suspension issues

[left]So i have been noticing a noise coming from the back of my car as i go over bumps for months now. It sounds as if my trunk lid is open and flopping up and down when i hit a bump. (I checked my spare tire to make sure it wasn't loose). I decided it was time to change my shocks anyways because they were rusted out and leaking pretty badly. Even now the noise still continues. I also noticed today that my front sway bar end link is destroyed. I don't know very much about suspensions so i took some pictures of the rear suspension to see if you guys could notice anything wrong. I notice a lot of bushings are pretty worn out [left]

Sadly those are new shocks. They are already getting surface rust from a wisconsin winter.

Oh and here is what i think is called the control arm bushing

Did you replace the shock mounts when you replaced the shocks?

My man,if you have a 95 and you live in Wisconsin youre shocks and bushings are gone.
You have to spend some $ to get it all right.

Do this test. jack up the front wheel.grab the wheel at the 9 and 3 o'clock position .Now push the wheel from side to side.If you hear/feel a clunking it's time for new inner tie rods.

Now grab the wheel at the 12 and 6 o'clock position and push and pull.if you feel a clunking there it's the ball joint for the outer tie rod just grab it and try to pull it up and down on the vertical.if there is clunking there, its bad.

To test the rear tie rod adjustment links is a little harder. jack up the rear and remove the castle nut of the adjustment link. take a BFH and whack that f....n rear control arm until the adjustment tie rod pops out the control arm. now grab the tie rod shaft and wiggle back and forth.if you feel the tie rod indexing and clicking, it's bad.

doing the bushings is a major PIA! and no doubt.
good luck.

I did not replace the shock mounts AA. Do i need to take the shock off to see if they wiggle or something? Thanks for all of the advice AA and Robo, It looks like i have some inspection and work to do this weekend. Oh well, I didn't have any plans anyway.

Always change the rear shock mounts when you do the shocks! its a must.
and check your air compressor! mine was bad when I got the car. my dad had
just changed the shocks and it was still making a kind of clunking sound
turns out the compressor was bad and not inflating the shocks to capacity.
the compressor would run and run and run. after fixing it now the noise is
gone and it only runs a few seconds hear and there as needed.

Thanks Glenn, I actually changed the lines to my air compressor when i changed the shocks. And it runs just after start up and shuts off. I took a quick look at my mounts when i changed the shocks, but i wasn't sure of what kind of wear to look for.

I believe that i have a bad tie rod end, because i get a clicking when accelerating into a turn from a stop, and i feel like my steering is a little sloppy. I also got a strange vibration during a turn today. Does anyone know if these end links from napa are okay? I would look into getting both the inners and the outer, but the cheaper ones, not the napa brand. http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/Result.aspx?Ntt%3dtie%2brod%2bend%26Ntk%3dKeyword%26Nty%3d1%26N%3d599001%2b101995%2b50008%2b2008026

Any thoughts?

When i jack up the front end and wiggle the wheel both the wheel and the tierod move. So i guess that means that i will definitely have to change both the outer and the inner ends. This sucks because i've been trying to save up money. I have a hard time believing that the napa brands are really much different than the cheaper ones, and i don't really want to buy them online.

If the rod moves with the wheel only on one side, it doesn't mean the inner tie rod is bad. Watch the wheel on the other side as you move it. If there is any slack between them, then you know one or both of the inner rods, or the rack itself may be going bad. Be sure to check the outer tie rod end on the other side, too.

I wouldn't just replace the inners unless you're sure, since the outers are so much easier to do. My inner rods are still original, still tight. Outers have both been replaced.

I think NAPA makes good tie rod ends. Mine were from AutoZone, seem to be holding up. You might want to take the car to a shop and have them take a look. A good front end man can save you a lot of money in parts and installation time.

On both sides the tie rod moves with the wheel.I could try to replace the outers first, but i feel like that would just be extra work, because i'm pretty sure there is more to it than just those.

