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Suspension Crunch/squeaks, 91 Ls400


Acidic

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I've been having a very loud suspension crunch for about a week now. I've narrowed down a sure fire way to reproduce the noise by "bouncing" the front drivers side above the wheel. As I was trying to troubleshoot I put the car on ramps and had my sister (only person avail) bounce the front end. I could tell the noise was coming from the head shield area (not the heat shield).

So I take silicone spray and coat the lower shock mount... bounce the car, nothing changes, then I do the same to the tie rod end and lower ball joint. Nothing changes. So I give up and drive home... I decide to go to rite aid to buy batteries, so I can use my camera to make a video so I can get some help from the forum on the sound. When I come out I bounce the front end and guess what.... no sound...

So with the sound narrowed to LBJ, Tie rod ends or lower shock mount which would make a crunchy/squeaky sound when loading/unloading the suspension from directly above?

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I been having the same problem with my 2000 gs300. It makes a clicking noise like someone is hitting the heat shield right? on passenger side. It does it sometimes and then come back.

Does your car steering wheel shake around 60-70mph?

When you steer the steering wheel, do you have to steer it back yourself?

I googled my symptoms and it took it to this page. I read on the porches forum and the guy said it's the steering rack bushings... He changed it and the car drives like a champ. I'll try the same thing, but if you try it first let me know, I'm a full time student and I don't think I have enough moolah and time to do all this.

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The best way I have found to determine a suspension problem is to take the car to an alignment place. If there is any suspension issues, they will find them (assuming they know what they are doing). Use care and ask people before selecting a facility to do the alignment. Some of these tire places don't know what in the hell they are doing so I might suggest a delaership. Honda, Nissan Toyota, doesn't matter. It will give you a good starting point and time to decide how best to approach repairs. If you wait until a state inspection, your time window is small and you might have to drive around with a big ole REJECTION sticker on your windshield.

Most likely a ball joint. Even when they are bad on these cars, the car still drives great but you will hear the noises. All this is pure specuation on my part so go find out for sure.

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The best way I have found to determine a suspension problem is to take the car to an alignment place. If there is any suspension issues, they will find them (assuming they know what they are doing). Use care and ask people before selecting a facility to do the alignment. Some of these tire places don't know what in the hell they are doing so I might suggest a delaership. Honda, Nissan Toyota, doesn't matter. It will give you a good starting point and time to decide how best to approach repairs. If you wait until a state inspection, your time window is small and you might have to drive around with a big ole REJECTION sticker on your windshield.

Most likely a ball joint. Even when they are bad on these cars, the car still drives great but you will hear the noises. All this is pure specuation on my part so go find out for sure.

Well it has to be the ball joint, the shock mount or the tie rod end as the lubricant I sprayed on them fixed the squeaking/crunching... I have a stuck caliper on the other side too so I imagine the wobble I have at speed can be traced to the warped rotor or the suspension part that is crunching... I got a deal on the parts so I'm just going to go ahead and do it all... I got beck/arnley ball joints for $61 a side and tie rod ends for $92 (both sides). Hurray for advance auto matching rock auto! I'm using run of the mill (wearever) rotors and pads (premium cermaic ones) and cardone calipers (43 each) (rebuilt OE units)... That should solve everything for $415 and a day over the weekend! I've already done the thermostat. coolant temp sensor and a complete timing belt job (lexus belt and WP) with cam seals crank seals, plugs, wires, caps and rotors.... ohh and Arnott UCA's

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