2002 OBW H6 250,000 miles, has had a very light clunk at stop signs for awhile and I've never noticed anything loose. Just a very very light clunk and steering wheel moves just a tiny amount right when you let off the brake pedal.

 

Today the front DS strut would move forward and backward when applying significant final torque to the wheel lugs. This is with car on ground in park.

 

I assume it's the same cause for both these issues

 

Top strut mount is bad?

 

Or something on the bottom - ball joint or tie rods?

I think the ball joint and tie rods are new and strut mount is original.

I would think a strut mount or maybe the transverse bushing on the back of the control arm has blown out.

I would think a strut mount or maybe the transverse bushing on the back of the control arm has blown out.

Oh yeah Those. I did replace those bushings a few years ago but it was cheap aftermarket.

 

All tie rids and ball joints are Subaru and unlikely.

 

Anyone seen a failed strut mount cause symptoms? What happens?

Usually if the struts are still any good it can blow the strut piston into the hood or they blow through the covers in the cargo area.

Oh right I had one do that last year on a tear sedan strut. It was a new aftermarket unit blew out in two days.

I had a strut mount go bad on an old VW. It blew the strut straight up through the rear deck. No damage, and cheap to fix, but sure surprised me when it broke.

 

Suggest you get the front end of your car up in the air on a lift or large jack. Check for loose suspension parts like ball joints, and tie rods, and wiggle the strut to see if there is any "play" allowing road wheel movement. 

Control arm bushing or ball-joint/tie rod end.

At this point it'd be best to take it somewhere that knows what to look for. I'm all for DYI but this is a case where YOU need to find the problem because YOU have the car. We can guess every part on the car is wrong and still miss the one that really is. If you don't feel confident, take it somewhere to have it inspected. Most chains will do free inspections hoping to sell products/services and you are well within your rights and reason to ask them to show you the faulty part while the car's on the lift (in fact, even having worked in a shop, I encourage it)

Oh I'll find it this is easy. just flew out of town for work for a week so thought is get some pointers before I get back. It's not much to it.

 

Thanks guys.

Edited March 23, 201610 yr by grossgary

Oh I'll find it this is easy. just flew out of town for work for a week so thought is get some pointers before I get back. It's not much to it.

 

Thanks guys.

Ah, ok that makes more sense.

And still good suggestion maybe if I encounter another sheared captive nut debacle. Still haven't fixed that one! But don't need or use that car.

ended up being the drivers side front transverse rear bushing, which i replaced 30,000 miles ago.

rubber bushing completely separated from housing, all 360 degrees.

 

there was nothing wrong with the original at 220,000 miles, i just had the cheap FEBEST ones from AMazon on hand and I think i was doing something else so i through these new FEBEST aftermarket ones on. the passengers side looks fine, the drivers side has maybe 30,000 miles on it when it failed.

 

i won't use them for preventative maintenance any more but so far good enough for certain repairs.

Edited April 14, 20169 yr by grossgary

Those transverse bushings have to be torqued with the suspension at rest position, wheels on the ground. There are only two ways to do that. 

One is on a drive-on lift. 

The other is with really tall ramps so you can actually get under the car with a huge wrench to torque them. 

Sockets don't fit into the space where the bushing sits, so a regular torque wrench cant be used. 

copy that - i was able to crawl in behind the tire enough to do it on the ground.   i didn't use a torque wrench, just guessed and leveraged with two large interlocked wrenches.