Okay, on both sides the rods move with each wheels, but what does the right wheel do when you move the left wheel with your hand? Both should work as one, without slop. If the wheels are tracking correctly, you may not need to replace any of the tie rod hardware.

Okay i will check what the opposite wheels do as i move them in a bit here, but i also notice i only get the click when turning left from a stop. I also wonder if this has anything to do with the slamming of my transmission into reverse, even with new front and rear mounts and an adjustable modulator. I've tried all settings and none reduce the slam.

RidzRiv wrote:

When i jack up the front end and wiggle the wheel both the wheel and the tierod move. So i guess that means that i will definitely have to change both the outer and the inner ends. This sucks because i've been trying to save up money. I have a hard time believing that the napa brands are really much different than the cheaper ones, and i don't really want to buy them online.

RockAuto.Com identifies which parts are "economy" (will fit, not necessarily durable), "daily driver" (will fit, durable, not necessarily high performance), and other categories. Have a look.

You may want to inspect the hubs and CV joints for noise and looseness. It's not always easy to diagnose. When my last hub went, I was sure it was the CV, and showing video footage of the issue, some said brakes, some said lug studs, and some said a cracked wheel. I narrowed it down the CV or hub, guessed CV and was wrong - it was in fact the hub.

In your case, noise while turning would seem to me like the CV, but you won't know until you start looking and listening while moving things around under the car. Try wiggling the wheel up/down with the front end raised to see if one of the hubs feels loose. Check the CV boots for rips or leaking grease. Let us know if the problem gets any worse, or if it makes any different noises under different conditions. I don't think it's transmission related at this point.

I also get the click when just putting it into drive and then moving from a stop. Here is a vid of me moving the wheels a bit. Is this looseness when spinning the wheel normal? Maybe you are right about the CV. And i also checked pushing and pulling at 9 and 3 o clock, and both tires do in fact move. Here is the vid.

Nice vid. Smile and wave next time, eh.
The rotation seems normal to me.

the clunking when you move the wheel in and out is not normal.Either the outer tie rods are shot or the inners.Pop the outer tie rod out of the knuckle and twist the tie rod ball around.If it clicks and is loose its bad. with the outer tie rod loose,you can push and pull on the whole tie rod /inner tie rod assembly and if you feel clunking the inner is bad. best test is to pop off the outer.

Thanks guys! Robo i will try out your tests for the inner and out tie rods. I'll have to make another video showing the cv joints when i spin the wheels, because i feel a lot of slop and i noticed a lot of clunking.

slop in the cv joint is fairly normal when circling the wheel from right to left.even a new cv will slop a little.Its a must at this point to pop off the tie rod. (it only takes a few moments and wont afect the alligment at all as long as you dont disturb the outer tie rod adjusting nut.)its the only way to be sure.slop in the tie rod either inner or outer is unaceptable.There is zero tolerance there.

I might add that any inner tie rod even the cheap ones will be better than a failing one.I know you know that but some let it go and end up with a f....d rack.dont let that happen.

Thanks Robo, I guess there will be more videos to come!

A video showing the cv joints while wheel is being turned, and a video of the outer tie rod end popped off and checking for clicking. Possibly as soon as tomorrow!

I started working on my subframe bushings and it looks like I'm going to be replacing the passenger side CV joint as well. There is a tear in the boot and I had noticed grinding. I'm going to be doing the hockey puck mod on the rear 4 subframe bushings..

I was thinking of doing the hockey puck mod on the 4 rear subframe bushings as well!

I'm not sure but it seems like at least on my driver side the outer and inner tie rod ends are fine. This is the side that seems to be making noise. Here is the video

Is the ball stud indexing? If you grab the tie rod arm and pull it towards you and then push it back in,is there play?

I had a hard time determining if the outer was bad, but i couldn't push or pull the inner tie rod at all. With the outer the ball stud seemed to not be moving around in it's socket.