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Popping noise in front left

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Location
Texas
#1
So this started happening suddenly one day when I was coming up to a stop sign. I was driving pretty calm just coming home from work, and there was this horrible loud POP from the front. It was loud enough to scare the hell out of me and I thought I had just hit a massive pothole and cracked a rim or something. I can't even remember if I actually felt any bumps or anything because I was too focused on how loud that pop was. I pulled over and my wheels looked fine, then I checked to back to see if I somehow got rear ended without noticing. All looked good. Went on with my day and stopped thinking about it. Then I went down some twisty backroads pretty fast a few days later and kept getting the pop. I thought I was just hitting rocks or little potholes or something, but the road was smooth. I turned around and did the same section of road again and there was no potholes or anything else in the road.

After this it started making an audible pop whenever I braked or accelerated. Sometimes, very inconsistently, while braking long and slow like when coming to a stop light, there would be a sudden VERY loud pop. I don't feel any kind of vibration or movement at all, just the noise. Also, if I went into 1st gear at a slow speed, then alternated between tapping the brake and tapping the throttle, it would pop every time I switched.

First, I thought my lug nuts were loose. I usually just tighten them by feel, but I went out and actually got a torque wrench to torque them all to spec. It seemed like that was the problem because the noise went away. But then a few days later it came back. I checked all the lugs again, and they were all still torqued exactly the same. The noise seems to come and go, some days it won't happen, some days it will. But if I drive the car hard, it will happen 100% of the time. Sometimes it's when braking, sometimes it's just when turning, or hitting a bump. So now I'm convinced it's something to do with the suspension but not sure what. I've looked under the car and everything looks fine to me. All the bushings looked fine to me. Maybe I just don't know what to look for, I'm still new to working on cars.

Any ideas? The car still feels like it drives perfectly fine.
 


Last edited:

TyphoonFiST

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#2
Nevermind, realized I was being incredibly dumb like 30 seconds after making this thread and can't figure out how to delete it [emoji23]
You will have to delete it on a computer version of TT, I do believe *

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OP
F
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Thread Starter #3
Bump because I edited my first post because I thought I had fixed it immediately after making the thread. Turns out I did not fix it.
 


CSM

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#4
Inspect your ball joints - they are pretty easy to replace if you order the entire control arm assembly with the joint attached.

Another possibly is the shock mount up front. my Scion had a shock mount go bad once and it made a bad popping occasionally when turning.
 


Messages
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Location
London, ON, Canada
#5
If it's happening on acceleration, perhaps cv joint/axle? If you can narrow down exactly when it happens, it may help to diagnose the problem. eg. What if you're only turning (eg. do multiple complete 360 circles in a parking lot, do it in both directions)? If you accelerate while turning does it happen (same parking lot turning scenario, but periodically accelerate). What if you're just accelerating? What if you're coasting and brake? What if you go over bumps (eg. find some speed bumps)?

CSM's shock mount and ball joint ideas are a decent ones. Another thought is a bushing failure?

The main suspension/drivetrain bits which can cause this type of problem are cv, ball joint, tie-rod end, shock, shock mount, suspension bushing, sway bar bushing/mount. Some of those are easier to diagnose than others.
 


Last edited:
OP
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Texas
Thread Starter #6
I'm bad about forgetting about these threads lol. Anyway, I feel like I'm crazy at this point. I had my dad look at it who is far far more experienced than me and he inspected everything and didn't see anything wrong with any bushings or joints. Only thing he said was I might need a front left strut soon-ish. I also couldn't get the loud popping noise to occur while he was riding with me. But it happened again a few days later. I've noticed the pop when going over speed bumps now so I think that might be the strut.

BUT, just now when I went to start from a stop, going pretty calmly, it felt like there was a delay and something moved in the front left suspension before power went to the ground. Could this be the axle? I think I'm going to take it to a dealership to see if they can diagnose. Axle should be covered under power train, right?
 


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Location
Boston
#7
Things to check: from easiest to most difficult

1. Bad engine mounts. Check for broken/leaking mounts, engine movement, etc
2. Aftermarket exhaust that doesn't use the front hanger? Check for worn exhaust hangers & exhaust banging. I had something similar that sounded like a ball joint, turned out my MAPerformance exhaust was banging about. Stiffer hangers made it better, but I ended up replacing the exhaust and no more banging.
3.Ball joints, control arm bushings, end links general suspension stuff should be easy to see (though you've already done this)
4. Strut mounts
5. CV Joints
 


Last edited:
OP
F
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Texas
Thread Starter #8
So I don't know how this didn't get spotted, but my driver side control arm was totally shot. I even took it to a mechanic shop a guy from my work recommended because they could do a quick check for cheap. They told me the RMM was destroyed and needed replacing, and the control arm was starting to wear out but was fine for now. I went ahead and got new control arms and a RMM because I was already wanting to switch from Cobb to CPE anyway. Went to replace the RMM and the old one seemed a bit worn but otherwise fine, no crazy damage. Noise still happened. Then I went to change the control arms and saw the bushing was completely separated. That's what caused the popping and you can see where the metal is worn down where it was popping.

Case closed. Can't believe I drove on this for so long and couldn't figure it out lol.
 


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Location
Chino Hills
#9
Wait, so was it completely unseated from the control arm but still inside the damn subframe?

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OP
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Texas
Thread Starter #12
52k. I got the car used from a lease return dealership at 42k a couple months ago. It already had the Cobb RMM and Cobb CAI from the last owner, so who knows how he treated it. Still wondering why he modded a leased car. The noise started before I hit 50k I think, but it was super infrequent when it first started happening.
 


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MI
#13
Had the exact same noise and it was a totally destroyed ball joint. I live in Michigan, so the previous owned must have been a fan of hitting pot holes.
 


M-Sport fan

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#14
52k. I got the car used from a lease return dealership at 42k a couple months ago. It already had the Cobb RMM and Cobb CAI from the last owner, so who knows how he treated it. Still wondering why he modded a leased car. The noise started before I hit 50k I think, but it was super infrequent when it first started happening.
What model year??
 


PunkST

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#16
I should check mine. I have 122k on them 😲. Also my endlinks. Lol.
 


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