Rear end clunk. Help the NOOB Please!
 

Hey Guys,

Need help with my 99 boxster tiptronic.

I was driving home last night and while turning my car started to make a loud rotational clunking noise. My wife was following me in her car and she could hear the clunk from her car. The clunk is coming from the drivers side rear and slowly increases with speed.

If I accelerate hard, the clunk goes away
The clunk will happen while going strait or turning.
The happens at all speeds.
I dont hear or feel the clunk if I shift the car from drive to reverse while stopped.


From my experiences with other cars, I think this would be a drive shaft/axle shaft. I pulled the wheel off the car this morning and the axle shaft felt a little loose trying to rotate it by hand and was easy to slide back and forth, when comparing it to the passenger side which felt more solid.

Do these CV joints wear out? The pictures I found online show them to be pretty stout pieces and I cant find much about people replacing the joint. Just the rubber boots. How can I tell if the inner our outter CV Joint are bad? There also seems to be a lack of support in finding replacement parts. Any experiences/suggestions are appreciated!!! This car is my DD so I need to get it back on the road fast.

Thanks

D

Bowling ball in your trunk?

Common possible problems:
Failed front motor mount
Bad CV joints
Loose or worn suspension joints

Remove the inspection panel behind your seats, start the car and watch for motor movement when shifting from fwd to rev. Hold the brakes and rev the motor a bit. If you see lots of movement your front motor mount is toast. Other inspections are best made with the car on a rack. Check every suspension bolt and joint for movement. Good luck!

CV joint problems usually manifest during acceleration out of stoplight/sign turns. If one goes I'd replace both or all.

Topless mighta nailed it with from motor mount. Check PedrosGarage.com for improved mount and repair procedure.

+1 on motor mounts.

I had the similar clunking noise in my 2001 boxster s rear driver side and then it progressed into what sounded like a tank going down the road. ended up being the wheel bearrings. They are cheap to buy on pelican parts , but not an easy task to change. unless you have access to a hydraulic press you will have to take them to a shop to change them out. hope this helps

When the rear trailing arm bushings wear out, the rear end makes a clunk going over bumps. It's a fairly common weak point in these cars.