[mikebontoft]

SO, basically I haven't driven the focus for more than a month and has been sitting out in rain and cold temperature. I've started it a few times though.... a few days ago, I took it out for a drive, and this clunk/snap/pop kinda noise came from the car.... you can feel it under both the driver and passenger floorboards, so it's gotta be somewhere under there.... at first I thought it was just the exhaust being a little loose at the flex and extension pipe to the new exhaust, but now I'm kind of leaning towards an engine mount...... it only does it when I either accelerate hard enough, slow down enough, hit a big enough dip or bump, or when I turn enough...... I say "enough" because it doesn't do it all the time, except for when there's enough stress put on the chassis/engine/mount (something) to cause it to move and click. here's this video that I made that night, so maybe you could get a better idea of what I mean..... none of the noises are from my finger on the microphone, but you can definitely hear them from outside the car......turn it up if you can't.



see what I mean? I don't want to drive it like this if it's a mount....well, really anything!

 

[mikebontoft]

bump

 

[jimmyg]

Stop and pull your Mother In law from under the car where she was hiding the bomb to blow you up. Problem solved.....

 

[mikebontoft]

Stop and pull your Mother In law from under the car where she was hiding the bomb to blow you up. Problem solved.....

wow....thanks, that's gonna help [rolleyes] c'mon, let's get some answers people!

 

[thisdude_05]

I'm guessing it wasn't doing that before it sat for a month right? Maybe your shocks are frozen or something i don't know. What makes me think that is because you said it only happens on weight transfer. Worth a shot

 

[mikebontoft]

yeah.......it didn't do that before, so maybe it is the shocks, I didn't think of that..... I don't know if I mentioned it up there either, but you can feel it right under your feet on both the passenger and drivers sides......

 

[thisdude_05]

Yeah that would be my first guess is the shocks. If not that my next guess would be front axles, cv boot could have torn after you started driving it from sitting in cold so long and now it's clunking.

 

[mikebontoft]

ah yeah...... it's not constant though..... so that rules out the "constant velocity" joints or boots [hihi] I have another video, but I'd have to upload it and it makes me laugh at first cause my voice sounds awful [hihi]

 

[svtautox]

Bounce your suspension on each corner see if you hear anything. Grab each wheel and push and pull on opposite sides (as well as top and bottom) and see if it has any movement that isnt suppose to be there. A few weeks a go my camber plate came loose and was making a popping noise because my strut was moving. If you have plates check them for sure.

 

[svtautox]

Also I didnt read to well till now but rev the motor while looking at it and see if it moves a lot more than usual, be careful. Or you could grab it and try to rock the motor with the car off.

 

[bluefront]

Been sitting outside in freezing temperatures for a month? You simply may have an ice build-up somewhere underneath that's hitting the body upon movement. With a heavy build-up, you may have to break it loose yourself......or park it inside a heated garage for a while. Maybe wait for spring....[giggle]

 

[whynotthinkwhynot]

Outer CV's- the most common failure- do not click on deceleration, only accel, and generally you first hear the sound when making a hard turn and accelerating before it starts happening straight line acceleration.

I'm going with the struts or strut bearing as well. If so, you should be able to reproduce the sound without driving the vehicle. You should also try the motor mount test to see what kind of condition your motor mounts are in. If the car is an ATX, it's easier to do. With either, chock the wheels, engage the E-brake, and have an assistant nearby. Now, put the car in gear and give it some gas. Be careful not to stall if you have a manual. The engine should move about 1", if it moves more than that, you have motor mount problems- and in your case, you should be able to hear your sound as well.

 

[mikebontoft]

Outer CV's- the most common failure- do not click on deceleration, only accel, and generally you first hear the sound when making a hard turn and accelerating before it starts happening straight line acceleration.

I'm going with the struts or strut bearing as well. If so, you should be able to reproduce the sound without driving the vehicle. You should also try the motor mount test to see what kind of condition your motor mounts are in. If the car is an ATX, it's easier to do. With either, chock the wheels, engage the E-brake, and have an assistant nearby. Now, put the car in gear and give it some gas. Be careful not to stall if you have a manual. The engine should move about 1", if it moves more than that, you have motor mount problems- and in your case, you should be able to hear your sound as well.

hehe.....all the more reason to get the SVT suspension [thumb] (explanation to parents for the new exhaust was that the old one looked awful and was rusty......) that's a good idea though, I know I was rocking it back and forth, but I didn't push it down..... wheel chocks I don't have, and manual I do. but thanks, I'll see if I can't try that in shop......I bet he has some of those......

 

[mikebontoft]

bumping in hopes it will clear the dark boldness of this thread from my "subscribed threads" box [hihi]

 

[mikebontoft]

Ok, I tried giving some force over the "Location" of each of the struts, from outside of the car, and it produced no noise......

 

[NatDogg]

Then it's probably not the suspension. Suspension noises can usually be reproduced just by jumping on or rocking the car.

Did you check the motor mounts? Engage the parking brake and have someone rev the engine while you watch it. If its the motor mounts then you should see excessive movement and hear your noise as well.

Perhaps you had water intrusion into a motor mount where it froze and damaged the rubber?

 

[mikebontoft]

^^^ water intrusion is more than likely..... it has rained a few times at night, sometimes in the day, and everything freezes later at night....

 

[whynotthinkwhynot]

Ok, I tried giving some force over the "Location" of each of the struts, from outside of the car, and it produced no noise......

I doubt you'd hear a bad strut bearing like that. I've just decided to replace them every other shock change. I think you'd feel thunks in the steering as you turned if the strut bearings were bad.

I dunno man... if it doesn't seem critical, maybe you can forget it instead of worrying about it.

 

[mikebontoft]

yeah I wouldn't worry bout it cept that it pops like every damn second.....well, not evey second, but it does it alot, and it's loud.... I'm gonna try the engine mount thing today (yay it's snowing now :|)

 

[SEFOC05]

Well Mike, Don't feel too special. I have the same problem as you, and I have been chasing it for a few months. I have a few threads that I started you can take a look at if you haven't already :

http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=165120
http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=167303

I'm still chasing this thing around too, I haven't had a whole lot of time to ask questions ant tinker with things though .

I was lucky enough to have Justin, someone here on the board (Jetrinka) aid me in a suspension swap. In it, we replaced the strut bearings, and used low mile dampers, springs and shocks all the way around. I still get the noise, however, It doesn't seem as loud and aggressive.. It is a rather annoying POP sound
Everything under my car feels tight, I have MOOG end links, properly torqued down sub frame bolts, bushings all look O-K. I bought a MAC dogbone mount, but haven't installed it yet (time) hoping that will tighten up the "load" everything else takes. If I ever get a day off that isn't raining I might crawl under and give it a try.
Like Mike says, its felt in the floorboards, so could it be front sway? the bushings look okay on mine, and there doesn't appear to be a lot of play.. but I don't know what else could be down there moving around.