So this morning, I took a left curve going towards school. I was going ~30mph and the curve was nothing. When I turned into the curve, the rear drivers wheel made a quick 'clunking' noise. I thought I hit a rock or something the wrong way, so I ignored it, got to school, and parked.

Then when I went to leave, I backed out of the spot and pulled out as normal, and when I went to turn out going left, the wheel did the same thing. So I pulled over and checked the tire. Everything looked fine and when I tugged on it, it seemed fine as well. I also broke out the 4-way and made sure the lug-nuts were tight. So I opened the door and turned the steering wheel left, then started driving forward while looking at the tire.

Once I started moving I noticed that the whole wheel was shaking side to side, like the wheel was trying to steer or something. And the clunking was there too. So I drove the short distance home and parked it. While I was driving, everything was fine except when I made a left turn.

So when I got home I jacked up the rear wheel, and when I pulled it every which way it didn't budge. Of course, the e-brake was engaged, but that shouldnt have anything to do with the wheel shaking. I didn't do anything besides that since our dirt/gravel driveway and my jack in the rain don't go together well.

So my question is, what could be causing this? Someone mentioned a wheel bearing, but I dont know. It's just the drivers side wheel. And the rear tires are fine, and I didn't hit anything recently or do something out of the ordinary. And when the car is up to speed, like when I was doing 70 on the way to school before anything happed, the car drove fine.

Thanks for the help guys. Hopefully I can get this fixed before Monday, because driving our old Accord isn't too fun .

And I know I need DTSS eliminator bushings, and the rear suspension needs replacing soon. The car is stock as well besides the cheap rims the p.o. added. And yes, I searched .

 

wheel bearing. test again with rear in the air, and ebrake disengaged.
-a

 

Thanks. So with the tire in the air, spinning freely, move it up and down and left and right?

And I found this thread:
https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...=wheel+bearing

It mentions replacing the rear wheel bearings and what not, and mentions something about having a shop press them in. Would that be expensive, and would Napa/ Ricerzone carry the bearings?

 

One more thing- if I had to drive the car for some desperate reason, would the wheel be alright, fall off, or damage other things as well?

 

Block the front wheels jack it up, i usually use a floor jack off the rear diff, move the wheel left, right, up , down. Cant remember you side drivers or passenger, but does it seem to go away or be a lot less when you turn one way? Sounds like your wheel bearing is far gone, not a good idea to drive it, ive seen some fully sieze, and the wheel doesnt spin at all, could leave you stranded some where shitty, good luck, Jay

 

i had the same problem drove me nuts i replaced almost every thing in the back. but if you raise the car up an pull outward form the bottom of the wheel it shoul move. this is caused be the rear Lateral Link
or this it has ball joints on both ends that go out an give play but this piece is $172 but i think this is your problem

 

if you can jiggle the wheel top to bottom and it has play its a wheel bearing. If it wiggles side to side it can be the tie rods or ball joints. Get it done asap unless you like buying tires and its also unsafe.

 

Yes, you need to dissengage the parkign brake, since that is attached to the hub, and so is the bearing. Therfore, with the ebrake engaged, you will never be able to budge the wheel by hand. Dissengage it, let it spin freely, grab it by the tread, and try to wiggle it. If there is even the slightest wiggle, its the bearing.

U can try napa, but I doubt they have it for the FC. Same with autozone. But, still try, you never know. You will need a press to do the work. A local garage can do it for $20.

Also, it can be the lateral link, or the trailing arm link on that side of the suspension. So, jack up the rear, remove both wheels, get a light, and inspect all the moving parts, even the brakes. Put a wrench on all the nuts and bolts, and makes sure everything is tight.

Hmmm...now that I think of it, it can also be the rear sway bar end link. A bearing would be more of a grinding, and sway bar endlink would be more of a clunk during loading and unloading.

bottom line, check everything down there.
-a

 

Thanks for the help everyone. It's been raining here for 2 days now, so I havent had much time to get to the car. Tomorrow it's supposed to be clear, so I'll get out and check everything you all mentioned.

And god, I hope it's not the rear lateral link like chriz88dx mentioned... I dont even think I've got that much money

 

just get it in the air an shake it down good i see you stay around gainesville if you need some help iam free so pm me

 

Damn Damn Damn... I moved the car to level ground, jacked it up, and disengaged the e-brake. Got to the wheel and tugged on it every which way, and got nothing. So I removed the wheel and jerked on the rotor, and it was still sturdy, with no budging what-so-ever. So I took off the caliper and tugged once more, and nothing. I checked the lateral link and checked the bolts on that, which all were sturdy and didn't budge.

