Suspension popping

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mrshl13

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Just had my '04 LS's front sway bar and steering rack replaced under warranty because of failure on the rack and a moan in the right side front suspension. That's still there slightly but what bothers me is a popping that started last night on my way home. It happens over larger bumps, when either wheel hits it and turning the wheel over smaller bumps. I can feel it through the floor. Based on the fact that it's both sides and I can feel it through the floor I'm deducing it's related to sway bar, steering rack, subframe connectors (or whatever they're called) or k-member (also whatever that's called - I'm coming from a Mustang background here). I checked for any obviously loose bolts in the ps rack and sway bar bushings but can't find any. I could retorque them all if I had the specs.

I can take it back to these guys and have it fixed for free but it's a pain and I'd probably go without the car for a week. Any ideas?
 
ball joints....typical for the ls.

Also check the sway bar end links and bushings...don't assume they were replaced...:D
 
I just found the invoice. It says they replaced the bushings but the sway bar has a sticker on it so it was obviously replaced. I read here that's sold as one part so that's what I'd suspect. Nothing about end links, ball joints or bushings. What can I do to test them? I didn't see any obvious super-wear on them like tearing.
 
Jack the front end up and push against the top or bottom of the tires, if there's any wobble then your ball joints are worn.
 
End links look original and I can grab the sway bar next to them and move it an inch or 2. I can't recreate the popping but my little sissy arms are probably too weak. Found some on ebay reasonably priced.
 
mrshl13 said:
End links look original and I can grab the sway bar next to them and move it an inch or 2. I can't recreate the popping but my little sissy arms are probably too weak. Found some on ebay reasonably priced.
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I'm not really sure what you mean there, but I was going to tell you to check the 4 bolts that hold the cross member to the mounts on the inside of the fenders. The cross member holds the sway bar and represents an easy way to change the sway bar, by unbolting and dropping it down. I did my bar that way, and I am not sure, but I may have never fully torqued the bolts (2 on each side). I had this strange groan when I would back out of the garage in the morning and never found it for a good 8 months. When I did find it, I was a bit surprised that all 4 bolts were around a turn from tight. The noise went away after I tightened those bolts back down. You may have to drop the engine lower shield to see those bolts.
 
I just drove it again and it's worse. Now it pops on the right side over every bump. I'll tighten all the bolts I can get to and see what happens. If that doesn't do it I'll take it back to the guys who swapped the sway bar and steering rack.
 
One of the crossmember brace bolts was loose, well looser than the same bolt on the other side anyway, and fairly easily turned with a socket wrench. Unfortunately I did not have the torque specs and now I have a bolt head on the floor. :mad: I'm off to get some ez-outs and hope I can get one in w/ the angle the head twisted off at. Wish me luck! I may end up taking it down the street this week if I can't get it out tomorrow.
 
mrshl13 said:
One of the crossmember brace bolts was loose, well looser than the same bolt on the other side anyway, and fairly easily turned with a socket wrench. Unfortunately I did not have the torque specs and now I have a bolt head on the floor. :mad: I'm off to get some ez-outs and hope I can get one in w/ the angle the head twisted off at. Wish me luck! I may end up taking it down the street this week if I can't get it out tomorrow.
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Sorry to hear about that. Not sure if this was your popping noise, but those bolts should not be loose.

The correct torque for those bolts is 76 lb.-ft.

Depending on which one you broke, you can probably have the best luck at getting the old bolt out from the top side. The bolts should be visible one either side of the car, but from memory, I can't recall is one or more of them are obscured by something in the engine bay. Since you snapped the bolt, I am thinking that the bolt should be fairly easy to turn to get out. By working from the top, I mean to screw the bolts downward from where they were screwed in down below, not pulling them out through the engine bay
 
Thanks but this one was only from the bottom side and it's broken off way in there. I'm going to have to take it somewhere this week because I just don't have the time to fix it.
 
Sooo...double post and all but I thought I'd update. I got a bolt in and found that wasn't the cause of the popping noise so I went for something I glanced at initially and passed on by because it was tough to get to...sway bar bushings!

The bolts were loose as hell on the right side bracket so I tightened them down w/ a 13mm and went for a test drive. Still a mild popping when it unloaded after I hit hard bumps but nowhere near as bad as before. When I came back I found I was able to torque the front bolt down more even though it was a real b*tch to get to...probably the reason it came loose in the first place.

I think I'm about to be real happy after getting that fixed and installing a KKM intake + SCT XCAL3 flash today. The canned tune is a good improvement but I'm looking forward to the custom tune from ILLS.
 
anyone have a diagram to illustrate where the bolts are located? I have the same problem. But everytime I'm in the shop, no one seems to identify the problem. Thanks
 
One of the wonderful members here posted up this gem. You'll probably find it there. You can also find some parts diagrams on the Team Ford site.
 
mrshl13 said:
One of the wonderful members here posted up this gem. You'll probably find it there. You can also find some parts diagrams on the Team Ford site.
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Thanks for the link. But some of the PDF's do not come through.

I'll have to take time this weekend to raise the car and investigate the noise.
 
You can see how the sway bar is routed when you jack it up. The brackets are on both sides of the engine between the radiator and engine mounted to the subframe. I wouldn't suspect this unless the sway bar/bushings were replaced and not properly torqued down.
 
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