'17 Civic Steering Clunk

Mugenkb1

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91 degrees with a dew point of 72 today means this sound disappears. The different dealership spent two hours with it and found nothing. No sound. Front suspension and steering is "tight" and it passed state inspection. I guess I'll need to bring it in for the FOURTH TIME sometime this Fall when the colder weather hits.
Check the current end of this thread if you haven't already. Could just solve the issue.
https://www.civicx.com/threads/clunking-noise-front-driver-side-wheel-well.19587/page-5#post-455122
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Hatchback_lifestyle

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Other then the countless rattles I have on my civic with 600 miles...today there's a clicking noise coming from the steering wheel area, even when I'm not turning there's a clicking noise. I should take it back to the dealer you think?
 
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SpoolAndGo

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So, the saga of this clunk continues. I was pulling out of a parking spot last night, turned the wheel to the right and then turned left and heard a very loud metallic snap/clunk coming from the driver's front wheel area. I've noticed recently that sometimes when I hit a crack in the road, I can FEEL a clunk in the dead pedal/floor (where you rest you left foot in a car with a CVT). I don't hear the noise, but I can certainly feel something. Also, I've been getting some off and on vibration in the steering wheel while driving recently too.
 

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I can't hear the sounds very well in any of the other videos in this thread, however I have somewhat of a similar or same problem as you all. Here's a video clip of me reversing out of my driveway at a very low speed. You can hear this sound 4 times throughout the video.

 

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Bumping this old thread just to say this issue may possibly be related to a worn out and or defective cv joint component in the front axle and if you're still within your 5yr/60k mi warranty this is covered free of charge. Just mention to your dealer that your front axle has been making these noises and they will go from there. I ended up getting very lucky and was 800 miles away from my warranty expiring and both sides are being replaced free of charge.
 


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I have this noise on my car when accelerating on stop and sometimes slowing down.
I bring it to the dealer last saturday they said it might be the strut bar pressing the under chassis and they want me to take off the strut bar and see what happens if the noise stil their.
First they said its the brake and then they check they say its fine.
 
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SpoolAndGo

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So, after more trips to the dealer and getting American Honda involved, I still have this problem. A few things that I've confirmed/noticed recently.

1.) When it is warmer than 60 degrees F and the car sits in the hot sun, this issue completely goes away
2.) When driving over cracks or imperfections in the road, I can feel something clunking through the floor of the car. Almost like the front axle is loose and bouncing around?
3.) The car seems to wander and rock side to side when going straight, especially at slower speeds
 

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This seems pretty clearly to me to be a strut top bearing issue. There is a small flat bearing at the spring perch/strut top. Because the wheel needs to turn, and the front end uses coil springs, the spring needs to spin freely from the body of the car. If the bearing becomes sticky, the springs begin to "bind" with extra tension. Once it reaches a certain point it will snap free from tension and you will feel the clunk. The tension is also sometimes released if you hit a small bump, or transfer weight off the axle. This is a pretty common (yet overlooked) wear item in a FWD car. Once they get extra lose, you will start to feel more shuddering and roughness over bumpy/cracked roads and dirt roads. There is usually a rubber bushing there as well but they take longer to wear out in my experience.

The strut top bearings were the first thing to go bad on my car...one started popping at around 15k miles. However at 80k its still just an audible pop, doesnt really affect anything, so I'll just change them when the struts wear out.
 
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SpoolAndGo

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This seems pretty clearly to me to be a strut top bearing issue. There is a small flat bearing at the spring perch/strut top. Because the wheel needs to turn, and the front end uses coil springs, the spring needs to spin freely from the body of the car. If the bearing becomes sticky, the springs begin to "bind" with extra tension. Once it reaches a certain point it will snap free from tension and you will feel the clunk. The tension is also sometimes released if you hit a small bump, or transfer weight off the axle. This is a pretty common (yet overlooked) wear item in a FWD car. Once they get extra lose, you will start to feel more shuddering and roughness over bumpy/cracked roads and dirt roads. There is usually a rubber bushing there as well but they take longer to wear out in my experience.

The strut top bearings were the first thing to go bad on my car...one started popping at around 15k miles. However at 80k its still just an audible pop, doesnt really affect anything, so I'll just change them when the struts wear out.
Interesting. I might have to ask the dealer to look specifically at that.

I left it overnight at a dealer, when temperatures went below 0 degrees F. Although this is truly unbelievable to me, I was unable to reproduce the issue first thing in the morning. They kept the car for three days and were unable to reproduce the problem. I picked my car up and upon leaving my driveway the next morning, the snap and pop occurred as usual. With 5,000 miles to go before my 3/36,000 mile warranty is up, I'll let everyone know what is causing this problem whenever the part falls off of the car.
 


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SpoolAndGo

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Is this a normal amount of sound/play? The passenger side feels stiffer and is quieter. After driving the car around, I can't get any noise when I try pulling on it.
 
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SpoolAndGo

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So I've noticed that my sound has nothing to do with turning the wheels. I can coast straight and turn in either direction with no sound. The second I step on the throttle I get this sound.
 


 


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