# 2016 Chevy Traverse, pop/grind when turning

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/2016-chevy-traverse-pop-grind-when-turning/176779>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Tags:** chevrolet, traverse\
**Created:** [May 13, 2021, 1:29am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2016-chevy-traverse-pop-grind-when-turning/176779 "2021-05-13T01:29:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bullfinch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/43a26b/32.png) [@Bullfinch](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Bullfinch)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 1:29am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2016-chevy-traverse-pop-grind-when-turning/176779/1 "2021-05-13T01:29:23Z")

</div>

2016 Chevy Traverse, 107k. Intermittent popping/grinding sound when I turn the steering wheel. Not everytime. I took it in to my shop today and they said the power steering and suspension all looks fine (I don’t know specifically what they looked at but this shop has always been competent in the past). Any ideas?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tester](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/tester/32/15976_2.png) [@Tester](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Tester)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 1:34am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2016-chevy-traverse-pop-grind-when-turning/176779/2 "2021-05-13T01:34:31Z")

</div>

The outer CV joint on one of the axles may be starting to fail.

![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/original/3X/0/9/09d43cebefdf310f3dc29c2a243515a3528023e0.jpeg)

Tester

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tcmichnorth](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/tcmichnorth/32/25126_2.png) [@tcmichnorth](https://community.cartalk.com/u/tcmichnorth)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 11:32am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2016-chevy-traverse-pop-grind-when-turning/176779/3 "2021-05-13T11:32:38Z")

</div>

Could also be a strut bushing\bearing.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bullfinch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/43a26b/32.png) [@Bullfinch](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Bullfinch)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 1:20pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2016-chevy-traverse-pop-grind-when-turning/176779/4 "2021-05-13T13:20:56Z")

</div>

There’s just a light spot of what could be grease on the bottom of one of the outer CV joints. Does that sound like it?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 1:51pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2016-chevy-traverse-pop-grind-when-turning/176779/5 "2021-05-13T13:51:33Z")

</div>

There shouldn’t be any visible grease at the bottom of the joints, so that would seem to indicate a broken boot on the joint. Once the boot breaks, in addition to grease leaking out, road grit and salt can contaminate the CV joint, and once that happens joint failure is inevitable.

In the future, make sure that your mechanic does a visual inspection of those boots when he is under the vehicle to do an oil change. Finding a cracked CV boot sooner is preferable to finding it later.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tcmichnorth](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/tcmichnorth/32/25126_2.png) [@tcmichnorth](https://community.cartalk.com/u/tcmichnorth)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 5:38pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2016-chevy-traverse-pop-grind-when-turning/176779/6 "2021-05-13T17:38:36Z")

</div>

Sounds like @Tester got it right again.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ledhed75](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f6c823/32.png) [@ledhed75](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ledhed75)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 7:31pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2016-chevy-traverse-pop-grind-when-turning/176779/7 "2021-05-13T19:31:50Z")

</div>

We had something very similar happening on our 2012 Honda Odyssey. It was the CV joints.

$600 or so later… the noise is completely gone.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bullfinch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/43a26b/32.png) [@Bullfinch](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Bullfinch)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2021, 1:38am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2016-chevy-traverse-pop-grind-when-turning/176779/8 "2021-05-14T01:38:21Z")

</div>

I’m taking it into a different shop tomorrow. If I replace one CV joint, should I replace the other?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nevada\_545](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/nevada_545/32/41232_2.png) [@Nevada\_545](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Nevada_545)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2021, 2:16am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2016-chevy-traverse-pop-grind-when-turning/176779/9 "2021-05-14T02:16:58Z")

</div>

> [@Bullfinch](#):
>
> Intermittent popping/grinding sound when I turn the steering wheel.

A worn CV joint won’t make noise simply by turning the steering wheel, the vehicle must be moving and there must be a load on the joint.
