Rodrick Persun

2001 Honda Civic..all stock
I get a clunking noise near the front driver's side wheel when going at slow speed and especially when I go over bumps. I was thinking the culprit was maybe the stabilizer links but I can't mimic the noise by moving it around or prying up and down on it. I attached a video. I moved the links around a bit-which seems to be their normal range of motion, but I watched a video on youtube where a guy who was able to do this said they had too much play.. So I'm just wondering if this is normal play for sway bar links..I think the sound is coming from the cv shaft which I show toward the end of the video..unless that sound is normal when pushing in and out....I'm pretty clueless in diagnosing suspension noises, any help would be appreciated thanks.
Here is the link to the video.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1rY...KNfra36oe3urVP

xRiCeBoYx

iTrader: (22)

how do your struts look? I had noise issues that I couldn't find to save my life (car was a 2002 ex). When I was pulling stuff off to sell after declaring my car dead, noticed the top of my strut was bad. Then again, I had aftermarket coilovers with pillowball upper mounts, but the sound seems like it matched yours: mostly during slow speed, pretty much every time I hit a speed bump. I though it was coming from the wheel well

ezone

Sway bar links should never have FREE play. Yes they will pivot some because they are a ball and socket type joint.

Ball joints and tie rod ends should never have free play either.

Don't forget to inspect the lower control arm bushings, when they go bad they can allow the arm to make contact with the subframe.

TKA Dave

I had a clunk on my 01 civic coming from the driver's side when accelerating from a stop and when heavy braking. The noise started right after I had the subframe out of the car when changing the transmission input shaft bearing. A year later, and after replacing nearly everything in the front end with no success, I finally found the issue. Apparently the subframe should be tightened with weight on the tires, not when jacked up. I loosened the 4 -17mm bolts holding it, let the car off the jack stands, then tightened them back up. Clunking is finally gone! Another thing I did was make sure the sway bar was aligned correctly, equal distance from the control arm on both sides – loosen the 2 bushing brackets and use a pry bar to wiggle it left or right as needed. Hopefully this helps someone before replacing everything like I did. I even paid a mechanic to diagnose the noise, he had me replacing parts unnecessarily. Cheers!