Clunkity clunk, and a sticky shifter

[UndercoverObbie]

Jane's been making some odd noises since I got the lower control arm fixed. The outside temps are dropping and it's gotten drastically worse, so I thought I'd see what you all thought. When I start from a dead stop, I hear his groaning clunk-clunk-clunk noise that seems to come from the driver's side front wheel. It gets louder when I make a left turn. After a few miles and some hard acceleration the sound seems to clear itself up, which seems weird...

Also... when I first start the car, I have to wait a little bit until the button on the shifter will depress and let me shift into drive (automatic, I know, I know, I'm a loser). It's weird though, because the colder she is, the longer it takes for it to let me push that button in. It moves about 1/8 of an inch and then refuses to go any further, and when it does it feels very, very stiff. After it's been running for a while, or if it's warm, it works right away. This is extremely frustrating when I'm late for work and I'm frantic!!

All in all, I think my car just hates winter ;)

[kreitz3]

The only thing I can think is that your car wants to be a 5 spd.

[UndercoverObbie]

The only thing I can think is that your car wants to be a 5 spd.


Damn straight. Thinking about doing that swap and turning her into a rallyX car, and buying a Legacy wagon or something.

Elliot suggested a loose strut...

[rollo]

Something up with (one of) the control arm bushings maybe? Rubber is gonna be affected by temperature change more drastically than metal, and as they get worked by the suspension it stands to reason that they'd loosen up. If the LCA is new(ly installed) you might make sure that all the bolts are still torqued properly too. Could be a loose strut but I dunno why it would clear up after driving in that case.

As for the AT shifter button.. is the car left on a hill? I know that our wagon can be harder to get out of park if it's tilted back. I've found that what works best is putting it in N, setting the parking brake (fully), then shifting to park and switching off. That way it's resting on the brake not the tranny.

[UP2MTNS]

Jane's been making some odd noises since I got the lower control arm fixed. The outside temps are dropping and it's gotten drastically worse, so I thought I'd see what you all thought. When I start from a dead stop, I hear his groaning clunk-clunk-clunk noise that seems to come from the driver's side front wheel. It gets louder when I make a left turn. After a few miles and some hard acceleration the sound seems to clear itself up, which seems weird...

check out your axle/CV boot. if you've got a small leak, and have been losing grease in there....the cold will then make all that worse.