Mystery sound

[VwCSilent]

I'm chasing a mystery sound. I've replaced struts, control arms with the ball joint, tie rod ends(outer), wheel bearings, end links, I've had it alligned, etc... As of right now the only thing I haven't checked is the sub frame bolts.

Car is completely stock at this point. Stock suspension and all parts were replaced with motorcraft parts where I could. Parts all torqued to spec.

I didn't change the inner tie rods yet. Although I did already buy both sides. When I had the car apart the inner feels like it has zero slop at all. The outers were not even that bad. I just changed them bc I took the time to pull it apart.

The only weird thing I know of is that the strut top nut is not in the center of the cutout(under hood). It's so far to the inside(motor side) that I couldn't even get a socket on it if I wanted to.

Apart from that clicky sound it runs and drives perfect. It's a 15 with 143k. Any insight would be appreciated.

 

[yaycandy]

You should really try to get up under it while someone does that to it. Sounds like something needs greased or something is binding. Does it do the same sound if you turn off the car and move the front wheels without the power steering being on?

 

[BradM]

Agree to get under it to isolate the sound. Could even be the steering rack. As for the strut nut being out of center, who installed them? Was the arrow pointing towards the front of the car? There is no camber adjustment at the top of the strut but I believe you can install top of the strut 180 degrees out (i.e. the wrong way). Camber can be adjusted at the spindle if you have a camber bolt installed.

 

[yaycandy]

Agree to get under it to isolate the sound. Could even be the steering rack. As for the strut nut being out of center, who installed them? Was the arrow pointing towards the front of the car? There is no camber adjustment at the top of the strut but I believe you can install top of the strut 180 degrees out (i.e. the wrong way). Camber can be adjusted at the spindle if you have a camber bolt installed.

Strut nuts are supposed to be out of center. I just changed my front struts last week. Thats the way they are. The top hats only go on 1 way with the arrow pointing out and indent facing out. Its the way they were from ford. If the strut was on 180 out the alignment would of been way out but not causing those sounds. Actually 180 out still puts the strut nut on an angle. I checked because i thought maybe they were done wrong. It didnt matter what way i installed them.

 

[yaycandy]

From my workshop manual. Arrow and notch out for normal camber. Arrow and notch in for more camber.

 

[VwCSilent]

Yeah I did get under it. It's less noticeable with the car jacked up and not running. It does sound more central that way like it could be the rack itself. Are there any grease fittings on the rack or steering shaft?

Soon I'm going to start just disconnecting stuff one at a a time until the sound goes away. I would have thought 140k would be pretty low for the rack to be bad. The struts were put on by me with the arrow facing the outside (rotor face side) of the car.

 

[yaycandy]

Yeah I did get under it. It's less noticeable with the car jacked up and not running. It does sound more central that way like it could be the rack itself. Are there any grease fittings on the rack or steering shaft?

Soon I'm going to start just disconnecting stuff one at a a time until the sound goes away. I would have thought 140k would be pretty low for the rack to be bad. The struts were put on by me with the arrow facing the outside (rotor face side) of the car.

Strut top hats are on correct. My rack went out around 80k miles. Just stopped working while i was driving. Good thing i wasnt in a turn.

 

[VwCSilent]

Good thing. When you replaced the rack did you have it programmed? I have seen people advocating for both ways

 

[yaycandy]

Good thing. When you replaced the rack did you have it programmed? I have seen people advocating for both ways

I had ford do it. It was nearly 2k$ at that time in 2020.

 

[Texas Marauder]

Sounds like a bad upper strut mount. #3 in picture.

 

[VwCSilent]

See I thought that also. Struts are brand new. This sound is why I put new ones on. They make the same sound as the ones I took off. Which also only had like 30k miles on them.

 

[VwCSilent]

New struts put on 2 weeks ago

 

[BradM]

Rack or super wasted CV joint. You gotta get under it and isolate the sound.

 

[Texas Marauder]

New struts put on 2 weeks ago

Did they replace the struts as a spring/strut unit or just replace the strut? The upper strut mount is included with a spring/strut unit. It is not included with a strut, where you reuse the other parts. Also, check the ball joint.

 

[VwCSilent]

I forgot to mention the cv's are new put on a month ago. I checked the ball joints and they seem fine. The tire has no play at all in it jacked up. The ball joints have grease fittings and I went ahead and made sure they were full today. It didn't change the sound though.

I'll put the car on stands and see if I can get a better idea of the sound.

 

[VwCSilent]

Did they replace the struts as a spring/strut unit or just replace the strut? The upper strut mount is included with a spring/strut unit. It is not included with a strut, where you reuse the other parts. Also, check the ball joint.

Struts were quick struts. So a whole new unit.

 

[FREAK_SHO]

I quit using quick struts due to one issue, the top bearing qets beat up in shipping and has shown up broke. Not visually broke in one case which caused a popping sound when turning the wheel, or over certain bumps.

 

[VwCSilent]

I quit using quick struts due to one issue, the top bearing qets beat up in shipping and has shown up broke. Not visually broke in one case which caused a popping sound when turning the wheel, or over certain bumps.

I have a strut compressor I guess I could pull the strut I took off apart and see if the mount is beat since old and new make the same sound

 

[BradM]

So you have isolated the sound to the top of the strut?

 

[VwCSilent]

So you have isolated the sound to the top of the strut?

No. Not yet. I just mean I thought the strut was the problem so I replaced it with a new one but the sound remained