An Irritating Mystery Clunk from the front

[Dave Hansford]

Hi guys: I’m hoping for a revelation here... our 2008 Outback starts an annoying clunk over any rough surface, coming from the front driver’s side. It’s a heavy, “cast-metal” sounding noise. It might be easiest if I start by telling you all the stuff I’ve replaced, so that we can technically rule them out: sway bar bushes, end links, suspension ball joints, all LCA bushes, struts, strut mounts.

I’ve driven myself mad testing and torquing nuts for tightness under there.

i wondered if anyone else had experienced this, and better still, found the culprit? A search on outback.org reveals it as a common thing, but no-one knows what it is (except for one irritating character who reckons he does, but won’t say).

Calipers, caliper brackets, steering rack bolts, wheel lug nuts are all tight. I don’t think it’s axle nuts or bearings because there’s no play when I try to wobble the wheels.

So now, I’m harbouring a conspiracy theory that there may be some systemic issue with the front CV joints, as though the inner yoke might be able to clunk around in the cup. They’ve only done 80,000 km, but I could test them, I guess, by pulling them apart and packing more grease in there... I do know that a lot of vibration issues in these cars can be traced back to CVs, so that might be a clue.

Anyway... I hope someone can put me out of my misery with sage advise. Cheers...

 

[subyroo]

Have you had the struts (shockers) themselves tested to make sure they are working correctly?

 

[Dave Hansford]

No, but they’re brand new Bilsteins. I guess that doesn’t rule out a fault, but I’d be surprised (and pissed off, given what I spent on them!) If I just stand there and rock that corner of the car up and down, I can’t make it do the noise. It’s short stutter bumps, like a rough gravel road, that gets it going.

 

[Ratbag]

Dave, have you examined and checked torque on engine and gearbox mounts?

 

[Dave Hansford]

Dave, have you examined and checked torque on engine and gearbox mounts?

Thanks; that’s a good suggestion. I only checked the dogbone, so I’ll take a look at those mounts next...

 

[Ben Up North]

NVM