'01 Taurus with an occasional rattle/clunking sound coming from the front end when going over bumps. Took it to the local shopping center auto. service dept. (probably 1st mistake I know) They say the only thing they could find was the RH CV boot was bad and was probably the source of the noise. About $150 to replace. Doesn’t sound right to me since the boot is rubber and what I hear is more of a metal sound…what I was thinking possibly a suspension link or tie rod end. I know what a bad cv JOINT sounds like and it’s nothing like this. Now if the CV boot is bad I don’t mind the $150 to replace it, but I don’t want to spend the money if it is not going to solve the problem. Any ideas on this?? I’ve never heard of a boot making noise before.
I don’t see how a CV boot can cause a metallic rattling noise, or any noise the driver could hear for that matter. If the boot is torn, you may as well replace the shaft. It will cost a little more than just the boot, but you will know you don’t have to worry about the consequences of water, dirt, etc getting into the bearings, causing premature wear and problems in the near future. On a ten year old car, anything is possible. Some specific problem areas to look at are sway bar links, ball joints, strut mounts, coil springs (they break frequently on these cars), and the chassis mounts that hold the subframe to the unibody. I have never seen those mounting points break on your body style, but have seen a couple of the older ones break, so it is certainly a possibility.
I had the same thought as you on the CV joint, Mark. If it’s the boot I’ll replace the whole works. But I want to solve the noise problem first. Maybe I’ll climb under the car this weekend and have a good look around. Otherwise it’s to my regular mechanic.