MS3 Loose Stabilizer Bar Nut - Clunks from the rear

[mcopare]

Hey Rotus....clunk is back...taking it to the dealer on Monday. Did they give you a hard time about anything?

 

[Rotus8]

Hey Rotus....clunk is back...taking it to the dealer on Monday. Did they give you a hard time about anything?

No problems at all. I told them that I had tightened the nut and they were cool with that. Got a loaner (bottom line 3) with 6 miles on it. It took them two days because they had to order the part. My car came back about 10 lbs lighter (they washed it!). Clunk gone.

I also turned on the trip computer in the loaner, and told the service manager how to do it - he was impressed.

 

[blue2turbo]

Well I took mine in to have my front end clunk looked at, the dealer tightened a couple bolts, and claimed my motor mounts were "just fine." I still hear an awkward thud that I am not used to when I go over speed bumps, does anyone else? when I go really slow over a speed bump, the second the front end travels down, I get a low thud before it rebounds back up... is it just me or anyone else have the problem?

Side note: My car is going back to the dealer today for the new rear clunking that came into play yesterday, well yesterday is when I noticed it, and it sounds BAD! I also took everything out of the hatch, checked the spare and the jack, and still it is really loud over bumps, and even small bumps now. Passangers side rear is where most of it sounds like it's coming from, so I am assuming it is probably the same problem everyone else is having.

Hopefully after they look at the entire suspension today, I will be noise/clunk free.

 

[whitey4311]

Mine makes some sounds but I think its mianly the tight suspension that you are hearing and for me most of it was the foam in the hatch that holds the jack handle. It was flopping up and down making noise but I tend to only hear any noice when I hit cracks or bumps but not at any other time like through dips ect.

 

[voiceKoil]

I have noise when I accel over bumps, not realizing it until its too late. I just figured it was the springs clunking together, i dunno though, I just had my whole car "checked out" I honestly think they just took it and parked it in a bay and drank coffee underneath it, they wouldnt let me over to see what they were doing, which I thought was fishy, and they missed a couple minor but obvious things I noticed.....

 

[voiceKoil]

I have had my speed for about a month and have been hearing a clunking noise sometimes from the rear over bumps. I found the jack could move around but I fixed that and the clunk was still there. So I finally jacked it up and crawled underneath today to find the bolt on the stabilizer (anti-roll) bar right side link was completely loose! The nut was half way off the threads, I am surprised it didn't come all the way off - probably would have in a few more miles.

My manual says it should be torqued to 40 ft-lbs, so I try to tighten it and the nut won't tighten up. The threads on the stud are boogered up from banging around in the hole in the stabilizer bar. So I removed the link and had to repair the threads with a thread die. It's all back together now so I think it's cool, I will know for sure next time I drive it up a bumpy road.

Moral of the story - don't ignore clunks from your suspension; get it checked out before it boogers up the threads, or something worse.

Man the inside of your wheel looks very clean

 

[blue2turbo]

Mine makes some sounds but I think its mianly the tight suspension that you are hearing and for me most of it was the foam in the hatch that holds the jack handle. It was flopping up and down making noise but I tend to only hear any noice when I hit cracks or bumps but not at any other time like through dips ect.

Mine definitely wasn't that... the dealer tried to tell me that too... "the tight suspension is going to make more noise"... I told him I know that, but this was not normal tight suspension noise... but he looked at me like I was stupid... what happened, they ended up replacing my passanger rear strut (it was BENT!), multiple rear suspension bushings, both of my stabilizer bar link bolts (both were loose and threads got jacked up), and they ordered new stabilizer bar bushings that are on national back order and I have to bring the car back for installation when they come in... my car has 800 LIGHTLY driven miles on it... never put above 5k and never cornered hard. I drive on the bad streets of Norfolk, VA though, tons of bumps and cracks and holes, but never drove stupid through the minefield of crap.

 

[whitey4311]

I just backed my sway bar nut off by hand!

I used red locktite and put it back on tight but am taking it to the dealer this week to have it all inspected.

