Noisy '99 Dodge Grand Caravan

In cold weather, front suspension is very noisy. I’ve replaced stabilizer bar bushings, stabilizer bar links, control arms (complete with new bushings and ball joints). A few months prior, I replaced struts with Monroe quick struts. Noise appears when I hit a pot hole or go over a speed bump. Not really a creaking, almost like a slapping sound. I’ve taken a look at motor mounts and they look OK. Now that the weather is warm there’s no noise. Rack and pinion were replaced about a year ago so engine cradle was removed. I removed it and reinstalled. Also installed new tie rod ends and lubed the inner tie rod joints. Thanks.

I’m not real clear about your noise, but I had a front end noise in an older Grand Caravan that drove me nuts for a while. Turned out to be the binder bold that holds the ball joint - it wasn’t tight enough, and the stud or whatever you call it on top of the ball joint was moving enough to make a clunk or thud noise, particularly when the body was pitching side to side. I also had replaced the stabilizer bar bushings which had no effect, but oddly, when the bar was off the car, the noise was gone when I drove over the same bumps that always produced the noise. It was me who didn’t get that binder bolt quite tight enough, and cost me a trip to an alignment shop to find it. Maybe that will help you find your noise. Good luck!

If you had the noise prior to replacing the rack and pinion I would reconsider the engine mounts. Your Caravan is 13 years old any of the rubber components should be suspect. Other than the noise occurring when you go over a speed bump or hit a pot hole you don’t indicate why you are sure it comes from the front suspension. Something else up front could be making the noise. Just a thought, a loose battery or radiator might might make the same noise under similar circumstances. WR makes a good point. It would be a good idea to go back and check all of the bolts up front. I once had to find a mysterious clunk in the front end of a new Fiat 124. Turned out the four front cross member bolts hadn’t been properly tightened at the factory.

Mine was making a lot of noise at some point. It was really bad. One would think the whole front end is loose, esp when going over speed bumps. It was the sway bar bushings. I figured it out by spraying WD 40 on them and could not believe the effect. You replacement might not be good. The moog blue ones are great. The other possibility is a bad end link. In this case I will get the sway bar and the links off and drive to see if the noise is there or not. It is the cheapest place to start from.