the dealers just go after the common part... in the case of the Boxster, it is the forked arm.

Better description of the noise in my '09 C2S. Mostly it is a clunk but can be described as a rattle. The rattle sound only appears if I am driving on a road being resurfaced... lotsa them around after that crazy winter.

I did pull the carpet and check the three bolts on top of the strut.... tight.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

makemann

I just took it for a spin and would describe it the same: a clunk with a rattle at the finish. It sounds like it's emanating from the passenger rear. I thought it might be the rear spoiler, but it sounds more like it is located higher on the suspension.

I have to add that it was more pronounced in colder weather. I haven't noticed as much when the weather warmed.

I recorded a sample of it and will post it once I figure out how to.

Bruce In Philly

Same as mine.... it sounds like something is in the body panel higher in the car. These noises travel as all of the metal is tightly attached. When the tech used chassis ears, even then he was not 100% sure which arm it was because everything is so coupled and the sound travels in the metal.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

chris.hanle

Not to just throw more information at you, but I have had a clunk then jingle (over bumps/ road imperfection) other cars and it turned out to be shocks/struts. None yet on my 997 but it has only 14 k miles on it.

makemann

The dealer service tech who looked at it said the shocks/struts were solid. I also only have 19,600 miles on mine.

Bruce In Philly

Thanx Chris... to be fair, it could be any of these parts. But I suspect the control arm(s) because that is what went, a few times, on my Boxster S over its 197K miles life. In that time, I never had a strut (shock/spring) problem with rattle or clunking.

I did, however, around 150K miles, had the tip of a spring break in the front. Really odd. About 6" snapped. This never rattled, clunked or changed the handling characteristics in any way at least as far as I could tell. It was discovered at an inspection by my Porsche indy. My indy thought it was from a defect in mfgr as the spring at that point, is flat against the stop and not free to flex like most of the spring.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

stevepow

Old topic I know, but I have had this issue for a few years - not bad enough to put much effort into it though, but it does bother me.

It's a "clunk" sound that happens only on a specific type bump - has to kick the rear up sharply at a relatively low speed or it doesn't happen and it is hard to find a place that will reliably repro the sound. Most speed bumps won't do it.

It sounds almost like I'm carrying a loose piece of 2x4 in the trunk - but there is no trunk back there! Or it makes me think maybe something is loose in the subwoofer chamber. I don't get any rattle or metallic sounds - just a clunk.

Just wondering if any wisdom has grown around this issue since...

Bruce In Philly

You described mine accurately. Yes I still have it. I think I know what it is now....... I think it is the sun roof. I noticed just the other day in that warm spell that I don't get it when the unit is open. I only get the clunk when it is closed. I was trundling around on dirt roads doing photography where I hear this sound the most. I swear the sound is coming from the subwoofer area but I put pressure on the ceiling just behind the sun roof and it won't clunk. Hmmm....

So, maybe this weekend I am going to pull the headliner and look.

I know from experience with control arms that sound travels through these metal chassis so Id'ing source location is really tough.... but I am skeptical the clunk I hear at the top of the engine, just to the right, subwoofer area can be coming from the sunroof.... but it just may.

So I did some research on sunroof noise and theire is a ton out there. The sounds seem to be the consequence of many little issues.... some make tinkly noises, others clunks, others only when open .... etc etc.....

I will keep you posted.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

JAGMAN1

I have this noise too. I've investigated and can find nothing. I haven't been too invasive in my searches. This on a '11 S Cab. I don't think it's from the sunroof. But the noise seems higher up to me. In the vicinity of the right upper shock mount.