[touche6784]

I have a strange popping noise that is coming from the front passenger side of the car. Currently I can elicit the sound when pressing the brake at low speed, accelerating from a stop, sometimes with dips in the road like a small pot hole or a large crack in the road. The pop sounds like a pop that bad suspension bushings would make. The sound intially could only be made accelerating from a stop and was a small pop. It now has gotten louder and has a resonant ping to it like something is sliding into or out of place. I recently, as in less than a month ago, had a clutch job done and changed from snow tires to winter tires. About a year ago I had my control arms, from bad bushings, and wheel bearings replaced on both sides. I am considering taking the car in to have it checked as the popping does not sound very pleasant and I cannot determine if this is a problem related to the brakes or the suspension and related parts or something else entirely. What could this be from? Could there be some crazy connection to a hack job on my clutch replacement? I ask because the guy I usually take my car to does not do transmission work and had to take it to another mechanic. I need ideas to further ascertain what the problem is in my car and if it could be an easy fix. I've been throwing so much money at this car recently I really do not want to have to dump more money into it. Thanks guys.

 

[mr rx-7 tt]

Ball joint????

 

[touche6784]

Would the ball joint have been dealt with when changing out the whole control arm? I just searched the forum real quick and see alot of stuff about the control arms.

 

[saab&engineer]

Yes. If the control arm was replaced, the ball joint was replaced too. The ball joint is part of the control arm. You may want to check into the strut bearing, ARB bushings, or maybe cv joint.

 

[24601]

Can you feel it a little bit, or do you just hear it?

It might be the subframe.

Sometimes the mechanic will loosely tighten it, break a bolt, torque it improperly, forget to add loctite, etc...

I had it happen on mine about a month after getting the engine replaced by the dealership.

If it is the subframe, it's an easy fix... assuming that it hasn't caused any damage to anything.

 

[swill424242]

I have the same Issue no clue what it is only when iam comeing to a stop i hear it and it is also on the passenger side

 

[touche6784]

I'm dropping my car off to my mechanic on Monday. I do not feel anything pop when I hear the sound. I am now able to get the pop to occur on demand when I pump the brakes from under 25 MPH. I can also get it to pop when making tight turns like turning out/into a parking spot. I looked up symptoms of bad ball joints and they mentioned wiggling the wheel. I can wiggle the wheel horizontally but not vertically. I checked the driver's side door and that one does not wiggle horizontally but it does wiggle vertically. From what I read horizontal means bad tie rods and vertically means bad ball joint. would this be correct for our saabs?

 

[BZach9-3]

I have the same issue too, but haven't been able to figure out what it is. Mine is on the driver side tho.

 

[swill424242]

He when u come back from the mechanic's let us know what they say thanks shaun

 

[touche6784]

I will most definitely get back to everyone here on what the resolution is. Seems like a few people here are having the same issue.

 

[BZach9-3]

Yeah, mine is progressing exactly like yours. Started off barely noticeable but now it's getting worse. And it's the same thing, it happens when I'm making a really tight turn or braking at low speed and sometimes when I go from coasting to accelerating at low speed.

 

[Frank_Drebin]

When mine was popping I dug in and found a broken strut mount. I could feel that pop though. About 6 weeks after replacing the strut mount, I started getting a popping noise but couldn't feel it. I found that the gland nut on the strut had loosened and the strut insert was popping. The symptoms mimicked your's on the 2nd go-round.

That being said, don't assume that the recent work is connected to the sound as this can cloud the troubleshooting process, just be aware of it and pay special attention to the items that were disconnected during the ball joint replacement.

 

[touche6784]

My mechanic took a look at the car, he drove it around to hear what I was talking about, and after some investigation we determined that the popping noise seems to be coming from the stachion arm bushing connecting the arm to the subframe. We were able to reproduce the pop sound at will with some work. If we raised the car so the suspension had no pressure then lowerd the car, we could get the pop sound by pushing the passenger side of the car down. We did this while the mechanic had his hand touching the stachion arm and he said he could feel the arm resonate when I the pop came. He checked with a pry bar and the joint seemed to have just a slight bit more play. After playing around with the joints he was able to definitely make the pop with the pry bar. He took a high powered air wrench and said he was able to get half a turn on the bolt. He took the car for a ride and said that he could not hear the pop. I will get back here once I drive the car.

 

[touche6784]

It seems that tightening the bolt for the above said did the trick. No more popping when pumping the breaks and no clunking over bumps and dips in the road. Yay my car is back in action!:lol:

 

['97 Saab SE Turbo]

I wonder hay many ft/lbs of torque he actually used to tighten the bolt with. Harbor Freight has one that goes up to 1400 ft/lbs of torque for $200. Shouldn't he have used a torque wrench and tightened to the recommended setting?... Ron

 

[swill424242]

Could u send me a pic of were it is exactly

 

[swill424242]

is this it ? and were did he tighten it

 

[touche6784]

is this it ? and were did he tighten it

I believe that he tightened the bolt that connects part #5 the bushing to the subframe

 

[touche6784]

I wonder hay many ft/lbs of torque he actually used to tighten the bolt with. Harbor Freight has one that goes up to 1400 ft/lbs of torque for $200. Shouldn't he have used a torque wrench and tightened to the recommended setting?... Ron

yea he probably should have taken a torque wrench to it. Oh well. The issue is fixed and I am not going to go back to him and ask him to loosen the bolt so he can re-tighten it. Maybe thats just me.

 

[swill424242]

Kool thanks man ill try that today.