Hi folks,

It's been a while since I posted something new on the site - been so busy with the new house, my job, and life in general. But now I have something new to report again!

For a few months now I've been noticing a clunking noise whenever I drive slowly out of a driveway or a street. At first, I attributed this to cooler weather when it first happened in late Spring but it soon became very regular, regardless of temperature. I then attributed it to my suspension causing the clunking noise. It was annoying, but nothing too bad.

Well, as of late I started noticing it more and more. I finally took it into the dealership, described the clunking, and told them I thought it was the suspension.

They told me after some diagnosing that it was the power steering rack. I also asked them to perform TSB 05-017 on the car (installing the damper to reduce the problematic 45-55 mph vibrations/droning). They wouldn't do it at first, claiming that my aftermarket tires and Comptech swaybar would cause the vibrations.

I clearly told the advisor that it has nothing to do with the swaybar or tires and they finally said they'd look into it. Apparently, the manager took the car around and confirmed the vibrations so they're now throwing the damper on for me too.

The car's not even 20,000 miles old yet and already has a new throttle body and now a new steering rack. At this rate, I should have bought the 100k/7 year warranty!

Anyway - I know there was some talk amongst us A-Spec suspension owners and the "clunking" noise - so I encourage you to get your steering rack checked. All of the symptoms fit, and it wasn't a leaking strut in my case!

 

Thanks for the heads up Lore....and welcome back to the forum....it's has been a while since we've seen you here.

 

Lore,

Did you notice anything different in the steering of the car itself when you heard the clunking? I sometimes feel my feel "catching" at when driving a low speeds and turning almost like the the wheel doesn't want to turn. It's random. It's almost as thought the power steering looses boost for a split second or the wheel hit something and fights back a little. No clunk sound though. It's too random and not easily reproduced so I have not brought it to the attention of the dealer. Thanks.

dsc888

 

Lore, good to have back! Thanks for the update and great hearing from an old timer.

 

Thanks for the welcome, guys!


I just got a call from the dealership about 20 minutes ago - they ordered the wrong part and JUST NOW found out about it. I have no idea how they delayed so long before identifying the problem. At least they've put the damper on from TSB 05-017... but man, talk about incompetence. How can you start working on a car without knowing if the parts were ready or not? I hope they didn't take apart the car entirely and realize that the parts didn't match.

The right stuff is coming in on Monday so I'll keep you guys posted then.

Regarding the loss of power - that's very sketchy. I've never noticed that; it was always easy to steer the car but whenever I went over uneven roads it'd clunk. I'd take you car in because you never know when you might lose the ability to steer entirely!

 

Oh my gosh. What FOOLS! They didn't even fix the clunking - and now they've introduced a lot of road noise into the car. I can hear the road now through the driver's side of the car, as if they removed some sound deadening material and forgot to put it back in. It rained all the way home so I kept hearing the sloshing around!

This dealership is driving me nuts - what can I do about the road noise situaton? I couldn't see anything that might have been missing, but then again I have no idea what I'm looking for.

 

could someone please post this TSB? Thanks!

 

Already posted in 3G Garage TSB listing
https://acurazine.com/forums/showpos...55&postcount=1

 

I think you need to find a different dealer, or go up the food chain and get
someone to make them fix your car correctly.

I think it would not be hard to find the clunk, go under the car and have
someone turn the wheel back and forth, you can see things move,
and check rack bushings and mounts, ball joints, and other bits.

The throttle body makes me suspect they are clueless, what did
they say was wrong with that?
That is not a common problem spot.....

When they tell you they ordered the wrong part, that is just their way
of blowing you off, they have computers that tell them what the part number
is, that is the most common response they give when they did not get around to
doing your car.

If you hang out on various car forums, you hear 'we ordered the wrong part'
way to often for it to be them actualy ordering the wrong part, and dealer
techs have clued us in that this is the dealers response when they did not
get to your car yet.

I am not sure what could make the car have so much more road noise,
I dont think there is much sound proofing under the car (on the outside).
You have wheel well liners, easy to see if they are in place, the damper
is just a weight that bolts onto the transmission I thought, but
maybe they did something with your rack isolation?
The rack is supposed to be rubber mounted and float a bit, that isolates
the car from the road noise somewhat.
On some cars, you can get stiff rack mount bushings, more noise, but better
steering response, as the rack is more firmly mounted...

Brett

 

Hey everyone,

Appreciate your responses. Brett - thanks for your explanation about "we ordered the wrong part." That sounds like an appropriate explanation for why they didn't get to it... like you said, I highly doubt they really ordered the wrong part since it's a STEERING RACK. How many steering racks are there?

Took my car in today and made sure that they test drove it with me to identify my concerns. The Master Tech came out with me today (same guy who worked on the car). The road noise is from the boot at the end of the steering rack that didn't get set right, so it was letting noise in. He adjusted it during the test drive and we were able to eliminate most of the noise. He's going to tweak it some more.

He also heard the clunks so now he's going to look into the suspension on the right hand side. We'll see.

I was also getting some squeals and squeaks when I turned the wheel early in the morning. I have no idea what it's from but he's going to look into that too. It could just be from the steering rack boot not fully set.

 

Okay, got the car back.

The boot at the bottom of the steering rack was the cause of the noise. It wasn't set right so it was letting all of the noise from the street get in. So that takes care of that.

About the clunking - it was the sway bar, the tech said. He removed it, drove it around, and found no problems. He even tightened the nuts holding the suspension behind the rear seat of the car. He cleaned the grease off the bushings and it appears to be quieter now. We'll soon see!

(BTW, he mentioned that he originally determined the clunking to be caused by the steering rack because the rack was making a loud clunk whenever it moved from side to side. Perhaps it was ready to go too, but in any case, I got a new rack out of it...)

 

Sorry to hear that you have been having problems with the TL. Isn't that a CT Sway Bar that you installed? Is that a new, new house that you have to personalize or a resale that needs just a little work? Congratulations either way.

 

Yeah, it's a Comptech bar so the dealership honors warranty work associated with it.

It's a "new, new" house... brand new construction, and plenty of personalization still to go. And as many of you probably know, new house = lots of spending at Ikea and other furniture stores

 

Lore...PM me with your new job..I thought you were going to call me when you are ready...Anyway, I need help. You have anymore of your friends looking for work?

 

I don't have a new job man... new HOUSE, not job Still happy where I was.

 

You should be able to buy the extended warranty until the standard warranty runs out.

Here's a link...CLICKY

Don