A lot of people tell me the struts may be bad?

Tiny
MRMIHAILOVICH
  • MEMBER
  • 1996 DODGE STRATUS
I own a 96 Dodge Stratus. I bought it brand new back in mid 1996. It has never given me any problems except for the head seal leaking oil. I had that fixed by the dealer on a recall. About 1 year ago I noticed a clanking/popping/knocking sound coming from my front suspension. I looked up for other recalls and noticed that it had lower ball joint with control arm recalls. I took it to the dealer (after 10 years mind you) and they fixed it without any questions. They also told me that the outer tie rods were bad. I had one of their mechanics show me to be sure. They were bad so I paid the dealer 200 bucks after labor and tax to have them replaced. I picked it up 3 days later. I thought that would fix the problem, but it didn't. I drove it home and still heard sounds. Still the noise persisted. I took the tires off and inspected the brakes to make sure one of the pads wasn't loose. I looked to make sure the battery wasn't flying around in its compartment. I jacked it up and tightened everything I could on the front end. I inspected all bushings and joints. I had all those replaced. Everything is tight and looks good. I didn't replace the upper ball joints or the coil springs. When I changed the struts I very thoroughly inspected the upper ball joints. Everything was good. No broken rubber joints, no play, no worn rubber. They looked good. I am at a dead end. I can't get rid of the rattling sound. The sound is most noticeable when the wheel is bouncing up and down very quickly. Like when you are driving on a gravel road, or when you are driving down an old road with lots of cracks that makes the wheel bounce just a little bit but very quickly. I need help. What else can make it rattle. I know it's coming from the suspension. That is obvious. I have had mechanics look at it. No one can seem to figure it out.
Thursday, August 17th, 2006 AT 9:12 PM

1 Reply

Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
  • 109,747 POSTS
Hi,

The most common cause of this on a Chrysler product is the strut mounting plate at the top of the assembly. When you replaced the struts, did you install the entire assembly or just the shock portion of the assembly?

If you look at pic 1 below, I circled the mount that I'm referring to. This turns with the weight on it. There is a bearing inside that can fail and become loose. The result is a rattle or clanking sound when hitting bumps.

To replace the strut mount, the assembly needs removed and taken apart and the new part installed.

If you look at the remaining pics below, I included the directions for disassembling the strut assembly which is done when replacing the coils. Once this is done, simply replace the strut plate/mount with a new part.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have other questions. Also, once a strut is removed and replaced, the vehicle should be aligned.

Take care,

Joe

See pics below.
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Thursday, August 19th, 2021 AT 3:27 PM

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