Everytime i go over bumps or bumps in the road i can hear a creeking sound. i know my mount mounts are shot cause front was leaking a little while ago, getting new ones this weekend. Would the mounts make that noise as well. kinda sounds like an old chevy cab shaking around.

 

Could be the Sway Bar links or many other suspension elements..

 

While installing the mounts, check the front suspension out. Could be most anything....worn bushings, links, joints, etc.
You can try spraying some WD40 on the bushings to see if the "creaking" sound temporarily stops.

 

Sorry to sound a little dumb but never really messed with anything to do with bushings, links, or joints. What would i be looking for?? i know the ball joints, have no clue about the links and the bushings i know what they are as i helped my dad when i was a kid replace some on an old lincoln. but how do i tell if things need to be replaced?

 

I had a similar problem. Heard this weird creaking when I'd go over bumps or get in the car. Can't tell you exactly what it is because your situation might be different but I just did a power steering flush and used the lucas oil power steering fluid with anti-squeak or whatever (it's rated for all brands including Honda/Acura) and my squeak went away after I did it and properly ran the fluid through the system. I also saw great improvement in steering ability. Pretty sweet if you ask me. Might give that a try. It's pretty easy.

 

All your suspension components are connected with rubber. Rubber ages and dries out. It may be any of those causing it, like your sway bar bushings or shock top hats.

 

Check the ball joints also upper and lower.

 

thanks guys appreciate the help.

 

came across this while i was ordering mounts, what you guys think???

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SUSPENSION-ACURA-CL-TL-HONDA-ACCORD-98-99-00-01-02-03-/130475330369?_trksid=p2054897.l4275#ht_3316wt_986

 

i was thinking of ordering the above since the car is 15 yrs already. Again not really good with the suspension aspect, but what else would i change while i'm down there, are the sway bar links and bushings the other suspension pieces i'm missing to replace that aren't in that kit?

 

That "E-bay" suspension kit may possibly be of inferior quality, IDK.
If ya only wanna get a year or two out of the car and are capable of DIY, it may get ya by........But if ya gotta pay a shop to do the labor work involved with installation, you're better off buying better brands of parts IMO. Have a shop give ya an estimate of what's actually bad first. Your car may not need all of those parts ?

 

i've been slowly replacing what i can when the money comes around cause i plan on keeping the car as long as i can. Trans was just rebuilt Nov 2012 with a lifetime warranty, i've only put 3k on it so far but need to change my mounts that i just ordered today. Timing belt, water pump, and crank seal have been taken care of. The way i've been going about the repairs is basically that the car is 15 yrs old and needs to be replaced anyway so i'd rather just do everything in one shot in sections, timing belt, mounts, suspension, shocks, etc... Now that i ordered the mounts i wanna focus on getting the suspension new too. So saw that kit and caught my eye to make that my next priority to change. I'll probably just order from rockauto instead of that ebay one but what exactly am i missing to replace in the front??? everything that kit includes plus stabilizer bar and bushings or am i missing other stuff that i can change while i'm there.

 

I ordered the mounts friday and got them in yesterday pretty dam fast if you ask me, ended up getting the DEA 5 mounts contempting installing them tonight or at least the motor mounts but not sure as won't really have good lighting. any tips for installation??

 

As far as the control arms, are they reuseable or do they need to be replaced?? like can i just buy the ball joints and whatever it needs....

 

You can replace the bushings on the lower control arms. The lower ball joint is pressed into the knuckle. On the upper control arms, you can replace the ball joints, but I don't believe that the bushings are serviceable. Most people just replace the upper control arms as an assembly with new ball joints already pressed in.

 

So i can get away with doing the bushings and changing the ball joint for the lower control arm but for the upper its better to just replace the whole assembly?

 

The lower ball joint is separate from the control arm as previously mentioned by MBP 03. If bad and replacing it, also check the wheel bearing while things are torn apart.

If your car doesn't have alot of miles, check the upper control arm's bushings and if ok, then ya only need to have the ball joint installed if it's bad. Be careful of purchasing some of the "cheapo" replacement arms.

