Hi all,

This is my first post, but I've been lurking for a while. Seems like most of the other questions I have had were already answered about a dozen times so I never needed to post before now.

A while back I hit the pothole to end all potholes (it was filled with water so I didn't know it was there). Anyway, it broke my wheel and I had to get that replaced. Lately, I've been noticing a clunking noise from that wheel (right front) when I go over speed bumps. I took it in and they said it was a broken endlink. I ended up putting some Moog endlinks in, but the noise didn't go away. Today I decided to look around for any obviously broken parts, but couldn't see anything in the suspension. I take a look in the engine bay and sitting on that plastic piece on the bottom I found these guys. Anybody know what they are? Piece of a motor mount?

 

looks like a control arm bushing

 

That goes on top of shock

 

From the service manual that looks like...

Self locking nut
washer
rubber bushing

that does indeed go on top of your front strut. If you look at the top of your struts from the engine bay I'm sure you'll notice if it's missing.

 

wow, yeah remind me of the top of the strut, your pictures made it seem really huge.. i suggest you look asap..

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=168436

 

Thanks, I'll go check it out. Assuming I can't do anything with it right now, what should my course of action be? I set up an appointment for monday at the dealership because they won't have a loaner until then. Should I call and stress that I need to come in pronto or is this something I'm better off fixing myself?

 

it's not that hard to fix, just put the rubber, the washer part, and then tighten the bolt, unless i remember wrong..

definitely unsafe to drive it though

 

I don't mean to second guess you guys, but if I was looking at the part I think you were referring to, there's nothing missing. Here are a couple more pictures to help out.

Both sides looks like this. There doesn't appear to be anything missing, correct?


Here are the parts again with a ruler for reference.


If it helps, I found the parts toward the front of that car. I was able to get to them by unhooking part of the bumper on the bottom and just reaching in there.

 

thats a strut rod bushing, washer and bolt. they are known for working themselves loose on hondas. i had a thread on here somewhere about changing them. they will throw your caster of big time seeing as they keep the wheel from moving forward or backward under braking/acceleration.

 

Ok, I guess I'm a little confused. In the picture above of the strut, isn't that the bolt, bushing and washer safely in place? Or is that something else? Also, this 'bolt' doesn't have threads on it and is hollow. Does it fit around some bolt that's probably floating around in my engine bay?


PS: rp_guy, I'm going to be heading to Edmonton in a few weeks for work. A friend of mine (with a much nicer CLS) is also going.

 

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=193382 ??

and edmonton alberta right? what u doing here ?

 

http://www.acuraoemparts.com/delray/...All&vinsrch=no

 

Yeah thats either your strut bushing, or your radious rod bushing (Strut Rod) The radious rod is the long rod that attaches to your lower control arm and goes forward and connects to your front subframe. If that bushing is missing that would definatly cause a clunking noise

 

rp_guy:

I work for a company called National Oilwell Varco. I'll be doing engineering over there for about 3 months. And yes, Alberta.

 

OK, it's too dark to go check it out and I don't have a flash light for some reason. Considering I drive 37miles to work and back every day, is it unsafe to wait until Monday to take it in? Now that I have pieces of my car sitting on my desk while my car is in the driveway, I'm a little worried.

 

yea, the engineering ruler was a give away.
<- studying engineering

 

They may be parts that just fell into the engine bay & no one ever retrieved them. They may be old un-needed parts. You need to get your car checked out & see if anything is missing or loose.
Until your sure I wouldn't be driving it that far.

 

Exactly what I was thinking from the beginning of the post.

Its still strange though that you car is making noises. Perhaps someone who recently worked on the car forgot those parts?

 

Well, I decided not to risk it and brought it to the dealership. They verified that it was the radius rod bushing and replaced it and tightened everything up. No more noises, so that's good. They claimed they looked over everything, but I'm sure this isn't the last problem I'll have because of that pothole. Anyway, fixed for now. Thank you to everybody for helping - this turned out to be a productive first post.

 

now who wants to help me? OK guys, i need some help identifying this part. Mods please feel free to chime in. It the part thats covered in white lithium grease. Its how I found out what made the creaking sound.

 

good god, who sprayed all that grease on there? That if im not mistaken looks like the stabilizer or sway bar bushing?

 

that was me. It didnt have that much before but the noise came back in 2 days so i sprayed more and then i found out it was that part making noise.