tatersalad

I recently picked up a 2001 Civic LX coupe with 23k miles (It was my grandmas, so very low miles).

Done some lurking on the forum and checked my LCA bushing, and sway bar end-links. The end-links are in tact, and the rubber on them look good. The LCA bushing also looks to be in good condition, it' doesn't look squared off / worn at all. Followed my springs from bottom to top, no cracks / breaks, the shocks and struts look to be fine (Although struts / springs most likely would be making more noise / bouncing / .

If I can I'd like to avoid going to the alingment shop and tossing them $50 to tell me what's wrong, then another $50 to get the alingment done after I fix it.

I get a clunk @ low to medium speeds when hitting bumps from the right side of the car.

The noise started at low speed, but now it's hit n miss @ surface street pace (30-40mph), it happens on bumps (sometimes). At speed with no bumps I can reproduce it by wiggling the car back and forth left to right.

The car will also make a metalic *ting* if I yank on the right side (passenger) tire / pull on the fender, with a good amount of force (no noise if I pull on driver side.) There is no noise when the car is stationary and I load the suspension by pushing the front down, only side to side. If I wiggle the steering while the car is stationary.. no noise.

I'm confused beacuse the suspension pieces on the car look good.. The only thing I haven't checked for is if there are any kind of clips / hangers for the sway-bar that are loose.. (if there even are any).

I think I covered it all, hopefully someone can sort this out and give me a fresh idea or two

Thanks
-Adam

tldr;
Front suspension clunking related to Horizontal (Lateral) movement of car checked out sway bar endlinks, LCA bushing, Springs, Struts, and can't seem to find any worn bushings / broken parts.

tatersalad

Update, crawled under again, checked busings for the Sway bar udner the car, no issues.

mrgadfly

Well, I don't know that I can help you, but I can tell you I've pretty much got the same problem on a 2002 Honda Civic Coupe DX. It happens while we're driving slow and hit bumps. On the highway I really don't notice it. When I sit in the front passenger seat and we're going slow, it seems to come from right under the floor pan at my feet.

I'm leaning towards the passenger side drive shaft/cv joint being the problem, or possibly a pad/bushing between the subframe and the body that I may not have reinstalled correctly (in fact, I just left a posting with pics hoping someone may be able to point out where they go).

I've replaced the clutch, the lower control arms, the struts and the driver's side drive shaft, but not the passenger side drive shaft--at lest not yet.

Either way, I guess it's gonna be hit-n-miss trying to figure out what makes the noise.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

check engine and trans bushings/mounts?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

on such a low mileage car, the upper strut mounts (which are plastic) could be cracked and causing the clunking sound. it makes sense since the car is so old yet not many miles. but it could be alot of other things too.

rza49311

Joined the forums because i was looking for someone with the same problem i have and well, i found it. I have an '01 Civic LX with 125k miles. I have the EXACT same problem. After inspecting the car numerous times. I have replaced the passenger side strut(was blown), passenger side lower control arm(front rubber bushing was ripped), passenger side lower ball joint, and the front engine stabilizer mount(rubber bushing ripped also). However, the clunk remains. Did you ever figure out what it was?

rza49311

Turned about to be passenger side sway bar endlink. Replaced it. All is well.

BlueEM2

iTrader: (1)

Sweet, thanks for the update.

mrgadfly

Mine ended up being the strut mount on the passenger side. I had opened the hood to do something. I noticed the nut on the top of the strup mount had worked loose. I started to tighten it, and I noticed it looked like the rubber bushing/insert had a seam in it. Sure enough, it needed to be replaced. Haven't had that problem again.