Help Diagnosing Noise form Rear

SYNFULL

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I was coming home from a trip to get dog food in my newly aquired 08 when we went over a small bump. There was a loud bang from the right rear. Then there was banging on every little bump that we hit. I thought maybe I left the rear hatch open but then a rubbing/squeling noise started coming from the right rear. I limped my way home and pulled the wheel off but everything looks right as far as I can tell.
From the noise my first guess is a wheel bearing. The car has 22k miles. Are there any issues with 08 bearings? Before I took the wheel off it looked like it might have been a little cocked. Not sure though.

Thanks for any imput.
 

ACRucrazy

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I recall reading something about RR shock mount issues and bolt upgrade kits.
 
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SYNFULL

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Can anyone see anything wrong here?
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One thing I noticed when the car was jacked up is that there is some movement in the top of the shock where I can wiggle it a bit. Is this normal?
I just put the wheel back on and took it around the block. Every little bump I hit produced a loud clunking noise in the rear.
 
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Brian E

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I know you said you checked the hatch, but take a quick look at the rubber bumpers that screw into the hatch. The 2 outer most bumpers are one piece units and the inner 2 bumpers are actually 2 piece units. I had one of inner bumpers pop apart and it developed a very iritating rattle. I opened the hatch and saw the bottom of the bumper had popped off and was laying in the channel. I put it back on and the rattle was gone. (it has a bullet nose, so I had to spray a little wd40 on it first, then it popped back into the body of the bumper) You can also put a piece of paper under each bumper, then close the hatch and then pull out the paper to see if each bumper is seated properly.One other thought. Have you tried to lightly apply your brakes while going over a bump to see if the noise is still there? Maybe a brake pad rattling, or maybe even one of the E-brake pads is rattling.
 
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SYNFULL

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I know you said you checked the hatch, but take a quick look at the rubber bumpers that screw into the hatch. The 2 outer most bumpers are one piece units and the inner 2 bumpers are actually 2 piece units. I had one of inner bumpers pop apart and it developed a very iritating rattle. I opened the hatch and saw the bottom of the bumper had popped off and was laying in the channel. I put it back on and the rattle was gone. (it has a bullet nose, so I had to spray a little wd40 on it first, then it popped back into the body of the bumper) You can also put a piece of paper under each bumper, then close the hatch and then pull out the paper to see if each bumper is seated properly.One other thought. Have you tried to lightly apply your brakes while going over a bump to see if the noise is still there? Maybe a brake pad rattling, or maybe even one of the E-brake pads is rattling.

I have been hearing the noise going over bumps for the last 2 weeks and checked the rear hatch but what happened last night definitely is not the hatch. I went over a small bump and something banged loud. Then I heard a squealing noise and loud bang over every bump.

I took both wheels off to see if I could see anything different between the two. I did find this but don't know if it is anything. On one of the Motons there is thread showing at the top. On the other there is none. I don't know if this is some sort of adjustment or something wrong.
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Dan Cragin

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First check those upper and lower shock mounts. Grab the rotor and move it up and down to see if there is any play in the suspension. Another thing to check is the inner parking brake pad. They wear down and come apart, that could be the scrapping noise.
 
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If there is any seepage of fluid around the banjo fittings I would be that the shock itself is low on oil and the banging is from it, it doesn't take much.
 
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SYNFULL

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I don't see any oil leekage around any of the banjo fittings and I have tried moving the rotor and it doesn't budge.
If you can look at my photo's of the moton's above, there are threads showing on one and not the other. Is this an
indication of something wrong or can that just be some type of adjustment?

Is there a way to check the pressure in the moton's?
Thanks!!
 

Sonoman

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There should not be any wiggle in the shock mounts. Even a small amount of play will produce a knocking sound over bumps/dips. The Viper Specialty Shock Bolt kit is to eliminate the 0.1-inch or so clearance on the shafts of the slightly undersize OEM shock bolts, as some Gen 3-4 owners were hearing popping noises while driving.

If you have a continous rubbing/squealing, you might consider rotating the wheel by hand when the car is jacked clear of the ground. If a CV joint or bearing has gone you should hear sounds other than the discs rubbing the pads.

A "loud bang" seems to indicate a metal part breakage such as a half-shaft failure, shock mount (which you've looked at), or sway bar end-link (wouldn't cause squealing, typically, unless rubbing inside a wheel).
 
