1994 Nissan Pathfinder "clunks" when turning

Maintenance/Repairs
1

My Nissan Pathfinder (1994) makes a “clunk” sound when I go around tight corners, usually only one “clunk” per turn.

The sound occurs on tight turns at low speed (e.g. on a round-a-bout: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundabout) as the weight of the car shifts and leans away from the turn.

The sound seems to come from the front end, near the driver’s side wheel.

My mechanic couldn’t work out what was wrong. He removed, greased and reassembled the upper driver’s side ball joint and then gave up.

If anyone has any ideas about what this could be I’d be more than grateful!

2

Have a different mechanic check your CV joints, especially the inner CV joints.

3

The clunking noise might be coming from a worn outer CV-joint on that front drive axle.

https://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=3854373&cc=1211960&jnid=513&jpid=2

Tester

4

That is most probably the CV joints. I agree, get a different mechanic.

5

Does it clunk no matter which way you turn, or is it worse turning left? Or is it worse turning right?

6

Thanks all for your help. I’ll get someone to take a look at the CV joints.

It clunks on turns in both directions, but I think slightly more so when I turn right.