jackhammer sound coming from the rear [Archive]

Tonglebeak

10-14-2007, 07:36 PM

X_X

I believe it's coming from the rear. It sounds like a quiet jackhammer/woodpecker, and it's related to tire speed. At first I thought it was just my exhaust rusting the rest of itself off or something, but the sound would occur less and less as tire speed decreased. Engine RPM has nothing to do with it, just tire speed. The faster I go, the more the sound repeats itself. The slower I go, all the way down to a stop, the less it repeats itself.

:( I checked tire pressure. 34-36 all around. Any ideas?

Tuddi

10-14-2007, 08:53 PM

Check the tread of the rear tires. Preferably take the tires off the car and examine the entire tread and sides.

I had a similar problem a few months back... only for a few minutes though... I wondered what the heck it was, stopped the car (at night), checked both front tires (thumping was from the front end), but couldn't see anything in the darkness... drove on for a few hundred feet, stopped and checked again with a lantern... a part of the tread was loose and open down to the wire armament.

The tire was open from the inside, so it was not easy to see ... hence I recommend to remove the tires from the car when you check them.

Tonglebeak

10-14-2007, 09:56 PM

I'll check later. I would hope there's nothing wrong with the tires, considering I just got them a couple months ago.

Burgundy Ciera

10-15-2007, 01:04 AM

I'd Say it's the rear wheel bearings starting to go.

dcjredline

10-15-2007, 01:30 AM

My guess is suspension related. IE: Rear shock not connected anymore, or worse the rear trailing arm misery has struck.

Hope not but something to check.

Tonglebeak

10-15-2007, 02:05 AM

My guess is suspension related. IE: Rear shock not connected anymore, or worse the rear trailing arm misery has struck.

Hope not but something to check.

Rear trailing arm misery?

Any tests I can do to verify the problem?

CieraSL92

10-15-2007, 02:17 AM

Yes. Make sure the rear trailing arm isn't rusted out.

I'd start by raising the tire off the ground and carefully spinning it to see if the treads intact and nothing obvious is caught in it.

eurosport84

10-15-2007, 04:16 AM

As simple as this sounds....check the lug nuts for tightness. Even one out of 5 being loose can make strange noises...had it happen before.

Pontiac6ksteawd

10-15-2007, 09:57 PM

I would check the shocks and the upper shock mount. If one is bad, and you keep driving it, it takes the other out. Both shocks and mounts can be replaced for about 50-60 bucks. And its pretty easy to do.

Tonglebeak

10-16-2007, 12:58 AM

My rear suspension has never been...stiff to say the least. Shocks has been on my mind for about a year, so I might as well replace them. Can you recommend any, or are the ones from AZ good? Remember I have the FE2 heavy duty/tour ride suspension.

dcjredline

10-16-2007, 03:03 AM

AZ has Gabriel they are fine. Lifetime warranty should be attractive if your keeping it for the next 5 or so years.

Tonglebeak

10-16-2007, 04:55 AM

Ok. Any specific ones I need to get for the FE2, or do all of the shocks work the same throughout the FE1, FE2 and FE3 range?

dcjredline

10-16-2007, 02:34 PM

Dunno. Sorry

CieraSL92

10-17-2007, 02:10 AM

Im sure the shocks are done if there the originals, but bad shocks don't make noise. Mine are totally gone, even the body of em rusted. It sags and bottoms out on the smallest bumps, but it doesn't make noise.

They should be replaced, but I'd be shocked to hear that they were the cause of your noise.

BBrip84Oatsie95

10-17-2007, 02:14 AM

Nice pun. :D

CieraSL92

10-17-2007, 02:57 AM

You know oddly enough I didn't even realize that until you mentioned it. But thanks

dcjredline

10-17-2007, 04:59 AM

Shocks or struts normally dont but the MOUNTS SURE DO!

Tuddi

10-17-2007, 05:09 AM

Im sure the shocks are done....

....but I'd be shocked to hear that they were the cause of your noise.

Very well said :)

Pontiac6ksteawd

10-17-2007, 02:53 PM

dcjredline

10-17-2007, 05:07 PM

LOL see post #17.

This is a VERY common problem with the 90's Taurus and the sound is very similar to what you describe.

BBrip84Oatsie95

10-17-2007, 08:25 PM

I honestly have NOT seen a taurus around here WITHOUT that problem!! F.o.r.d.....

Tonglebeak

10-17-2007, 10:19 PM

Guess I can replace both. dcj, I can't seem to find a shock mount at AZ, just strut mounts (and they have struts listed for the rear also, wtf). By any chance, would the shock mounts be the same as the strut ones?

Also, what's the difference between gas shocks and hydraulic ones?

dcjredline

10-18-2007, 04:13 AM

I looked today at AZ and was thinkin the same thing!! WTF I am pretty sure you have rear SHOCKS but I dont know. I guess you would have to see if they are just CALLING them struts and they are really shocks.

Gas is in a gaseous form (I'm guessing) and Hydraulic is liquid form.

Pontiac6ksteawd

10-18-2007, 02:05 PM

Autozone does not carry the rear shock mounts. i had to go to advanced auto parts to get it. Maybe you can get a part number from them, and cross ref it at zone.