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CPPRHD265

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I'm still shocked nobody has commented on the threads showing.... I do not have Motons on mine, I have KW v2s so I can't comment for sure. If my KW v2 looked like your photo however... I'd be wonding the same thing as you. I'd probably pull it off the car and check that it for over all length against the other side. That exposed thread just bugs me to no end.
 

Mad Max

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I don't have any experience with motons on a viper however I do have experience with shocks on oval track cars and all of them that I've seen have a jam nut of some sort on the threaded area that you are talking about, and should tighten up to the heim end/shouck mount. I've never seen that many exposed threads and would be checking that out for sure. Leads me to think that some isn't as it should be and could be coming apart. My 2 cents.

Brent
 
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SYNFULL

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I don't have any experience with motons on a viper however I do have experience with shocks on oval track cars and all of them that I've seen have a jam nut of some sort on the threaded area that you are talking about, and should tighten up to the heim end/shouck mount. I've never seen that many exposed threads and would be checking that out for sure. Leads me to think that some isn't as it should be and could be coming apart. My 2 cents.

Brent

That's what I am thinking looking at the exposed threads one the one side. It looks like they may be to adjust the height of the shock but I'm not sure. There is a nut at the bottom of the threads which you can't see in the picture.
 
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SYNFULL

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There should not be any wiggle in the shock mounts. Even a small amount of play will produce a knocking sound over bumps/dips. The Viper Specialty Shock Bolt kit is to eliminate the 0.1-inch or so clearance on the shafts of the slightly undersize OEM shock bolts, as some Gen 3-4 owners were hearing popping noises while driving.

If you have a continous rubbing/squealing, you might consider rotating the wheel by hand when the car is jacked clear of the ground. If a CV joint or bearing has gone you should hear sounds other than the discs rubbing the pads.

A "loud bang" seems to indicate a metal part breakage such as a half-shaft failure, shock mount (which you've looked at), or sway bar end-link (wouldn't cause squealing, typically, unless rubbing inside a wheel).

There is a small amount of play in the top of the shock. If I grab the top of the shock I can rotate it slightly left and right around the fitting in the center of the shock where the mounting bolt goes through it.
The shock doesn't actually move on the mounting bolt, just has a little movement around the fitting.
Thanks
 

Mad Max

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There is a small amount of play in the top of the shock. If I grab the top of the shock I can rotate it slightly left and right around the fitting in the center of the shock where the mounting bolt goes through it.
The shock doesn't actually move on the mounting bolt, just has a little movement around the fitting.
Thanks

Can you tell if the jam nut is tight or not? It almost sounds like the side that has the exposed threads is working its way loose. I would want to take it off the car and verify that it isn't coming apart; because if it does it would be ugly.
 

steve911

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I checked my Motons just now and I cannot see anythreads showing by my top mount.

To truly see what is loose get BOTH rear wheels off of the ground at the same time so the the suspension can sag equally on both sides AND the preload springs can extend. jack on the frame to allow the wheels to hang down.

I would hazard a guess that you just may find the shock shaft loose from the upper mount. Another thing is that with both wheels up of of the ground and hanging, you can grab hold of your spring, pull it down to compress the helper spring and actually remove the upper spring retainer and get a great look at where the shock shaft screws into the upper eye mount.

That being said, you can release/lower the cannister pressure and actually remove the upper shock mount from the car without touching the bottom mount.
 

Nader

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Where are your helper springs? That might be these issue. The helpers keep the shortain spring loaded during excessive suspension travel.
 
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Sorry for the late response, yes you do have a shaft disconnecting from the upper mount. Remove the shock completely and install and tighten correctly. If the jam nut is loose the threads will have enough play to cause the banging noise. You may find you have very few threads left before you loose the top!
 
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Where are your helper springs? That might be these issue. The helpers keep the shortain spring loaded during excessive suspension travel.

Tom they are there just compressed, I don't know how low the car is but with the extended shaft length he could even be bottoming out the shock with the extra travel. It will go all the way in though before that so probably just the loose top causing this.
 
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SYNFULL

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I will remove shock after work. So those threads I see should be screwed all the way in and the nut tightened?

Thanks for all the help!
 
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SYNFULL

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I am a little stuck. I am trying to remove the rear shock (moton). It seems as though there is some type of preload on the shock. I have removed the lower bolt and have the upper bolt halfway out but there is a lot of torque holding it in. Do I need to remove the swaybar or tie rod bolts to take pressure off? It's not the coilover spring as that moves easliy around.



I am assuming I need to take the shock off to screw the exposed threads in.

Thanks
 

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