# Saturn front end groan when turning left **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Tags:** lw, saturn\ **Created:** [July 21, 2010, 4:46am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/saturn-front-end-groan-when-turning-left/52213 "2010-07-21T04:46:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dbswayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@dbswayne](https://community.cartalk.com/u/dbswayne)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 4:46am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/saturn-front-end-groan-when-turning-left/52213/1 "2010-07-21T04:46:42Z")
Recently on car talk (July 10, 2010?) a Saturn owner called in and reported a groan in the front end when turning left (but not right). That’s exactly my problem, so I was really interested in their answer - but the one they gave sounded completely wrong. They blamed the groan on a CV joint. CV joint failures have always sounded like a mechanical rattle, or series of knocks to me, not groans. I only hear the groan if I turn left at speed - and the groan gets louder the faster I take the turn. Any ideas? (For my sake, I think these guys ought to be taken to stump the chumps on that answer so I can figure out what my problem is!) ---
**Author:** ![vtcodger2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e68b1a/32.png) [@vtcodger2](https://community.cartalk.com/u/vtcodger2)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 4:22pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/saturn-front-end-groan-when-turning-left/52213/2 "2010-07-21T16:22:37Z")
Well, yeah, the usual CV joint fail is a loud clicking noise. But there are other possible failure modes. If it’s a CV joint, you’re fine. The worst that is likely to happen is a loud noise and the car no longer have a way to get power to the wheels. But what if it is a wheel bearing where the worst that can happen is that the wheel will come off while you are cruising down the road? I’d get it checked out. ---
**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:** [July 21, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/saturn-front-end-groan-when-turning-left/52213/3 "2010-07-21T17:12:41Z")
The problem might caused from a dry lower ball joint. When cornering, a load is imposed on the ball joint. When corning faster, the greater the load on the ball joint so it groans louder. A dry ball joint can make noise when turning in one direction but make no noise when turning in the other direction. Tester ---
**Author:** ![dbswayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@dbswayne](https://community.cartalk.com/u/dbswayne)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 5:30am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/saturn-front-end-groan-when-turning-left/52213/4 "2010-07-29T05:30:09Z")
Thanks, guys - but the groan isn’t so severe that I’m worried about the possibility of catastrophic failure. And turns out after I topped off the power steering fluid (only a couple ounces, but it did belatedly discover it was below the Add mark), I took a hard turn today and didn’t even hear the noise. Hard for me to imagine that 2 or 3 ounces of fluid in the reservoir would make a dramatic difference - but my fingers are crossed. I’ll repost if the problem recurs…