Hot_Dog

I've got a 90 GXL with almost 335k miles on it. I been hearing noise -- sounds like a metallic clunk -- coming from left front wheel when I hit the brakes, but it doesn't do it all the time. Usually happens only after the sits for a while. This started only a couple months ago. Car rides good. I've no issues with it other than this intermittent noise.

I had the front wheels off yesterday, but couldn't find anything other than slightly too much play in the front hubs. I tightened up the hubs and there's still some play but it's better than before. The hubs rotated smoothly. I repacked the front wheel bearings about 15k miles ago and everything looked okay. I've got 68k miles on the FWB's.

I thought it might be the caliper and/or brake pads, but they appeared to be okay. I replaced the front calipers about a year ago, and only have 15k miles on the rebuilts. I put Hawk HPS pads on with the rebuilt calipers. Pins and retainers all looked good.

Everything on the left front appeared to be tight. The control arms seemed to be tight. I did the front control arm conversion in 2009. Only have 56k miles on the replaceable ball joints. The boots look a little weather worn, but ball joints didn't seem to have any detectable looseness.

I installed KYB AGX struts in 2003. Put in Mazda Speed upper strut mounting blocks. That was about 115k miles ago. I'm thinking maybe the mounting block is bad? Hard to tell unless I pull the spring off. How long do these strut bearings typically last?

It was too fricken hot to work on the car yesterday. Looks like I'll need to go through this exercise again next weekend. Hopefully, I'll pass my annual VA safety inspection tomorrow Aug 1st.

Anybody ever have a similar problem? Any suggestions where to look?

Brian Deane

335k? WOW! but could really either just be your hub, struts or your lower control arm bushings. can you move the spring around with the car off the ground? if so it could just be moving around a little but and locking back in place

Hot_Dog

Yeah, 335k miles! Not with the original engine. In 2002, I installed a Mazda remanufactured engine at 211k. Rear rotor seal went out on the original engine. Surprisingly, the car seems to run better than new cars that I occasionally rent that have only a few thousand miles on them.

Well, it might possibly be a front wheel bearing. I didn't want to risk pulling a hub to check the bearings to have a bearing fall apart on me. Then I'd be SOL! I just ordered new set of FWB's from RockAuto. Should get them by Wednesday. Will go through this exercise again next weekend. I just needed to get the car in decent enough shape to pass my annual VA safety inspection which expired in July.

I wasn't able to detect any looseness in either the control arm or spring. I'll probably need to start tearing things apart to find the actual culprit. I've already bought new arm bushings and ball joints with the intention of replacing all that old stuff. I think I've also got a new set of strut bushings laying around the house somewhere. As you may already know, these cars require a lot of TLC. It was just too hot outside last weekend to get involved with this job.

p0tat0s

iTrader: (3)

is it possible you have a slightly sticky piston in the brakes? when i installed my 4 piston fronts i had 1 piston sticking on my front right and would make a dull clunking sound if it sat a few days at first. a little heat from braking and fluid change helped clear it up.

Hot_Dog

I don't know, but I'll check that out. Thanks for the suggestion. The calipers (rebuilt Raybestos) are only about a year old. The left caliper did have a slight leak where the two halves are joined. I'd loose about an ounce or two of fluid every month. I checked the bolts that fasten the halves together and found that two of them were not completely tight. Seems to have solved my leak problem. Nowadays, you really don't know what you're getting with rebuilt parts.