hey all,
the car has done this since the day i picked it up - and i took it back to mitsu that same week i got it for them to look at under the used car warrenty thing, and they said there was nothing wrong with it - go away basically..

anyhow, it never bothered me that much on the gold coast, because the roads are a whole lot better down there than they are up here, and i never really heard the noise that much. Now im back in Mackay where our roads are utter crap, its starting to bug me again.

anyhow - to the description; please bear with me as its hard to describe a sound in words let alone type it out.

i have narrowed it down to coming from the vacinity of the front, drivers side wheel area of the car,

when driving along and i roll over bumps in the road, i get like a rattle, clicky clacky sort of sound.
i get an initial first rattle, then the rattle fades out a little and goes away - until the next bump in the road.

if i keep the drivers side wheel on smoother ground (a task here, but anyhow) i dont get the noise from it at all.

Steering feels tight, i never get any feedback thru the wheel to suggest that its the wheel thats now wandering around dangerously.
it happens no matter if i have the wheel in the straight ahead position, turning left or right, and at any speed.
the rattly / clacky noise appears to be be in relation to the how bad the road is i guess.
also happens regardless of any temps too.

its not the CV's, i know that much, as i know the distinct sound that they make and how the car feels and behaves when they are on the way out.


does anyone have any idea as to what the noise is?
i guess the easiest way to describe it, is something is moving under the car when i hit the bumps in the road,
Mitsu said back in August when i first brought it to thier attention and got them to look at it that they could not find a problem and all was fine under the car - but the noise tone / sound has not changed at all since that day.

should / would it still be covered under the used car warrenty thing? as i took it into them within the 3month (i think i got 3 years on top of that as well used car warrenty... provided that i get the car serviced with them all the time... but anyhow) period.
it was my understanding that possible defects brought to thier attention within the period must still be honoured if they are actually found to be faulty down the track? correct me if im wrong please on that one.

opps long post... sorry!

cheers!

I get that noice going up my rocky driveway every day!!!!!!

No bl***dy idea mate but it annoys the hell out of me too.

Makes me think the shockies might be dead and bottoming out when they fully extend - but its not that rocky...

I have the same sort of issue!!! it sounds like a loose cable rattling?? But it is coming from the front right of the car. Thought it might be the bonnet release cable not being secured?? Anyone got any other ideas??

Thanks,

I have the same sort of issue!!! it sounds like a loose cable rattling?? But it is coming from the front right of the car. Thought it might be the bonnet release cable not being secured?? Anyone got any other ideas??

Thanks,

Mine definitely feels like its in the front suspension, might be a bit different to what you are describing but mine is definitely the same as the O.P described.....

it doesnt feel like a cable rattling around as such, it sorta feels metal or rubber or something.

im pretty sure that my car has been in a slight accident before i got it, just superficial panel damage, but it was at that corner of the car...

im hoping that its not the shocky on the way out... coz no doubt that will be expensive to replace.

car is stock height, and running stock rims - car is basically stock standard.

interestingly, today when i went out and about, i was driving along a back road (within the speed limit) and i drove over a cane railway crossing and it DIDNT make then rattle thats been annoying me...
altho, as soon as i was over the railway line, and the road turned to crap again... it started making the rattle.

Car feels tight handling wise, doesnt wander on the road and i always know where the front wheels are pointing and travelling too.

This may sound really trivial but in the interest of covering all bases:-
Check the Wheel Nuts are done up tightly.
My mother had Mitsubishi service her TJ and it started doing the same rattle noise soon after. One of the nuts had fallen off while driving and the others were very loose! Once tightened the sound has not since returned.

:bowrofl: :bowrofl: Brings back memories of good ol paddock bashers......

This may sound really trivial but in the interest of covering all bases:-
Check the Wheel Nuts are done up tightly.
My mother had Mitsubishi service her TJ and it started doing the same rattle noise soon after. One of the nuts had fallen off while driving and the others were very loose! Once tightened the sound has not since returned.

il go and check it now - good suggestion and cant hurt to check :)

ok, the front wheel nuts needed tightening!
EDIT - i still had all 5 per wheel though, so thats a good thing im sure

both the drivers AND the passengers side too.

back wheels where fine, they where still done up VERY tight.

i was able to tighten the drivers side ones - and if i can do it, they musta been getting loose! i got my dad to finish them up, ended up getting in total, about a full half turn out of them to tighten them back up.

il prolly head out later, so it will be a good time to see if that was the issue with it.

while i was out at the car, i kicked the top of the rim / tyre to see if i could gey any movement or sound out of it - and it didnt move as such, but it made the sound that i have been complaining out - just at a lower volume.

