About 15000 miles ago my 2001 Impala with 92000 mi. developed a noise in the front end that only occured when turning right and sounded like a CV joint.I replaced both CV axles to no avail.Now the list…replaced strut assemblies,hub bearings,steering shaft,steering gear,control arms,rotors and pads, all to no avail. Took car to tranny shop who said noise was in differential. He rebuilt transaxle. Still making same noise. Took car to Chevy dealer.They said noise was in tranny. Went back to trans. shop and he replaced tranny. Still has noise. Tranny guy had TSB on engine cradle, said it was making noise, Replaced cradle. Still have noise. HELP!!!
Exactly what kind of noise? Clicking, knocking, rattling, buzzing, whining, rumbling, roaring, etc.?
When turning right is the noise on the right side, left, or unknown?
So your trans shop rebuilt the transaxle, you went to the Chevy dealer, back to the trans shop, and then he replaced the transaxle? I hope your trans guy is not charging you for all of this.
Out of curosity, do you live where it snows? I have rubbing sounds coming from my front end in my 01 Impala - it’s simply the tires rubbing at times against the snow and crap packed into the wheel well. However, I’m going to assume the sound occurs regardless of whether there’s snow in the wheel wells or not. Have you checked the tires? A bald or worn spot on one section of a tire can cause weird noises under certain conditions.
He only charged for the first rebuild,not the new tranny.(Wasn’t to happy about it either.) The noise is a clicking sound that gets louder than the radio the faster I go or the more I cut the wheel. I put chassis ears all over the front end and heard the noise at about tht same level everywhere. I’m stumped and so is Chevrolet.
Does this car by chance have alloy wheels or steel wheels with covers like these?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/CHEVY-LUMINA-AND-IMPALA-HUBCAPS-WHEEL-COVERS-2000-01-02_W0QQitemZ200196832326QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item200196832326
If it has wheel covers try removing the front ones, drive it, and note if the noise has gone.
A loose wheel cover can click, pop, or even squeak.
If this is the problem; ouch, someone is going to be feeling pretty low. 
No.It has steel wheels with cop center caps. One of the first things I did was to rotate tne tires.
After all you have been through I would be surprised if anyone here could diagnose your problem. It sounds like nothing has been left out. I guess you checked the steering components?
Yep. I hope Tom & Ray look at this.
A couple of more possibilities since the dog dish hubcaps rule out a clicking wheel cover.
One. Any chance of a distorted brake rotor shield? A bent shield may run close to a rotor but may only make contact when turning. Normally this produces a scraping sound, but depending on how the shield is bent it’s possible for one to click.
Two. Often the subject of reman halfshafts being problematic comes up. Since I’ve bought and installed what seems like a million of them with no problems I’ve never bought into that theory very much; at least not 100%.
However, on one of my daughter’s cars this HAS been an annoying problem.
Right side fails so I replace it. Two weeks later it goes bad, and I mean BAD in caps. Someone forgot to add the grease to the outer joint at the reman facility. Swapped again and problem solved.
Several months go by and the left side goes. Replace the shaft and 2 months later that shaft goes bad; just not to the degree the other side did. Ordered a shaft and inspection when I went to pick it up showed that reman shaft was no good.
Ordered another reman shaft. Inspection showed this one was absolute junk.
Ordered TWO more shafts this time. One bad and one acceptable at least. Car is back together today and running fine.
Parts house stated their shaft supplier had changed; my advice was dump them and revert back to the original.
My point here is that maybe the original click was a halfshaft and it’s being assumed that because the shafts were both replaced then those could not be the problem. Shafts can be inspected by feel when they’re out of the car. (I’m making the assumption here the shafts were reman units and not new, unused ones.)
Just more theorizin’ and hope it helps.
They haven’t changed the power steering pump yet. Sorry, but it’s one of the things that’s still original. When were the tires changed? Was it about when the noise started? Heat shields? Engine mounts. The possibilities seem to be endless.
I first replaced the shafts with bone yard parts,then again with reman,and finally with new. I can’t see it being axles. This car does’nt have shields on the rotors but the retainiing hardware for the pads was scratched up so I replaced it . Thanks for your suggestions. Anything helps.
Problem was starter. Gear in starter was slapping flywheel when turning right.