I'm having a strange issue, which I've noticed for just over a week or so now. Whenever I have to brake fairly hard and stop suddenly, I hear a clunk from the rear of my car as the car comes to a stop.

The setup:
- 2004 6MT TSX
- A-Spec Suspension
- Progress RSB
- Hawk HPS brake pads

What I have checked:
- I have lubed the RSB bushings and tightened all connections
- I have pulled out the rear seats and re-tightened all four bolts atop the strut towers
- There is nothing in my trunk or elsewhere in my car that could be moving around causing noise

I had the Hawk HPS pads put on about five weeks ago now by my Acura dealership. I didn't notice this noise until a week ago so I don't think this is related to that.

My other suspicion would be a blown rear shock. My car's handling fine, though, and when I push down on the rear sides of the car I'm not noticing anything weird in terms of dampening etc.

Does anyone have any ideas on what could be causing this? Because I'm stumped at this point. There doesn't seem to be any performance effects of the noise so far, but obviously I want to take care of it because it's making me paranoid.

Thanks for any input.

- Matt

 

Shocks was my guess, but you said it isn't doing anything weird when you push on it, so....

Sorry I'm not of more help.

 

The only thing that comes to mind (I had a similar problem) was the end link studs (not the sway bar, but the links that the sway bar attachés to). My right side top stud (the one that attachés the link to the hub) was not fully tightened (my fault). It's hard to be believe (for me anyway) that that's all it was, but I just tightened that one stud and bam, problem solved. You may have already checked this, but just a thought.

 

Also, it could be one of the end links itself. They've have been known to fail (Moog makes a nice beefy replacement with grease fttings).

 

It might also be your exhaust . . . muffler or other fittings moving. Try moving your muffler to see if there is a lot of play. Keep us updated.

 

Off the top of my head, end links. I have had this problem creep into my car twice, and tightening the end links solved it both times.

Like you, the first thing I did was drop the swap bar, re-lube, and re-install. That did nothing. The end links fixed it right up. I'm still on the OEM ones.

 

Well then, I am going to get under the car and check the end links at the next available opportunity (Saturday morning, thanks to it getting dark before I get home from work nowadays!) You're right, Reach, I didn't check that. I dropped the sway bar, re-lubed it, and then re-bolted the bracket.

It's definitely not an exhaust part. I've had the Tanabe on since May and its fitment is a thing of marvel. Definitely no problems there.

Thanks for the input everyone. I'll check the RSB endlinks and report back when I get a chance.

- Matt

 

^^FYI, you won't necessarily see that one is loose (definitely if one is broken). Easy what to test is to unbolt the bushings from the chasis and the move the bar forward and backward.

 

Agree on the lack of visual evidence of a loose link. The loose link stud that was causing the noise on my car was tight, it just wasn't tight enough. You'll need a 5 mm allen wrench (I held it with vise grips) to hold the stud, and the nut is I think 14 mm (or maybe 13; sorry I can't really remember). I found it much easier with the wheels off, but that's your call.

 

Sorry for the mechanical noobness guys, but are there also end links in the front of the car? I ask because I've had a consistent clunk from my front end whenever I brake, and the dealer couldn't find the problem when I had it checked before. Just wondering if this could also be my problem.

 

Yes, the front end has them as well, but the front sway bar is not a known issue thus far.

 

Oh I've dealt with the RSB endlinks before, believe me. I installed my Progress RSB and my A-Spec suspension, so I know the joy of the hex key + box wrench combo here in the rust belt. I think it is 14mm.

Hopefully since I had the nuts off back in March for the initial install, the threads won't be TOO rusted up when I tackle this fix on Saturday!

 

It's just so annoying, and I want it fixed. It's done it since day one when I bought the car CPO. When I had it checked out earlier this year, they tightened stuff up, but I can't remember what it was. Didn't matter, because it started doing it again on the way home from the dealer, so obviously whatever they tightened wasn't the problem. Ugh, oh well. Makes the clunking noise when I turn sometimes, too.

 

Hmm, when you turn eh? Is it prominent on one side, out towards the wheel? How many miles, what year is it, etc etc. I'm think you might have a bad CV.

 

Yup, does it when braking and turning. It's strange because it doesn't seem to be on either side, and it does it no matter which way I turn, but not all the time. It's an '04 with 43k, and made this noise since I bought it at 16k. The dealership, of course, said they can't duplicate the noise.

 

Take a drive with the tech and duplicate the noise for him. Geez, by now most of you should know the "can't duplicate noise" BS Acura likes to dish out.

 

Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of doing that because they are all gone by the time I get there to drop my car off, so I'm pretty much stuck with having to tell them what the problem is instead of showing them.

 

And the 04 model year rears its' ugly head again..........Sorry; you have my sympathies. Not to pile on, but boy if I had this problem since I got the car it would have made me absolutely nuts by now (and the car would be gone)(and the new one wouldn't be an Acura/Honda)(and I'd make sure Honda new it).

 

May be worth taking a 1/2 day to get it resolved.

 

Many things on my TSX aren't stock, so I get your point. I don't think I'd do a first year car again as first time yield seemed to plague them a bit, but having tuned the car, I have absolutely no complaints except for the DBW system. Seems they've worked that bug out from reports on the newer vehicles. I've had VWs and BMWs that were far more picky about stock operations in a mature model.

 

Yeah, it is quite annoying when I think about it, but since it's been doing it so long, I just kind of got used to it. And since it (so far) has not caused any safety issue or other problem that I know of, I guess I just accepted it as one of the quirks. But, I've learned my lesson about first year models and won't get another one. Luckily though, I have the extra CPO warranty, which adds a little cushion when it comes to repairs.

Maybe what I'll do is have them look at it when I go in for my next oil change, which I'll do on a Saturday, and hopefully I can duplicate the noise for them on a test drive.

 

OK, so I re-tightened all the end-links. No dice. The car still makes the noise.

I'm out of ideas at this point. Anyone? This is really frustrating. I hate having an un-identifiable noise. It makes me overly cautious and afraid to drive the car like I know it wants to be driven.