mrchowmein

So i hear and somewhat feel a light tapping sound from the left suspension area when the car goes over minor imperfections on the road, not pot holes or speed bumps. I heard these sounds before the LCA bushing started to go. But it shouldnt be the LCA bushing rotting as I just just replace the whole LCA.

Im wondering what else can it be. Bad stabilizer? steering linkages? when the LCA was replaced, the shop told me the ball joint was fine. wheel balance? Bad strut again? old car rattles?

I had a bad strut before that made a tapping and clicking sound when i lock my steering wheel to the left or when i drove up a sharp incline like a drive way. the strut was replaced and that sound went away.

2002 honda civic ex sedan. front struts were replaced at 99k miles. I just had the LCA replaced at 160k miles.

lazlong

Bad strut, bad strut top mount (especially the bearing), bad ball-joint, bad tie-rod end, bad wheel bearing.

Number 9 is the bearing but, 2, 7, and 8 wear out also: http://www.hondapartscheap.com/index...OCK%20ABSORBER

The top mount bearing in the 2001-2002 is plastic and is usually the first piece to go. Unfortunately, to check the top mount bearing you need to remove and dis-assemble the strut.

Jack up the front end and put it on stands. Then wiggle the wheel front to back and top to bottom. Front to back movement is a bad tie-rod end, top to bottom is a bad ball-joint.

Now spin the wheel by hand and listen for the clicking and if there's any wobble in the wheel the bearing is bad.

Also try just pushing down on that side while parked and see if you can get it to make the noise while sitting still.

mrchowmein

thanks for the tips.

Im thinking its strut related, ill have to take a look.

wheel bearing should be fine. It was checked by a shop with a stethoscope thing with the wheel turning. no sounds or grinding. ball joint is fine too. it was checked when I had lca replaced recently. After the lca was replace, nothing was loose. The car feels tighter than before. Im pretty sure this light tapping sound existed while i had the bad lca bushing, but the bad bushing sounds overpowered the other faint sounds and rattles.

ezone

Found a possibility.
Google Honda Bulletin 02-045

mrchowmein

thanks for the tip.

if youre talking about using shims, it shouldnt be that. That issue for me was resolved when my car was about a year old when Honda installed the shims. Plus the sound from that bulletin is more of a clicking or ticking sound and feeling. for me the tapping is fairly dampen. which makes me believe its more related to the components itself of the actual strut. my struts could probably need replacing soon anyways. cars been getting more bouncy and less compliant. if i do replace the struts, ill find out if any of the strut related components are worn.

the 01-02 were just less refined than the 04-05s. my old roommate had an 04 with twice as much milage compared to mine with no work done to it and it stil drove smoother, rattled less, and tranny seemed to smoother than mine when it was a year old. oh well, thast what i get for getting a car early in the generation.