Took the car up the road today to fill up the gas tank, and there is an awful clunking sound coming from the left rear. I hopped in the back while my co-worker drove around the lot and could feel it in the LR strut tower. Sounds like a metal on metal noise, the exhaust is kind of loose but the sound it makes is not near as solid as this. We put it up in the air and checked all the rear suspension components and all seems tight and well, but the noise is still there. Looks like stock rear subframe with a stock LSD, and old JIC coilovers. Appears that the rear subframe has never been out of the car, so I’m guessing a bushing is gone somewhere, I just cant find it. Any ideas where to start looking?
my 88 sentrais doing that right now my problem was a traction rod bushing sounds like a big clunk of metal hitting metal and some time does it when i driving on bumpy roads
I had a noise similar to that. It was my end link. It snapped in half but was so rusted that neither the top or bottom half fell out of place. Basically, the two broken ends were clacking together every time i went around a corner. Simple fix.
Good luck
well if the bushings are gone then ur gunna need new bushings but if its not that then it might be ur rear struts or the mounts since u say they are old
subframe bushings, traction rod bushings, rlca ball joints, swaybar endlinks, maybe check rucas and toe arm bushings too, and also check out the top nut for the damper and make sure the nut’s seated and torqued down nicely. if you fooled around with your jic’s when setting your car up recently i’d check them out thoroughly. look for the top nut of the damper and make sure that didn’t get more slack after adjustment and check out the spring perch seating. if they’re super old jic’s, maybe even check out the pillowball mount clearance inside…
that’s all i can think of at the moment. if you check all of those out and deem them still good, i’m not sure what the problem might be then.
my subframe bushings were gone , so check them for play, it only made noise for me when i shifted.
I’m getting a pretty good thunk when I shift hard. Also found out the rear subframe is out of a 98 S-14 or something. Regardless, it will eventually be pulled out, cleaned, powdercoated etc.
check #16, #17 locations for both sides. after re-reading your posts, i’m almost certain it’s your subframe bushings. i have the same thing right now but i have to find some time to swap the bushings out.
I tried checking them with a prybar, but couldnt really find any abnormal movement. Any suggestions on methods to check them?
http://www.nissanforums.com/s13-240sx-1989-1994/128954-pics-my-subframe-bushing-install.html
^^check out that link for some pictures and stuff. there’s a ton of subframe info out there so do some searches and you’ll find everything you’ll ever need.
basically the main thing to look for is any visual play the rubber bushing can have. if you think there’s not much play, consider the last time these things were replaced…probably never? 15+ yrs alone is pretty bad for rubber so you should definitely see cracking in the actual rubber itself.
quick fix:
- get a set of subframe collars.
harder fix:
- get solid aluminum bushings from bing if you want to get rid of all play
- get oem rubber replacements for restoring the stock “soft” feel
- get some poly bushings for a good compromise between the two mentioned above
all of your symptoms you listed check out with worn subframe bushings. if you want one more test, try taking a relatively small radius bend on a highway (ramps are good).
drive straight into the corner but as you start adding steering input and you feel some load go to the outside RR corner, at a certain point you should feel a very gradual shift in the RR alignment. as you fool around with this weight transfer, if you keep the steering wheel constant and modulate the gas, you can literally feel the subframe shift sideways a bit, giving you the illusion of incoming oversteer. be smooth, gradual, but fairly quick when adding gas and steering input…you’ll know what i’m talking about.
you should also be getting madd wheel hop on the RR too especially if you’re running coilovers.