clacking at top of strut tower (passenger rear) from time to time

I have an 89' sho with 152K miles. Its a daily drive, has been pretty well maintained, and runs good. I have a clacking sound from time to time. It sounds like its on the passenger side rear. From readings in the forum about this, it sounds like ita a common problem and might be a design flaw. One solution that seemed plausible was to replace the bushing or strut plate. And the forum entry said you do this through the trunk. I asked an exhaust shop here abouts and they said that I should replace the whole strut assembly on both rear wheels. And they can do it for $800. What do you all think?


ct in Kentucky

 

Uh, car is 32 years old, with 152k. Hardly a design flaw! In fact, all suspension components should be designed with this "flaw"!

You're about due, and I'm sure that you already have some of the old SHO "Saggy Butt" condition, where the rear struts and springs get tired.

Get some other prices, $800 sounds a bit rich for installing Quik Struts.

The other source of the noise could be a bad swaybar end link. Would not be a bad idea to replace those, plus the swaybar bushings, while they're in there.

 

If you get a quickstrut this is something you can put in yourself easily. The hardest part (other than rust) in replacing rear suspension parts is seperating the strut and spring. A quickstrut eliminates this. Everything comes out and goes back in as one assembled piece. Truthfully most solo aftermarket struts for these cars are not very good either. The rubber parts are all probably in rough shape.

 

I saw quickstruts 171781 for cheap on rockauto, less than 40 dollars each (looks like those on the close out price is now gone). You may have the long body struts on your car if they are the original ones. I used a Sawzall through the strut body, above oil line, to get them out of the knuckle after trying to slide them out and not having success. It's not that difficult a job. Rockauto is also a sponsor here so there is a discount

 

Rear struts are not the most fun thing to do. And after 32 years, it's gonna be a PITA. Paying someone who does it daily is now worth it for me.

Quikstruts aren't the most performance oriented, but other solutions get to be pricier. And, unfortunately, there aren't any really good options out there, except for coilovers.

 

I swapped out the quickstrut springs with some eibach and moog cargo coils on different cars

 

End links have already been mentioned. Might also be that the central steel bushing has separated from the rubber in the upper strut mount. Raise the rear, open trunk, pop the rubber dust shield off the center of the strut tower. Put you finger on the strut nut and observe how much it goes up when you lower the car. If excessive, needs replacing. Pic show a front mount with the problem.

Don't buy Quick Struts if you don't want your SHO to wallow like a Cadillac. They are designed for the regular Taurus with softer springs than the SHO:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nzo7rbehxhwhuz0/Spring Rates.xlsx?dl=0

 

I recently replaced and upgraded all my struts and springs on my 89. I was getting a snapping or a mild bang in the rear when hitting an occasional bump. After removal everything looked fine on the upper bushings and bumpers. The noise appeared to be coming from the rubber isolator on the bottom of the spring that is sandwiched between the strut seat. It was in very bad shape and the spring was banging on the steel seat. Pretty easy to inspect before removal.

 

Yep, as these cars get old, any one of the wear parts mentioned in the posts above can cause a noise. For struts, if you're handy, you can assemble a strut assembly with SensaTracs, Moog springs, the spring isolators strut mounts, etc. I was always edgy every time I used my spring compressor!

 

Thanks everyone. You all have given me some things to look at. ct in Kentucky