jseklund

Guys, thanks for all the help and follow-up.

Huskerbob - I did not loosen the subframe at all, but I am going to check those bolts because that was in the back of my mind. I SHOULD have loosened the subframe to get to the steering rack bolt on the bottom, but I worked around it. I'm thinking this weekend I may try to learn how to drop the frame, get 100% on that bottom bolt, and then retorque the subframe bolts.

Airbag - I will check these (it may be a couple days before I can get time with my work schedule) - I did not take the springs apart at all, so hopefully it is fine. The spring towers were out of the car for weeks though, with no tension on them at all.

GSRob - I bought a refurbished rack that came with inner tie-rods attached to it and the boot sealed. The guy I bought it from said not to replace the tie rods because doing so would void the warranty. He said many people torque the tie rod when they remove it and don't support the rack, and it damages seals. I was a little concerned because the inners on the rack were floppy and I thought they should be stiff, but he said they all begin to move more freely once you work them a little. I had new inners and outers that I had already bought, but I just used the new outer and kept the inner tie rod on the rack.

I torqued the bolts as GSRob just suggested....on a stand, and then used the jack to raise the wheel while I torqued.

Gsrob

I'm sure the guy had a good point but the fact that they were loose enough to flop around maybe one of the problems. All of the noise that I was experiencing could be recreated with the wheel off and just using a hand on the tie rod itself (while hooked to the hub). It would literally bang back and forth an make a metallic sound. So, after changing the outers, the noise was completely gone. I shouldn't have been so hesitant to replace the inners however, because like yours, they seemed to be looser than what I read online. After putting it back together, the noise was entirely gone, but has continued to creep back, although to a much lesser degree. However, I'm 99% positive that having new ends with fresh ball joints that are harder to move around just exacerbated the problem with the inner ball joints being worn.

Good luck to you though and I hope you get to the bottom of it.

CRuby

Subframe has 4 bushings. 2 front & 2 rear. We had clunking noise from worn front bushing. Could hear it on accel & hard braking & when jacking up from subframe. Probably didn't help to also have 2 broken motor mounts.
But anyway, be aware subframe bolts are torque to yield bolts. Bentley says one time use.
IIRC 81 ft-lb + 90 deg. If you haven't removed them & just rechecking to confirm they're tight, I suggest going 81- 100 ft-lb only. No additional +90 deg.

blink

This may sound obvious, but have you checked the security of your battery. A loose battery can simulate the same symptoms as a loose steering rack. Give it a violent tug, it should stay situated.

The only reason I offer this solution is because it happened to me with a yellow top optima, and I felt ridiculous.

jseklund

Just an update - I finally got around to doing some more work on my car this weekend. I dropped the rear two subframe mounts and the second I did the band clamp that holds the heat shield over the cat to the exhaust pipe fell out onto the ground. It had snapped off and was probably just bouncing around in there. I pushed the heat shield back into place and re-secured it to the pipe with a new clamp.

The heat shield is exactly in the spot that it feels like it was clunking when I was driving - right below the steering wheel column and in behind the dash/pedals. I am optimistic this was the "clunk" - but it seems too easy and the shield seems too light to be causing the banging that it felt like.

I took a rubber mallet to the exhause pipes (gently), wheel hub assemblies, etc. and banged around a little to find anything that shook and after I secured the shield nothing else seems to be shaking.

I then replaced my rear brakes, and ran into an issue bleeding the brakes so my car is still on the jack stands and I will hopefully finish the bleeding in the next couple of days and get to test my repair. Fingers crossed.

SloopJohnB@mac.com

LOL..similar thing happened years ago to my 87 900T saab…the heat shield is about 4 feet long and 1.5 wide and wraps around inside a shallow tunnel. Both seats and the center console had to be removed to replace the shield….

CRuby

I wouldn't expect to get a clunking sound from the heatshield, since it relatively thin sheet metal. More like a high frequency twanging, or tapping due to vibration. Had same issue where hose clamp on DS heatshield had left the scene, but didn't notice any noise from it. However, the heatshield must have been vibrating a lot because it had several cracks originating from hole cutout, such as for the O2 sensor.
I hope it's cause of your noise, but don't be surprised if it isn't.