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By Mukesh, March 31, 2014



My 1999 Corolla with 132K miles have been clunking/rattling noise while going over bumps. It sounds like it's on the passenger side. Does anyone know of what it could possibly be that is causing the clunking noises? I am not sure if it's strut. Any suggestion is appreciated. Incase, if I have to replace strut; should I do both front " ReadyMount Complete Strut Assembly" OR just on passenger side.

I was going through suggested forums and most guys are saying to check "Stabilizer End Link". My question; how to check Stabilizer End Link and Sway bar.

See the following link and let me know if this has to be placed too:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EOGWPO/ref=s9_simh_gw_p263_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1E99X4N7FAJ05H9MFZVP&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1688200382&pf_rd_i=507846

Thanks

Parts are replaced in pairs (both sides) at the same time... Check struts, stabilizer bar links and mount bushings, wheel bearings, inner and outer tie-rod ends, ball joints, and control arm bushings. If you can't figure out how, have it inspected by someone who does.

When this happened to my '01 Corolla in the rear, it was because the rear shocks were totally bad.

When this happened in the front of my '03, it was just after I replaced the front struts. Turns out the large nut on top of the strut under the grease cap needed to be tightened more.

Thanks for all your answers; but I was hoping some one direct me right direction..

Clunking could be from a number of possible sources - so that's why the answers are so broad. You'll have to do some diagnostic work to try and eliminate possible culprits.

Very possible that the clunking noise could be noise transmitted from another location, seemingly unrelated source. Examples - person at work had a similar situation to your clunking noise - sounded like it came from the rear, passenger side. One of us jumped into the trunk to verify - turned out, it was a broken hold-down bolt on his spare tire that was causing the clunking noise over bumps. I my case - it was a missing axle carrier bolt on my Corolla - pretty obvious once I pulled the rear wheel off. But it sounded like it was up higher, like a strut mount problem.

Try and to replicate the noise you hear with someone riding in the rear seat - try to pinpoint the noise. Best if you have someone else drive while you listen for the noise, since you know what you heard the first time around.

Once you've localized the noise - look for anything obviously loose or damaged. Wear on endlinks may or may not be visually detectable. You'll have to tug, push, pull, turn, pretty much all the suspension bits to see how much excessive play or movement there is there. Anything that has excessive movement or play - would definitely be a possible culprit. Also note that with your model year and mileage - more than likely there is more than one culprit. If some suspension component has worn to the point of being heard - possible it has accelerated the wear on neighboring components as well.

Fishexo01, Thanks for your suggestions. I son drove while I sat on rear side. I am sure the sound came from front side of passenger. I checked struts and it seems to be OK; I also checked stabilizer bar link and I found it has some play right/left movement. Is that normal? Is there way to check faulty stabilizer bar link?

Thank again for your suggestions.

Great! So you've isolated it to the front passenger corner. That helps a lot with trying to narrow down what it could possibly be. Stabilizer endlinks can move, but should resist movement if you try and move it with your hands - generally need to use a prybar or similar to put enough pressure on the links to see if they have any play. If you were able to wiggle them around easily by hand, that is almost a sure fire sign that those links are worn out.

Other possibilities to check on:

- Lower ball-joint is also a possible culprit, have to use a pry bar to check for movement on that - should have no up/down or side to side play on that joint, should act as a axial pivot point only

- Upper strut mount (there is a little rubber cap at the top, pull that off and verify that there is plenty of grease in there and it isn't heavily discolored or dried out)

- Inner and outer tie-rod ends for the steering, check for slop there. Steering can still feel pretty decent, with worn tierod ends - up to the point that they fail

- Front stabilizer (sway) bar bushings, when rotted, can make for a significant amount of noise. Look at rubber bushings (two points) by the front cross member - look for signs of cracks, softened rubber, etc.

- Serpentine belt tensioner can also lead to possible noise issues, worn engine and transaxle mounts, contact or interference issues with the coil spring with strut body or other parts of the car, worn exhaust gaskets or loose/missing clamps and pipe hangers can also lead to noise issues over bumps that can sound like they come from the front corners of the car.

Great suggestions. I will follow all latter tomorrow; but for sure I easily able to move stabilizer end links with my hand to left and right.

Just buy a set of sway bar links off ebay . Less than $10 for the pair. They need replacing anyway and having replaced many sets on corolla's and other cars it is most likely your problem . While you are at it , buy or borrow a 4.5 inch high speed grinder and metal cut off wheels from harbor freight. You can cut the old sway bar links off in 10 minutes. Trying to unbolt them is next to impossible. It turns the whole job into less than an hour.

Thanks guys for all your help and suggestion's. Over weekend, I replaced stabilizer end link (Beck Arnley 101-4873 Stabilizer End Link) got from Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EOGWPO/ref=s9_simh_gw_p263_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1E99X4N7FAJ05H9MFZVP&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1688200382&pf_rd_i=507846

No clunking sound any more and suspension looks steady the ride to work was so smooth. What a big difference.

It was impossible to unbolt the nuts and as suggested, I used metal grinder to cutoff the bolt and that made job easier.

Thank you again to everyone for helping me. Good work.



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