Not A-Body: PT Cruiser Suspension Noise

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dgc333

dgc333

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Hoping someone that has a PT might have run into this issue and can point me in the right direction.

My wifes PT makes a clunking noise up front when rebounding off a bump. Doesn't do it when you hit the bump only on the rebound and most often when going through a dip in the road.

I got under the car looking for something obvious and thought I had found it. There is a cast aluminum strut that goes between the sub-frame and the engine. The connection points on booth ends have rubber bushings, it's there to control engine motion. Well the front bushing had torn and the center and the strut were no longer connected and the end could move around a lot. I replaced the strut but it did not fix the issue.

I used a pry bar on all the other suspension bushings but everything appears tight. I felt I had narrowed it down to worn struts that were topping out. Last weekend I installed new struts and felt pretty good that I had fixed it since the shaft would just fall into the body of the strut when the strut was up right. But on the test drive the clunk was reduced but still there.

I had run into this once before and it was the bearing in the top mount of the strut that allows it turn for steering. In that application the part of the mount that bolted to the inner fender was not loaded by the spring. On the PT that pivot is always under load by the spring so I can't see that being the issue.

Anyone got any ideas?
 
I was gonna say upper strut mount since thats usually the culprit in these front ends. Before you rule it out, Jack the vehicle up a little and stick a bar under the trire and try to lift it. The entire strut / spring assembly might move up as much as 1/4 inch before the spring moves. There's your sign. Good luck
 
I have already done that and no motion.

On my old Daytona the strut shaft was bolted to the spring retainer and there was a bearing in between the retainer and the mounted that bolted to the inner fender. In this set up the shaft didn't turn in relation to the body of the strut when the wheel turned. Lifting on the wheel I was able to detect the loosesness in the bearing just as you suggested.

The PT has the strut shaft bolted to the upper part of the mount and the spring retainer is always being loaded against the piece that attaches to the inner fender. The bearing is a nylon bushing. In this set up when the wheel turns the shaft stays stationary.
 
Check the lower control arm bushings... they like to come out and can cause some noise. If I remember right it's the rear bushing that comes apart.
 
Yea the rear one looks suspect but I couldn't get it to move enough with a pry bar to touch anything metal. I guess I will get some new bushings and just replace them, seems like the only thing left.

Thanks! :)
 
check the rack & pinion mounting bushings. my wife had one for awhile. it was involed in an accident & when it returned from the shop it was making noise on rebound. the shop had failed to fully tighten one of the r&p mountings. also check the sway bar bushings as well.
 
Did you replace the strut mounts when you did the struts? In my experience using the old plates on Chrysler products was a reason for comeback. Man, I love loaded struts.

Also, I've had this happen: my old IR 231 impact wouldn't tighten the nut down enough. Until I got my new impact I'd have to throw a breaker bar on the nut to get it fully tightened. This allowed for noise, too.

Just throwing out ideas. Sometimes we'd drive the car around the parking lot slowly with the hood up and someone else looking for movement and/or listening for noise. Man, I love my chassis ears: mystery noises suck.
 
All good ideas, and all accurate scenarios; but, from my experience in the shop, the control arm bushings are the most likely culprits- and you won't be able to move them with a bar, but they should look visibly 'squished out'...
 
Well I ordered both the front and rear lower control arm bushings yesterday. I got Moog parts from Rock Auto $40.56 to the door. After seeing what a new bushing looks like the rear ones definately have the rubber squeezed out.

FWIW, I picked up a hydraulic press for the garage a few years back and didn't use it for the longest time. This will be the second time I have used it on the PT, I had to replace front wheel bearings on it last spring.

The tracking for the bushings say the parts will be delivered tomorrow, if they are I will at least do the noisy side on Sunday.

I really appreciate all the good inputs and I will update when I have swapped them.

BTW, anyone else with a PT that runs into a similar situation and doesn't want to fiddle with pressing in bushings you can get a complete lower control arm with bushings and a new ball joint for around $150. My local Advanced Auto even had them in stock.
 
mikedevore said:
check the rack & pinion mounting bushings. my wife had one for awhile. it was involed in an accident & when it returned from the shop it was making noise on rebound. the shop had failed to fully tighten one of the r&p mountings. also check the sway bar bushings as well.
Click to expand...

I had done that when I put the pry bar to the front end; nothing seemed awry.
 
I'm too late seeing this thread, but yeah, the lower control arm bushings. My wife's Neon does the same thing. At 163k, I'm hesitant to replace them. The strut bearings were worn out and I asked the shop to replace them when they installed struts. They didn't do the rear, and one of them squeaks like crazy, it's shot. I suppose this summer I should get all that sorted out since we will probably put 100k more on the car. So far the front has only needed one tie rod replaced.
 
Drop your sway bar,cut 2 peices of timing belt 3"to 4" long,stick between
the sway bar bushing bracket and bushing.Takes a little muscle to get the bracket back on but this will tighten things up.Most pts and neons have this
clunk,this is the fix.
 
does it have sway bar links. rods that go from the sway bar to the strut.
 
These are good things for me to check on the front clunking on wifey's PT, but has anyone had clunking in the rear as well? Hers clunks just as bad in the rear. Thanks and don't want to hi jack. Just thought the info on the rear would be good for everyone else as well. Thanks.
 
In the rear, there is a link that connects the trailing arm to the body. It also fails miserably, and causes the clunking sound from the rear. About $100, it can be replaced on jackstands.

Grant

Link is in the center of the arm
 
Well I replaced the lca suspension bushings this morning and the clunking is gone.

The rear bushings were shot on both sides. The rubber was no longer attached to the outer shell and the arm could slide up and down on the bushings, when I got the first arm out the center of the bushing just fell out on the floor.

Anyway, it's a pretty easy job. The passengier side requires you to pull the splash shield and engine strut to get the control arm off, the drivers side just remove the ball joint pinch bolt and the two control arm bolts and out it came.

Started at 9:30 and was test driving the car at 11:30. I paid extra for Moog bushings, I hope they are more durable.

Thanks to all that provided inputs on this issue! :)
 
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