Steering Clunking
 

I have a bad clunking in my steering. It appears to be the worst when backing up and with the wheel to the right. I have read other threads and tried the White Lithium grease on the steering column joint, but no luck.

What other possible places could this be coming from? I have had the car up on jacks and had someone turning the wheel but cannot identify the area making the clunk. What is the most obvious place it could come from? Is it a ball joint?

how many kms you got
I had a clunk and it was the tie rod end, not the ball joint but the ball and socket that is threaded into the steering rack, less than 150$ for both sides lemforder and I did them myself, make sure you get alignment after

they were worn out at 110,000kms

I have 96,000 miles on it. I really didn't want to take off the stiffening plate, but I guess I will have to now.

Have you tried to track it down using an auto stethoscope? If you don't have one any tube, even a long ratchet extension will work. You can even use the cardboard center of a roll of paper towels or a piece of garden hose. Easier if you have something metal but doesn't have to be. Just touch it to metal parts and find where the noise is the loudest.

I wouldn't be buying parts or removing the stiffing plate until at least tried the above.

U dont need to remove/touch that plate to do tierod ends...

I will try those things. Problem is the noise only occurs when driving.

That makes it harder to pinpoint.

I would do a visual check with front end off the ground. Look for dust boots that are cracked or grease around them and see how easy the tie rod and moves. Also check the connecting points of the sway bar links. They are often the first to wear out.

I have done that, but will look again. Last year I changed the control arms, and a few months back did a front axle.

Sent from my SM-T310 using Tapatalk

on mune it was the steering coupler

Does it make the noise only when the steering wheel is cranked hard to the right? Can you feel it in the steering wheel or does the steering wheel vibrate? If not, can you feel anything if you hold onto the shifter?

Yes it is only when hard to the right. No feelng I the wheel. Nothing in the shifter that I havr noticec.

Sent from my SM-T310 using Tapatalk

Did you replace both upper and lower control arms on both sides?

Yes I replaced both on both sides.

Sent from my SM-T310 using Tapatalk

The source of front end noise can be deceiving. Are you sure which side the clunk is coming from?

Just to be sure I understood properly, there is no clunk unless you are driving and turning right and it is clearly worse when in reverse.

Have you checked the torque on all the bolts that were removed when the control arm work was done? Did you do the work yourself?

Did you have an alignment after the control arms were replaced or do any work associated with the suspension--tires wheels, power steering, brakes?

You should be able to eliminate the upper and lower ball joints, tie rod ends and sway bar links. With the front end off the ground, using a decent size pair of channel locks, twist each shaft going to the joints to see if there is any play or it is very easy to move. There should be no play and they should have a decent amount of resistance to movement. You can also grab the top and bottom of the tires to see if you can move them in and out. Check the bushings on the sway bar links and see if one of the nuts are loose, also the bushings and bolts that hold entire bar in place.

I realize this is lots of checking and no fixing but that is better than replacing something and finding out it didn't cure the problem. Hopefully, you find the problem-- as there are other potential causes.

The source of front end noise can be deceiving. Are you sure which side the clunk is coming from?

Just to be sure I understood properly, there is no clunk unless you are driving and turning right and it is clearly worse when in reverse.

Have you checked the torque on all the bolts that were removed when the control arm work was done? Did you do the work yourself?

Did you have an alignment after the control arms were replaced or do any work associated with the suspension--tires wheels, power steering, brakes?

You should be able to eliminate the upper and lower ball joints, tie rod ends and sway bar links. With the front end off the ground, using a decent size pair of channel locks, twist each shaft going to the joints to see if there is any play or it is very easy to move. There should be no play and they should have a decent amount of resistance to movement. You can also grab the top and bottom of the tires to see if you can move them in and out. Check the bushings on the sway bar links and see if one of the nuts are loose, also the bushings and bolts that hold entire bar in place.

I realize this is lots of checking and no fixing but that is better than replacing something and finding out it didn't cure the problem. Hopefully, you find the problem-- as there are other potential causes.

bcredliner,

Thanks for the reply, I will try those things. I did do the control arms myself, approx six months ago. I had one problem where I overtorqued the bolt one of the ball joints. I have kept an eye on it and the noisen appears to be coming from the other side. I will check things out today.

Sent from my SM-T310 using Tapatalk

Got it up off the ground and nothing obvious. The sway bars both move easily and the ball joints seem smooth. The tie rods I can rotate with my hand. Is that normal? The control arms seems fine. One wishbone seems to wiggle a bit easier, but it is not play, just less resistance, maybe. I am at a loss. With it up off the ground there is no clunk and everything looks smooth.

More often than not, when control arms need replacement it is time to rebuild the rest of the suspension, so there is a good chance it is another part of the front suspension.

I don't know how strong you are so it is hard to tell what you mean by rotates by hand or wiggles a bit easier. When a suspension is new nothing wiggles or moves really easy, the sway bar links are close to the exception. I would think if something is bad enough to clunk you could tell it by what you have done but some suspension parts have to be tested with vehicle off the ground and with some suspension compression to test thoroughly.

Suggest you check to see if everything is tight on the strut towers. If they are I would take it to a good BMW indy shop and get it diagnosed.

By my interpretation of your description I would be guessing as to the core problem and I hesitate to suggest you rebuild the rest of the suspension and all will be well.

The following is an example of how easily worn suspension move verse new: BMW E38 7 series How to diagnose front suspension - YouTube

My clunk is nothing like that video. I just don't like my car making sounds it shouldn't. Maybe I am gonna have to wait till it gets worse to figure out what it is.

As for wiggle. I am pretty strong guy and when I grab the wishbone and try to wiggle it. It takes a lot of force to wiggle it less than a mm each way.

The only thing I noticed was that with the wheel cranked the bushing on the wishbone got a little crooked in the frame. I thought is was the problem, but then cranked it the other way and checked the other side and it was the same. These bushings only have about 8000 miles on them. Anyway here is a picture of what it looked like. Hope the pic link works.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos?p...83930964927649

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos?p...83930964927649
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos?p...83930964927649

Video was only to give you an idea how loose bad ball joints will be.

Are the control arms OE or OEM arms?

Can't get to your photos.

I only OEM parts. I think it is a ball
Joint going bad. If I crank the wheel to the right and while moving then move it back a forth a little a few times it clunks a couple of times and then goes away.

Sent from my SM-T310 using Tapatalk

If the other suspension parts have as many miles on them as the control arms did they are likely in need of replacement. The best route is to rebuild the rest of the suspension so you don't have to keep taking it apart and you only need to do one alignment.

All I need are tie rods and sway bars. Shouldn't be too expensive or difficult.

Sent from my SM-T310 using Tapatalk

Hope it goes well.

I just replaced the sway bar links and sway bar bushing. Almost clunk free. I guess I need to replace the tie rods too. Then everything will have been replaced except the struts.

Can the bad struts cause a clunk? My struts seem to be good, although they have a 100K on them.

Now I have to figure out where my oil leak is coming from. About a quart every 2000 miles.

Strut could cause a clunk but it is more likely it is one of the tie rods. Life of struts is hard to pin down. They may not be bad but if you replace them you will notice a distinct improvement.