Help! Knocking sound from left front area when going over bumps, nothing is loose in suspension

civic123

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I have a 2017 Honda Civic (1.5T CVT) with 25000 miles and recently I have noticed a knocking sound coming form the left front wheel/suspension. It is not too loud and sounds like something striking a plastic panel. The sound happens when the car just finished the speed bump and is bouncing back up. So I tried to push the front of the car down to recreate it, but I wasn't strong enough.

- Alignment is fine

- Did not hit potholes

- No leaky struts/shocks

- Dealer checked and said was fine

- Tire wiggle did not indicate any loose tie rods or ball joints

- Took tire off, nothing seems loose, parts looked very new

- Nothing is loose under the hood, battery is tied down

- Knocking sound occurs whether the car was in N or D

- Nothing in center console or door pocket

I really have no clue what it is, any ideas?
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NHCivicGuy

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Others in the Accord community found that their strut mount caps were actually causing a noise over bumps. They removed the rubber caps and the noise immeditely went away. Give it a try and see what happens. It's #5 in the picture below- goes right on the top center of #10.

Also wouldn't hurt to check your battery to make sure that's tight and tied down correctly. Some else posted that theirs became lose and had a clunk over speed bumps too. Just throwing some ideas out there to check.

Honda Civic 10th gen Help! Knocking sound from left front area when going over bumps, nothing is loose in suspension 102988
 
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civic123

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Thanks for the suggestion. I will give that a try.

I have also made sure that the battery is secured, so it's not that...

I think I can feel the clunk while holding the steering wheel, the vibration is very weak. What could it be?
 

Mugenkb1

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civic123

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Went to the dealer several times, first they said they couldn't find anything. Then they said they found evidence of impact on the shock mount, says replacing shock and shock mount will solve the problem. Waited for another 6 hours and they indeed replaced shock and shock mount under warranty - still clunks over bump.

I'm going insane. What could be the issue?? Everything is tight under the hood, nothing in doors, nothing lose in car. All ball joints, sway bar linkages are fine, tie rod is fine....
 


mvela

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Any time I’ve had a problem like this in the past it has always ended up being a ball joint. It’s just really hard to duplicate. They might all look fine with the rubber boots intact and move freely. But you have to have someone bouncing the car and pulling up on it while you listen for it to pinpoint which one is bad. I don’t know how you will be able to do it since it’s so tight. My other vehicles I was able to turn my wheel all the way to the left or right and look at my suspension while a buddy bounced it and I was able to hear the one it was coming from. And trust me most mechanics will not put in this much effort to find it. Not trying to say all mechanics are lazy. Just saying some don’t have that kind of time to be troubleshooting an intermittent problem. I had taken my gmc to two separate mechanics and they couldn’t find it so me and my buddy bounced it ourselves and realized it was my ball joint. Changed it and problem solved. Sorry for the lengthy response but just thought it was important. Another trick to try is turn your wheel all the way to left and drive in a circle a couple times and do the same the other way. If you hear any clicking or popping then your CV joint is bad. A little trick my dad taught me. Good luck
 
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civic123

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Thanks for the advice. I agree that nobody would put this much effort into finding it, i guess i'll just live with it. I thought since the car was under warranty I'd take it in, but I spent too much time at the dealer and it's probably time to give up.

It's not dangerous, so I will just keep driving. If it's a problem it will just get worse, and eventually we will be able to pinpoint it and solve the issue.
 

Sowalski

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I would check the link pins while the cars on the ground.
 
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civic123

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After 4 visits to the dealership and then "replacing" my strut, the last visit fixed the clunk!!! Still have no idea what it was, they just replaced:

RUB, FR BUMP STOP
SEAT, FR SPRING
BEARING FR
RUBBER FR
BUT FLANGE 10MM
SEAL HOLE 25MM
CAP FR
S/ABS UNIT L FR
NUT SPINDLE 24MM
STRUT

I still don't know what caused the noise. But so happy it's fixed before warranty expiration! Thank you all for your suggestions.
 

Kane666

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im fighting this as well. axles? ball joints? was fine until springs replaced
 


 


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