Just a word of warning,Even a bloke built like a streak of bird poop could muster up enough torque if hanging of the end of a decent breaker bar to distort the rotors,so make sure you do not overtighten them as it can cause problems.

But having said that,id always err on the side of caution and do them up tight,rather than have the wheels fall off!

Steve

It mite be your cat (not the animal)?
I had a sound that mitsubishi couldn't find:rant:
and when i told a mate about it he went
all over the car and found that it was my cat.

ok, well the checking and the tightening of the wheel nuts has not solved the problem.

however, the rattle IS slightly less prounced now, but it is still there and it is still noticeable as well.

when i got home, i had a bit of a feel around the wheel arch (wheel on obv) for anything obviously loose, the inner arch, where it joins the front bumper undernieth it is a fraction loose so that could also be part of the cause.

Tomorrow when there is light and space in the garage, i might (try to) take the wheel off and have a better look.

the car goes in for a new rear muffler tomorrow (well technically today really as it is 130am) so while its up on the hoist il ask them to check for anything loose exhaust wise under it... Im sure they will charge me for it, but theres no harm in getting them to see what they can find while the car is up there.. just as long as they dont try to sell me anything more!

will let yaz know what i find out if they find anything.

kicking the tire while the weight of the car is on it will not let you know if there is movement in it. You need to jack it up so the wheel is off the ground, put one hand at the top, and one at the bottom and try to rock the wheel. If it moves, then your wheel bearings will need replacing.

However, a lot of people have experienced this problem and it usually turns out to be the strut top bearing.

Find a **** bit of road that you can reproduce the sound on....

Then go over the same bit with your foot lightly on the brakes and see if the noise is gone. I had this problem and put some anti-squeal goo on the back of the pad and the noise died down significantly.

Also check your springs, the top and bottom coils should have some form if tape/plastic wrapped around them, this prevents the coils from rattling against eachother, another common cause. If they dont you can pick up cable wrap from Jaycar for about $6 a pack IIRC, I installed some on my car and the rattle noise is almost completely gone......could probably get it to go away properly if I wrapped the stuff around with the car jacked up, but being who I am I did a half ****d job and probably didnt wrap the coils properly.

Other users have replaced strut top bearings, IIRC bout $120 each new, but on a KL Id imagine yours should still be OK.

I get that aswell.. But when I slam/close firmly any of the doors.

doddski, I had a similar noise, would only happen going over bumps and corners and it was a rattly chinking sound.
It was the brake backplate hitting the disk.
Take off the wheel and with a mallett tap the backplate away from the disk to increase the distance, it's hard to judge if it has actually moved so is a bit of trial and error.
If you can get partly under the car use a long piece of metal rod and lever it.
I can only assume that at one stage the backplate must have been hit with a rock or something.
Hope this helps yourself or others

kempeowen - cheers for that, ill pull the wheel off tomorrow and have a look back there and see what i can find.

but yeah, def sounds like a metalic clinky sorta sound, it doesnt sound heavy as such - as the sound seems to be continued on (the rattle part i guess) but perhaps a 'bounce' of sorts.
if that makes sence?


while at the exhaust shop today, got them to check the rest of the system for anything that was rattling or loose, and they couldnt find anything at fault.

i would pull the wheel off now, but im starting to loose light for the situation.

I had the same noise and ever since I changed the shocks and springs to new items.....gone is the noise replaced by silence.

P.S. When i removed my left rear shock and released the nut on top the piston retracted into the housing and I said Whoah!!

problem is FIXED :)

quite simple actually, cant believe I didnt fix it or find the source earlier actually...

turns out, that the inner black plastic wheel arch trim, at the lower front edge where it meets the bottom of the front bar,
instead of sitting in behind of the metal of the wheel arch itself, it was sticking it a bit.
(il take a pic when i get home again to illustrate what im talking about)

removed the trim screw, forced the trim back behind the arch and then put the trim screw back in, and i looked under the front bar to see if it was still attached there... im missing the screw under the front bar.

cable tied it down (cheers Gas_hed for reminding me of them great tools!) and the car is quiet again over the bumps as it should be :)

went out to Homebush (on the way out to Sarina for those playing along at home) where the roads are below average and it was pretty much (apart from the normal suspension working noise) silent.

il post a pic when i get home again.

cable tied it down (cheers Gas_hed for reminding me of them great tools!)

lol

Between myself and BJ31OS, we probably have close to 100 cable ties holding various mods/****ups/bodykits throughout our cars.......

Cableties are king.