Tonglebeak

10-19-2007, 03:51 AM

The shocks might not be making the noise, but those shock tower mounts very well could be. And if they are bad, and not replaced, the hole will get hollowed out, making reinstalation a real pain. I found this out the hard way on my grandpas celeb. And yes, it was making a hard banging noise in back, got worse if it was a rough road, or if there was stuff in the trunk or people in the back seat.

Did it make the noise more often as speed increased? It seems with the noise I'm getting, every tire rotation makes the sound, but it's not always the same volume (sometimes you can barely hear it, other times it's very noticeable). I can't find anything wrong with the tires.

Pontiac6ksteawd

10-19-2007, 05:46 AM

Well yea the noise increased with speed. Think about it, there is more suspension travel with the speed going up.

Tuddi

10-19-2007, 04:31 PM

Just to make sure.... move your front tires to the back and back tires to the front. If the noise is still coming from the back, you have made sure it´s neither the tires or the wheels or the wheel nuts or bolts (assuming you would check these during the tire change).

Tonglebeak

10-20-2007, 02:58 AM

Got two of these:
http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductDetail.aspx?MfrCode=TRW&MfrPartNumber=14234

And two of these:
http://www.autozone.com/R,APP927493/vehicleId,1080402/initialAction,partProductDetail/store,1841/partType,00661/shopping/partProductDetail.htm

Will let you know how things work out...

Also, can't find my service manual. Anyone know how to replace the mounts (is it as easy as the shocks themselves)?

dcjredline

10-20-2007, 04:17 AM

Should unbolt when the shocks are out.

Tonglebeak

10-20-2007, 04:18 AM

Cool. And all of this can be done without having to jack the car up right?

dcjredline

10-20-2007, 05:22 AM

I dont think so, I think you have to have the car up.

Tuddi

10-20-2007, 05:35 AM

Actually no... :) I just changed my rear shocks 2 1/2 months ago, same model as you have

There is no need to jack up the car... but it would be much easier for you do what you have to do, if you'd be able to back it up on a ramp .... gives you better space to manage things. Things might be stuck by rust, but expect no major problems.

Pontiac6ksteawd

10-20-2007, 11:58 AM

Yeap, those are the right parts. It makes it much easier to jack the car up (by the axle only) and take the tire off. You dont have too, I changed them on my grandpas celeb with out jacking it up, but I sure wish I had by the time it was all said and done.

Tonglebeak

10-20-2007, 08:20 PM

Good news: the noise is gone now.

I had no idea how to tell if the old mounts were bad, so I don't know exactly what was wrong with them (if anything).

The old shocks...were literally completely shot. If you compressed them, they wouldn't go back, and it was actually hell to decompress them back to the original position.

BAD NEWS:

I'm now riding with just 4 lugs on my right rear. One of the wheel studs (the whole hub is rusted :() broke off. Thankfully, things have been stable so far, and I'd rather it broke when I was putting a nut back on, rather than on the road. Looks like I get to replace an entire hub assembly, and I'm sure that's REAL cheap </sarcasm>, unless it's possible to replace just the studs?

Exactly how safe is it to drive with just 4 lugs on one tire? Obviously I"m not going to go joyriding, but for everyday commuting until I can replace this thing... ?

Tuddi

10-20-2007, 08:29 PM

Pontiac6ksteawd

10-20-2007, 09:07 PM

There is no problem changing a single stud. Just hammer out the old broken one, and hammer in a new one.

Driving with only 4 is not recommendable, but under normal driving conditions for a shorter period of time, you'll be ok... but this is a fix that'll cost you no more than a couple or so dollars.

Quoted for truth. You take the tire back off, take the brake drum off. You will see whats left of your old stud sitting there. Take a hammer and wack it, and it will fall out the back. Work in the new stud (autozone or advanced, get a new stud and 2 lug nuts) and put your brake drum on. set your parking brake and put one of those lug nuts on backwards with a plain disc style washer under neath it. Now start start wrenching that new stud in.

You will see what I mean when you put that new stud in, it doesnt sit flushly like the other studs do, and this is why you have to wrench the new stud in place.

Or if you dont feel like messing with it, you can take it to a local muffler shop, they shouldnt charge more than 50 bucks to put a new lug stud in.

Tonglebeak

10-22-2007, 12:33 AM

I hate life.

Drum was rusted on, had to beat the hell out of it to get it off. Now it's out of round and my car pulls to the left when braking.

The stud wouldn't ****ing come out, so I spent forever beating on it. Ended up deforming my hub assembly (got it back together though). Ok, all is good. I go to put the last nut on, and lookie look, another stud ****ing breaks. I had 5 studs, but only 1 extra nut (that's all firestone had).

So now I'm back to 5 studs and only 4 nuts for them, and a ****ed up brake. At least I'm a bit more motivated now to do the rear disc conversion. All that stands between me and that are the backing plates.

GOD

dagr8tim

06-05-2008, 12:55 AM

Not to drag up an old thread, but when I was driving my car the other day, I made a 90 degree right turn and heard what I thought was the exhaust rattle.

Does this pretty well describe a bad shock setup? I'm going to get up under the car this weekend and take a better look at the exhaust and the control arms to see if anything else is bad.