Front-end jerks and clunks when cold
01-07-08, 12:29 PM
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Front-end jerks and clunks when cold
I am trying to figure out what, or where, the problem in the front-end of my bone stock SC400 resides. I found no trace of leaking when I looked at the bottom cover during a recent oil change. The steering rack is all clean and not covered with grime. The steering in normal driving is solid and positive, but the car does like to chase ruts in the road. New tires coming Saturday may help the rut chasing (I hope).
When the car is first started in the morning I back it out of my driveway. When I turn the steering wheel to the left lock it feels like something in the front-end is jerking sideways. All of this noise and movement seems to come from the right side of the car. Braking seems to move things around too. Once I have driven the car a mile or so that symptom goes away. For a while there seems to be a little instability in the steering. Once that symptom goes away the car is stable and smooth. During warm up I have described it as feeling like the car wants to fall off of the road.
Tire pressure has a large effect on all of this. The right front tire requires checking at least twice a week. I hope the new tires will correct that task too. Could this all be the worn Goodyear tires when they are cold?
There are no clunks or vibrations fed back to the steering wheel on uneven road surfaces. Even when I am backing out of my driveway there are no jerks or clunks fed back to the steering wheel while there are several solid jerks and clunks that seem to originate from the right side of the car.
When I changed the oil I jacked up the tires while the car was on a set of jack stands. I watched the ball joint seals on the upper and lower control arms. The seals did not seem to be any stretching or shrinking at all. I have pictures of these seals with the suspension loaded and unloaded. Is this the correct way to test the ball joints? If not, how should I load and unload them and observe the results.
I also took a close look at the control arm bushings on the control arms. From what I can see there is no cracking visible without removing the attachment bolts. Can the cracking be seen in these bushings if they are still installed on the car?
Pushing and pulling on the control arms by hand did not find any movement at all.
I am also wondering if there is a bushing or other problem in the steering rack that could cause this type of problem when the oil flow is reduced or restricted in some way. I would expect to feel a problem like this in the steering wheel, but I don't know for sure. This question was raised by a recent posting by an owner who made a new bushing for his steering rack and reported improved steering response. Unfortunately there are few details about this bushing, or what led hem to want to replace it. The posting for this bushing is here:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=325465
Thanx for any input.
Tom
tom@************
When the car is first started in the morning I back it out of my driveway. When I turn the steering wheel to the left lock it feels like something in the front-end is jerking sideways. All of this noise and movement seems to come from the right side of the car. Braking seems to move things around too. Once I have driven the car a mile or so that symptom goes away. For a while there seems to be a little instability in the steering. Once that symptom goes away the car is stable and smooth. During warm up I have described it as feeling like the car wants to fall off of the road.
Tire pressure has a large effect on all of this. The right front tire requires checking at least twice a week. I hope the new tires will correct that task too. Could this all be the worn Goodyear tires when they are cold?
There are no clunks or vibrations fed back to the steering wheel on uneven road surfaces. Even when I am backing out of my driveway there are no jerks or clunks fed back to the steering wheel while there are several solid jerks and clunks that seem to originate from the right side of the car.
When I changed the oil I jacked up the tires while the car was on a set of jack stands. I watched the ball joint seals on the upper and lower control arms. The seals did not seem to be any stretching or shrinking at all. I have pictures of these seals with the suspension loaded and unloaded. Is this the correct way to test the ball joints? If not, how should I load and unload them and observe the results.
I also took a close look at the control arm bushings on the control arms. From what I can see there is no cracking visible without removing the attachment bolts. Can the cracking be seen in these bushings if they are still installed on the car?
Pushing and pulling on the control arms by hand did not find any movement at all.
I am also wondering if there is a bushing or other problem in the steering rack that could cause this type of problem when the oil flow is reduced or restricted in some way. I would expect to feel a problem like this in the steering wheel, but I don't know for sure. This question was raised by a recent posting by an owner who made a new bushing for his steering rack and reported improved steering response. Unfortunately there are few details about this bushing, or what led hem to want to replace it. The posting for this bushing is here:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=325465
Thanx for any input.
Tom
tom@************
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