1976 Eldorado Convertible knocking noise

[Mihai Tarţa]

Like I said...never ending nightmare

Now it started making that damn noise again from the front left side. I'm starting to think that on the left side it might not be the CV. This is the third CV (including the original one) and the noise won't go away. Also, with the car parked, if I push down on the front left fender, it makes the very same noise when it bounces back.
Tomorrow morning I'm taking it back to the shop for yet another inspection.

Just in case...do you know a reliable source for a good CV?
I don't mind if it's remanufactured as long as it's coming from a trustworthy source. Otherwise I'm afraid I could end up knee-deep in defective CV's and with a sizeable hole in my bank account.

Thanks for all the helpful tips!

Mihai

[Mihai Tarţa]

Ok. So the current state of things is this: It still makes the noise from the left side, but the right side seems to have been resolved for reasons yet unclear. Here is the sequence of events:


1. Both CV's have been replaced with reman. Cardone CV's and the noise stopped on the right side after this was done. The left side was (and is) still making the noise. The initial conclusion was that the reman Cardone CV on the left side maybe wasn't properly remanufactured.

2. About a week later, I bought one Surtrack brand new (chinese) CV which was installed on the left side, in place of the Cardone, but that didn't solve the problem either, and we started to doubt that it was a CV issue .

3. When the Surtrack CV was installed, the mechanic noticed that the Cardone CV from the right side has been flinging grease all over the place from an improperly sealed inner joint. He tried to reseal it, but to no avail.

4. We decided to install the other Cardone reman CV (which was removed from the left and replaced by the Surtrack) on the right side, and the right side was still quiet. At this point it became clear as day that this isn't a CV issue, given that we had the very same Cardone CV installed on both sides (first on the left, then on the right to replace the leaky one) with different results.

This is a pretty strange chain of events and consequences because, aside from all the CV swapping, nothing else has changed. We know that it's not a CV issue, and, still, the noise stopped on the right side.

The noise is still present on the left side, and same as it was on the right side, it occurs after driving a while (about 5-10 miles),  and the more I drive, the more frequent it becomes.

The only logical explanation I can think of is that the leaky Cardone CV from the right side, by flinging grease all over the place, has inadvertently greased  the "source of noise".

If this is the case, then greasing the very same areas on the left side should do the trick.


I'll float the idea by my mechanic, but I still have no clear idea of what this "source of noise" could be.

Would any of you care to take a wild guess?

["Cadillac Kid" Greg Surfas 15364]

did you check the wheel bearing?
Greg Surfas

[Mihai Tarţa]

The wheel bearings were replaced recently with new ones. The wheel hub was machined on Cnc, the bearings were greased when installed and they have less than 200 miles on them.
The best bet would be looking at something located within a 10-15 inch radius from the inner CV joint.
In a couple of hours I'm going to the shop to check it out.

[Mihai Tarţa]

Finally !
The problem was that the lower ball joints needed grease.
They probably overheated from lack of lubrication and that's probably why the noise occured after driving a while.
I'm sure glad that it's finally over.

Thank you all for your suggestions !

Mihai