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found the problem now what?


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arkansasdave
User

Jan 19, 2013, 11:42 AM

Post #1 of 4 (1678 views)
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I finally found the source of my front end noise that my car has been making for about two months. I did change the lower control arm that had bad bushings and now that is new and a new ball joint. But Aug of 2011 the day I bought my 2006 Mazda 3 they put on a new strut on the front drivers side. The noise sounds like it is coming from the drivers side. I pulled off the wheel today for the 3rd time and went into detective mode I am tired of the noise and what I found was at the top of the strut under the hood where it meets the body where the bushing usually is which looked to be there but the nut is off center compared to the other side and there are metal shaving all under the opening like it is moving around and it is not sitting square in the hole so it must be. It did not make this noise for the first year though and the bolts were all tight when I checked except one turned about an 1/8 of a turn. Do I just need to jack it up and recenter the strut in the opening where it is seated right or could the bushing in there be shot or ????? thanks for any info.



Arkansas DaveCrazy


Sidom
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Jan 19, 2013, 11:52 AM

Post #2 of 4 (1672 views)
Re: found the problem now what? Sign In

Sounds like your are describing the strut mount.....If the strut shaft is "offcenter" in the mount & you can see metal shavings.......The mount will need to be replaced......To do the job correctly you would want to change both mounts & struts.......

To change the mount, the strut would need to be disassembled and you don't want to do all that work & reuse old struts...


arkansasdave
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Jan 19, 2013, 1:22 PM

Post #3 of 4 (1637 views)
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I took the strut loose and sure enough the guy had left the bolts just loose enough that the strut could move around and had enlarged the hole in the body. So until I can weld the hole back to normal size I moved the strut back as close to the original holes as possible and the top plate back on the outline where it had originally been and torqued the fool out of it enough that it wouldn't move. Until I can repair it and get it realigned. I took it for a drive and problem solved no more noise it was great. Thanks for the advice I appreciate it.


ADSmile


(This post was edited by arkansasdave on Jan 19, 2013, 1:22 PM)


Sidom
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Jan 19, 2013, 2:24 PM

Post #4 of 4 (1629 views)
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Glad you got it quieted down......

I was thinking of the strut center shaft nut in the center of the mount & not the plate mounting nuts.....

Oblonged holes aren't good but as long as the studs aren't damaged then you may not have to replace the mounting plate........






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