clunk when braking

[Petros]

Mine still give off the occational clunk, most noticable at low speed. I had thought of the brake pads, or even the caliper shifting back and fourth but that would only clunk when appling the brakes. There is no forward motion or force that would cause it clunk back when you accelerate. It comes from when the acceleration/deleration forces are transmitted through the suspension and strut assy. I think the sping shifting is the only explanation that makes sense since I have not isolated it to anything I can find in the moving parts.

Some time I want to replace the springs all the way around with the stiffer/higher ones available. I will need to rent a spring compressor and I will have everything appart then and see if I can notice anything rubbing in the spring seat/assy. Hopefully I will solve it then.

[hberdan]

Well, in the process of looking for the "clunk" , I just replaced the left half axle, both side front brake pads and also both front brake lines!
While I was at it, I replaced the torn rubber dust cover on the left steering rack. It was split in two.
Replacing everything was pretty easy, really, as I have done it all before--except for the steering rack dust cover. The old one was easy to remove, but it took some real thought to get the new boot back on the rack.
So, after spending $70 on the rebuilt half axle, $22 on new brake lines, $25 on brake pads and $18 on the rack dust cover, I think I've solved the clunk problem. Springs and struts were just fine, but the old half axle CV joint really did clunk when it was examined. Maybe that was the cause of the sounds. It appeared to be the original factory axle!
In any case, the Terc rides nice now.

[Petros]

I am reviving this thread because I have a few up-dates on this issue. I have not solved the problem yet, but I may be close. since the original thread, the clunking has become more common, and I mostly have gotten used to hearing it. I have since had my suspension apart several times for different reasons, once was to replace the left axle when the CV joints gave up. I noticed the ball joint is now pretty loose and sloppy, so I replaced it, and carefully inspected everything else. Found nothing and the new ball joint made no noticeable difference.

I have been seeing some suspicious looking seams around the strut towers and was thinking it might be loose welds. Upon closer inspection there appears to be a lot of tiny cracks around all the spot welds on the left strut tower. I also found several longish looking cracks in other places on the strut tower not even near any seams. I have been thinking that when I get my 4age engine swap done I am going to stitch weld the strut towers, front sub-frame and front and rear suspension pick-up points. I have been thinking this might be the source of the clunking, which has gotten regular and loud.

I have been meaning to test this idea with the addition of a strut brace, but I have been dragging my feet on that. List member Stephan from Port Townend was going to bring one of his when he comes over when I help him do the brake upgrade and the weber swap, but between the holidays and the recent snow we have not been able to get together yet.

I had a pretty slick strut brace I got off a Nissan Sentra at Pull-a-Part for $6.50, and have been meaning to adapt it to fit for over a year. I finally roughed it out last night and got it on my Tercel, and it appears the majority of the clunking has now stopped. It also feels much more solid up front too. I have to do some more driving on it, but it appears the source of the clunking was the welds are breaking down on the front of my car around the suspension. This is likely not just due to the car's age (it has about 280k miles on the frame), but also the rough gravel roads I drive daily to get home. There is no rust on my car's frame or body.

I will post some pictures soon to show you the condition of my strut towers. And the modified Sentra strut brace. Do not think the Sentra strut brace is even a close fit, it is not. I had to cut up, cold form and re-drill all of the mounting holes on the left and right tower mount, and there is not much left of the original tower mount. The only thing that worked out was the length of extruded aluminum brace and the cad plated hardware at both ends of it.

[takza]

Like to see those pics with arrows showing the cracks/welds...I have a clunk up front on my wagon....and can't find anything obvious. I run it on back roads a lot...bunch of bumps....

[ARCHINSTL]

Ditto on the pix. I, too, have an elusive "clunk." But - only when exiting one certain 7-11 parking lot and then only at a certain angle - nowhere else. It's not "Something-is-falling-off" loud, but quite noticeable. I've looked and tightened various over the years to no avail, but never thought of looking for cracking. This was before the struts, springs, bushings, tie rods, CVs as well as after.
Tom M.

[Petros]

Here is a picture of my cracked strut tower.


The pencil tip is pointing at the worst of the horizontal cracks. Also notice the spot welds just to the left of the pencil, the dark circle is tiny cracks around the spot welds. The seam just above the crack (on the top of the tower, next to the opening) also shows signs of movement. You can see the body seam where the fender meet the wheel well, the seam is dark and shows evidence of motion (the fender has never been off the car, this should be a tight and sealed joint). There are a number of other signs of movement at other joints around the strut tower as well. All these seams will get stitch welded next time I get the engine out of the car.


A picture of my new strut brace, from a Nissan but the mounts were adapted to fit the Tercel. You can see the crack on the near tower, It stopped most of the clunk and popping when I am moving slow over bumps or turns, or as Tom found, when backing out of parking spaces. There are still a few minor clunks occasionally, but nothing like what I was hearing before.


Another shot of my strut brace installed. Looks like it belongs there, doesn't it?

I highly recommend getting a strut tower brace just to prolong the life of the chassis. If you can weld, it is not a bad idea to add some reinforcement on the front towers and frame. It is possible the flexing and cracking could get so bad the the front of the car will sag as it get weaker and weaker.

List member Stephan from Port Townsend had some custom braces made at a very reasonable price, so you can get one from him. Or you can make your own, or adapt one to fit like I did.

It might be possible to get a stock one to fit the Tercel from a supplier. But you would have to see if you can get a supplier to mix the parts from other cars, you get the bracket strut tower mounts from a Toyota MR2 (that will fit the Tercel bolt pattern) combined with a link or strut brace from something smaller like an early civic or a stanza. The MR2 strut towers can use the same mounts, but on the MR2 they are further apart than the Tercel, so you need a shorter link.

I do not recommend getting one from a Nissan and making it fit like I did. It was a lot of work, lots of cold forming, cutting and drilling on the brackets. I repainted mine so you can not see the damage I inflicted on the brackets.

When I get around to doing the extra welding on the towers I will post pictures of how I chose to reinforce them.

[dlb]

wow, that's unreal! nice work, petros. something i will definitely consider.

[ARCHINSTL]

Thanks, Petros!
Tom M.

[toughtercel]

Hey Petros , you finally wash your motor , I have same problem with cluking sound as slow motion of my wife"s hatchback , we just turn our hearing aid off while driving .