 

Even the Moog upper control arms are hit or miss when it comes to quality. Both of mine had bushings that were binding up almost right from the start and making popping noises whenever the suspension would move up and down. I bought a set of OEM control arms and all is well again.

 

i'm at 112k miles, how does one do a proper check of these bushings?? and i was still a little confused about upper control arm, so if the bushings are good the upper ball joint is replaceable??

 

The best way to check bushings is to listen for any abnormal noises and to look for excessive play. A pry bar works really well for moving suspension components around to see how much play they have.

The upper ball joints can be replaced without having to buy entire control arms.

 

So ended up trying to remove the mounts yesterday and holy cow those bolts are tight. i started with the rear since its the hardest and couldn't break loose the bigger bolt so ended up going to a friends and used a compressor to loosen them. Went back home to finish the job and the smaller bottom bolts are just as tight. So getting a couple 1/2 extensions for a little more force as the 3/8 was not cutting it. We also checked out my ball joints and they are shot, so my friend has a garage full of tools so he offered to help do the ball joints part. Going to try and tackle the mounts after i get the extensions.

 

Make sure that ya read the "DIY"s and previous threads on replacing mounts for some good tips.

 

We have a pretty awesome DIY here, I always read them before I go at it, even if I know what I'm doing. I went at the mounts yesterday had sprayed them with wd40 prior to starting, and couldn't budge the first one with a 3/8 racket so I went and bought 1/2 extensions cause I needed them and PB blaster. so I sprayed them just now and will spray them in the morning as well and will go at it again.

 

Holy cow that rear mount is a bitch! Took me 2hrs just for the rear, the front and side are pretty easy. I was going to do the tranny ones but I'm tired as hell and they still look pretty good. My mysterious idle problem appears to have disappeared so far after changing the mounts.

 

You must have had a vacuum leak from one of the old mounts being bad

 

How bad was the condition of the old mounts after removed ?

 

The front and rear mounts didnt have any tears but the front was leaking fluid previously, the side mount was completely destroyed. Looks like i spoke to soon cause i had warmed her up and test drove her as soon as i installed them and usually the idle issue is very noticeable as it does the revving up and down but it didn't intially. I drove it home 45 mins and when i stopped the revving was back. i replaced the IACV last year so might just be dirty, so will look into when i get the chance.

 

If ya just recently replaced the IAC valve, it should be ok....IMO.
Have ya checked the coolant level in the rad lately ? Could be a faulty thermosensor or trapped air within the cooling system.
Ya may want to consider having the system pressure checked for leaks. Do both cooling fans come on ?

 

^ yeas sounds like you may need to burp some air out of the cooling system

 

i have a small leak somewhere of coolant cause i can smell it after a decent drive, but my radiator is constantly full, like i said previously, slowly trying to replace everything. Coolant lines are on the list. I know the ones in the airbox will be routed to each other once i get an intake. That leaves i believe the two lines that connect on to the throttle body and the heater house that connects to the block. the fans do come on and my temp guage actually is stuck at half way. i replaced both the sensors that are near the thermostat last year and still gauge stayed at half. what drives the temp guage, cause i know when i took the dash apart last year, it looks like i forgot to plug in the buttons that control the mileage counter, not sure if that would effect temp guage.

 

Check the temp guage sending unit sensor's connections.

 

Where's that bad boy located???

 

The actual sensor is near the engine's T-stat.
But, the problem may actually be something within the dash or the guage itself, IDK ???

 

I was so excited after I put the mounts on that it didn't do the constant revving after I took it for the test spin, guess I jinxed myself. Weird thing is I can tell when it starts having the idle issue because when I'm coming to a complete stop my car does a quick rev right before dead stop, also noticed that I feel the engine shifting as if the mounts are messed up but not as hard as when they are messed up and my idle seems to be a pinch past 1k. But when its not doing the idle issue all the symptoms I mentioned completely disappear and my idle is back to normal.