More popping underneath up front

[fossten]

I have the strutmasters coil conversion on my 93.

Recently replaced:

Both lower control arms and ball joints
New bearing on right side
New strut rod bushings where the rod passes through the control arm

Had alignment and rotors turned

When I back out of a space, and when I accelerate from a dead stop, and sometimes when I hit a bump, I hear and feel a metallic *pop* right under my feet.

I'm thinking:

Some bushings I haven't gotten to yet
Tie rod joints look sorta bad

Anything else I'm not thinking of? This wasn't happening before I did this work, so could it be something not tightened down properly? I made sure everything was tight before the alignment.

When I get under there it all seems tight, and it's nearly impossible to detect something that only the road can make happen unless you just take everything apart.

 

[ford nut]

When the car is parked get in back of it and rock it back and forth and see if you can make the "pop" happen.

Maybe its a Stabilizer Bar Link?

Or a Stabilizer Bar Bushing?

Rear shock mount?

upper control arms?

When the front on on jack stands grab the tire and try to wiggle it left to right and up and down, if you feel it move, find the slop.

 

[Sapperfire]

I'm betting it's the stabilizer bar links...as pictured (top)(above) just don't get the bent kind like in that pic...those suck...TRW makes both styles..just get the straight ones

 

[fossten]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

End links are new.

Could be the bar bushings though - I haven't checked those at all.

 

[Sapperfire]

tie rods will make some noise if they are bad, replace them, just make sure on the Inner rod, to pull the dust boot back and check for the "keeper pin" that is sometimes in them. its in the joint at the Rack, if its not removed and you start unthreading that inner rod, youll strip the threads on the rack, then youll be replacing the rack too

 

[billcu]

I had that pop noise twice before.

The first time it was after an alignment, the lower control arm to K member bolt was not torqued enough.

The second time, it was a bad NEW lower control arm ball joint.

 

[shiryu0]

The first time it was after an alignment, the lower control arm to K member bolt was not torqued enough.

+1

had that happen to me too.

 

[fossten]

Just got back from the tire place where I had my alignment. Got it up on the rack, I was right there. The guy reproduced the popping by bouncing it up and down several times while gripping the front sway bar. Another guy had the stethoscope and listened to all the joints and bushing areas. He said the popping is coming from the strut on the driver's side. Everything else is really tight.

I had a coil conversion about 5-6 years ago. The boot has slipped down over time and the bare metal of the strut is exposed. Tomorrow I'm going to pull off the wheel and look at the UCA but it's pretty new so I doubt that's the issue. Either way, I'm seriously considering another conversion to bring the car back up to standard height, so that would fix the problem if it's the strut.

 

[fossten]

I found it!

It was the brake line - the metal part attached to the caliper had gotten twisted in its seating so that the elbow was catching on the end link.

I pushed it away and presto.