This has always made that noise and I am at 1300 miles so this just sux!

Everything looked good and I dont think there was any damage but I will have them tell me for sure.

 

[whitey4311]

Went to the dealer and all looks fine as I suspected. The shity part was that the mechanic said I should have left it loose so he could have seen it that way inorder to properly report it to mazda. I told him there was no way I felt comfortable leaving it loose through the weekend.

He checked the factory spec for torque on it and it was between 28-40 so he checked it with a box wrench and said it was plenty tight and I had used red loctite so it should be fine.

The plus side is now my car is noise free over bumps which sounds beautiful compared to before.

Well as of right now he called Mazda and there are no other reports of this so other dealers must not be reporting the issue properly or something. This guy was very thorough and checked over everything. He even found a missing screw cap for the air conditioning line and ordered one for me.

In the end for more serious things the same response remains when they say something is fine or you have a warranty no worries. I guess until they actually see a issue first hand there is no real way they are going to take things apart to check other bolts ect.

 

[civic si hb]

Mine makes some sounds but I think its mianly the tight suspension that you are hearing and for me most of it was the foam in the hatch that holds the jack handle. It was flopping up and down making noise but I tend to only hear any noice when I hit cracks or bumps but not at any other time like through dips ect.

I think also here clunk out of the rear of mine. I jacked up the rear and check out the swaybar link and bolts, everything was tight where it should be. I think it's also a tight suspension in the car. Look at the wheel gap, there is hardly any. So there is not much room for it to travel. Just my .02 and good luck to every that has had a real issue so far. I keep my fingers crossed that i'll be good.

 

[whitey4311]

A thud from a tight suspension is differnt then the clanking I heard so be sure to keep your ears pealed from time to time.

I did put a drop or two on the outside of the other nut just so it could seap into the threads and secure it as well.

If you think your jack handle is loose in your trunk and it makes that type of sound chances are that its a loose bolt. If its the typical thud type sound from the tight suspension then its all good.

 

[dsterp]

Sway bar loose

Hi everyone,

I had the same rattling issue on my Speed. I knew I wasn't hearing things. At first I thought maybe the tailgate wasn't closed all the way. I would hear the rattling mainly driving slower speeds and I would keep turning around to see where it was coming from. I thoght maybe it was from inside the car too.

I just got a call back from the dealer and they said the swaybar needed to be adjusted, I guess tightened.

 

[mrlilguy157]

i went in for mine too. this should be a TSB.

my bolt actually stripped and the swaylink busted.

 

[RelliMS3]

i heard that noise about two days before i was scheduled for the motor mount recall. so i just asked them about it, turns out it was the same problem as yours.

 

[Max Freed]

I brought my MS3 in to have a rattling noise from the rear checked out, and the first thing the service advisor did was check the swaybar endlink bolt - sure enough, it had backed out. Unfortunately, the threads were stripped, so a new part is on order.

Fortunately, they were able to provide a CX7 as a loaner, and I was on my merry way. Props to Oak Tree Mazda, specifically Tim Trompeter, he is nice as can be and very knowledgeable - their customer service is second to none.

 

[Nburvi1]

bringing my MS3 in tommorow, I too have just recently started to hear a clunking sound from the rear of the car.

 

[Kurt07]

I am glad that I found this thread. My car isn't even two weeks old yet and I am hearing a clunk from the rear. Thanks for the info.

 

[Boost Driven]

Just noticed this tread, I've had the same problem right before the motor mount recall and they just tightened the nut.

 

[robin2660]

i went in for mine too. this should be a TSB.

my bolt actually stripped and the swaylink busted.

I just saw this thread today and that answered the clunking problem I've had as well. I went out and, sure enough, the bolt was loose, that after 2500 miles. While having the engine mount recall work done today, I had them look at it. Tightened solves the noise but I made sure they inspected all the parts and I'm scheduled to have the swaylink replaced.


Robin

 

[RelliMS3]

alright, so we all got it temporarily fixed, but won't it just happen again?