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Jim Grant's Tech Tips
'2000 Chevy Tahoe, Suspension Click
Q: "I
have a "ticking" sound coming from the driver's side, somewhere
in the suspension area on my 2000 Chevy Tahoe. The noise occurs, especially
on a very hot day, whenever I turn or go over a bump. It sounds as if
something is loose and that metal is hitting metal. I have taken my Tahoe
back to the dealer for repair numerous times, but to no avail. My Father
is a mechanic and we cannot find the source of the "ticking."
However, I recently spoke to a friend of mine who states that it is probably
coming from bad bushings. Although this is possible, I don't want to spend
money on something that may not fix it. Therefore, I am trying to ask
an expert before I start doing any repairs."
A:
I don’t
know about the expert part, but I can tell you that the type of problem
you’re describing is intensely high on the difficult to diagnose
scale. Why? Because the only way you can create the noise is to drive
the vehicle. In the shop it’s next to impossible to create the condition
that causes the noise. I trust you’ve closely inspected the tie-rods,
ball joints, sway bar links, etc. Watch those sway bar links. Sometimes
it’s best just to unbolt the sway bar links and secure the sway bar
out of the way. If you’ve done all that, then check/inspect the contact
point of the torsion bar to the lower control arm. I have found that the
bar will move just a minute amount and will cause a snap/click in the
suspension that is maddening to prove. On one vehicle we got some oil
into that area and it made the noise louder. The funny part, once the
customer knew what the problem was he didn’t want to spend the money
to repair it. He wanted us to remove the oil to make the noise go back
to where it was.
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