So what could it be now? I could check and make sure all those bolts are tight I guess. But now, I've got to leave and head up in town. Hopefully I'll have a break once I get back .

 

So... no new posts. I'm going to rotate the tires on the drivers side for the hell of it. If that doesn't solve anything ,which it probably wont, I'll be stuck.

 

So I drove the car to an empty parking lot about half a mile away. I cut the wheel all the way to the left and drove in circles. But I never once saw the wheel shake like I did before. I'm thinking that when I first saw it shake, the car was moving and my head wasn't stable, making me think it shook. When I was at the lot this time, I even got someone else to drive it in a circle and I never saw it shake.

But once I left the lot, it got worse. It's clunking just the same, just more often. Somethings telling me it's the differential. But I dont know. I'm going to look over the FSM and search some more.

 

Clunking in the rear as you go on and off throttle? Could be the diff mount.

 

Camber links are a possibility.

 

Nope, already fixed that about a year ago.

The individual, subframe ones? Or the long sub-frame link?

 

So tomorrow, this chick's dad is supposed to give me a hand with it. He's got a lift in his garage, so everything should be a hell of a lot easier. Anything in particular I should do while it's up on the lift, besides getting the thudding issue figured out?

And thanks again for the help so far guys.

 

Sounds like it could be a CV joint or a differential problem.

 

CV Joint? I thought I didn't have those in the rear...? And the I've thought about the differential as well. I'm leaving in a minute to go to get in on a lift, so wish me luck .

 

Alright... disregard that last post . I took the car about 2 miles down the road to a friends house and it was yanking and clunking the whole way. We got there and her dad and I went for a ride around the block. When we were back we jacked it up and he started pulling on this and spinning that. And he came to the conclusion that it's the CV joint on the drivers side. So I left the car there, and next weekend we're going to take it all off and see what fucked up. I figure it's better to replace it, since it's 250K and 21 years old. How much would those run? And would I have to buy one at mazdatrix.com or would autozone carry them?

Thanks again guys. Hopefully that'll fix it and I'll be back on the road next weekend.

 

Not sure if Mazdatrix has them. Not sure what they cost either. Try Trussville Mazda parts dept. (800-633-8285) for discounted pricing. They're in Birmingham. Or try Ray in the parts dept at Malloy Mazda in Woodbridge, VA (703-490-8170) for good pricing as well.

You may want to print out the appropriate section of the shop manual before you tackle this task. Sometimes those things can be difficult to remove.

 

Update:

My uncle (and the PO of the car) found the halfshaft (halfshaft= CV Joint+Output shaft) for me, but he's in Mobile, Alabama. So he's going to ship it up here. Then hopefully this weekend I'll have it fixed.

And Go48, I've searched quite a bit, and I think I've got a good shot at it. The biggest bitch about it that I've seen is removing it from the differential, but many said you just have to turn it the right way and it'll slide right out. And the guy who's helping me knows quite a bit, and his neighbor's ASE or ACE or whatever certified. So hopefully, the 3 of us should get it done.

But if any of you have any helpful tips on doing the job, I'd love for you to post about it .

 

So, my uncle should have pulled that part off a car for me today. Now I've just gotta get him to ship it... which might take a day or 2 since he tends to be lazy. And that guy who's got my car at his house couldn't even get the key out- he and his daughter finally got it Anyways, thanks again for the help guys. I'll keep this updated.

 

Alright guys, the part arrives tomorrow morning and we're starting on the car around one. The guy's thinking it's a 3 day process, but I tried assuring him it wasn't a huge ordeal... Wish us luck.

 

Or not... It didn't arrive, and as it turns out, I dont even need it. We removed both halfshafts and they're perfectly fine. His ASE Certified neighbor came over and helped us for a bit, and we all concluded it was the gears in the differential. We drained the fluid out of it, and we put a magnent into the hole and a ton of metal chips came out. And when you turn one side of the differential, the other side will only spin half the time. So tomorrow, his daughter and I are going around here from junkyard to junkyard to try to find one. I'll post in the SE Section in a minute...