I noticed a couple of weeks ago that, when pulling out from a stop, turning sharp left and going uphill, I'd here a clunk that sounded like something rolling around "in the trunk". Just happend once every couple of days and at the same intersection.
Then on Thursday, things got scary. On the way across town in the morning, I heard an occaisional tap and the odd clunk. Usually when stopping or starting on a hill with the wheel turned or going around a gentle curve. At lunch I took a little drive to capture some coordinates for a GPS app I'm working on. Going slow with lots of pulling into and out of parking lots. The clunks got louder. To the point that I could feel them through the floor. Felt for the world like a shot ball joint or a tie rod end about to fall off.
So I called the serivce dept. and described the problem. Service manager said, of course, to bring it on in and they'd take a look. Well, I got there after the worker bees were all gone. But the service manager was there. He said to leave it and they'd take it for a ride the next day. I told him they would find nothing (because I knew how they'd test for what I had described). I said "You'll probably take it over the bumpiest road you can find. Right?" When he said I was right I told him they'd find nothing that way.
So he went for a ride with me. Nothing. Absolutely zilch.
When we got back and were discussing the sounds, one of the service supers overheard our conversation. Said that another MO was giving off similar sounds and, after three days of checking, tightening, and testing to no avail, one of the mechanics gave the steering rack mount locknuts a little crank. No more pops or clunks.
Couple of weeks later, another came in. The mechanic immediately cranked on the locknuts. No more noises.
Thinking about the nature of locknuts, it made sense. Turn one by hand and you generate quite a bit of heat. Turn one with a power wrench, like on an assembly line, and you generate a bunch of heat. Which would cause a lot more friction. Which would give a higher torque reading, possibly preventing the assembler from even seating the nut.
So I took the MO in yesterday. Five minutes after the mech drove off he was back. No more pops. No more scary thunks.
Service mangler says that's going on the list of first things to do when a customer complains of pops or thunks from the nether regions.
Then on Thursday, things got scary. On the way across town in the morning, I heard an occaisional tap and the odd clunk. Usually when stopping or starting on a hill with the wheel turned or going around a gentle curve. At lunch I took a little drive to capture some coordinates for a GPS app I'm working on. Going slow with lots of pulling into and out of parking lots. The clunks got louder. To the point that I could feel them through the floor. Felt for the world like a shot ball joint or a tie rod end about to fall off.
So I called the serivce dept. and described the problem. Service manager said, of course, to bring it on in and they'd take a look. Well, I got there after the worker bees were all gone. But the service manager was there. He said to leave it and they'd take it for a ride the next day. I told him they would find nothing (because I knew how they'd test for what I had described). I said "You'll probably take it over the bumpiest road you can find. Right?" When he said I was right I told him they'd find nothing that way.
So he went for a ride with me. Nothing. Absolutely zilch.
When we got back and were discussing the sounds, one of the service supers overheard our conversation. Said that another MO was giving off similar sounds and, after three days of checking, tightening, and testing to no avail, one of the mechanics gave the steering rack mount locknuts a little crank. No more pops or clunks.
Couple of weeks later, another came in. The mechanic immediately cranked on the locknuts. No more noises.
Thinking about the nature of locknuts, it made sense. Turn one by hand and you generate quite a bit of heat. Turn one with a power wrench, like on an assembly line, and you generate a bunch of heat. Which would cause a lot more friction. Which would give a higher torque reading, possibly preventing the assembler from even seating the nut.
So I took the MO in yesterday. Five minutes after the mech drove off he was back. No more pops. No more scary thunks.
Service mangler says that's going on the list of first things to do when a customer complains of pops or thunks from the nether regions.
