Squeaky suspension

[gr_diver]

My front driver's side suspension makes squeaking noises (like door hinges that need oiling) at all vertical movements. That is, off the line acceleration, final braking action right before a traffic light etc. I can reproduce it with the car parked, when putting my weight on the wing (like when testing shock absorbers), or when I get on and off the driver's seat. It is very annoying, and also hurts the car's "reliability" feeling.

I had it in the past, only during hot weather, but short sprays of silica grease aerosol on every moving joint (bushings) would silent it. This time it is there for months, and nothing seems to stop it.

I have noticed two things. When I wave the suspension up and down as hard as I can, the sound does not happen. The shorter/slower/calmer the motion, the stronger the sound. Also, when the steering wheel is turned all the way to the left, the sound does not occur.

I liberally sprayed silica lubricant on all bushings, at the shock's lower mounting bolt, at the stabilizer's end bushings, but nothing seems to stop it. The hollow wheel arch makes the sound source impossible to locate, even with a tube "stethoscope".

Is there any common source for such noises?

Thank you very much for your time.

Regards

Antonis

[duvel]

I had almost the same and its stops after spraying on the inside of the shock absorbers.It takes me a lot of spray to find out

[jordan]

The squeaking sound that you probably have if you still have the old rubber bushings are from the inner metal bushing sleeve breaking free from the vulcanized rubber bushing material, as this type of bushing works from deflection rather than rotational movement like an actual bearing or a polyurethane bushing. So this unintentional rotation of the bushing will make the squeaking sound that you are describing. I know that when it is cold out no matter what my 2000 saab squeaks and creaks like an old rocking chair, and this is a common thing as the dealerships will even dismiss it as an actual problem.

[gr_diver]

Duvel: thanks for the tip. Unfortunately lubricating the inside of the shocks didn't cure the squeak. Good idea though!

jordan: thank you for the explanation. After three afternoons of struggling to kill that noise, I gave up. It is probably the condition you described, or a worn balljoint. I can't say for sure, because I cannot exactly locate where the sound comes from. Even with my head next to the inboard side of the wheel, and my father pushing the suspension, I can't say for sure...

Thank you very much for your time.

[dallasmanta]

Ok I am going to guess that he car you are talking about is a 78 model opel. We did not get them here so this is a guess.
On my 75 manta the squeeking is caused by the bushings getting dry .
The typical places to look On a manta A can be either the upper control arm to body bushings or the lower control arm t to frame bushing or where the sway bar connects to the control arm. Any light lubricant will not work for long. but with some light loosing of the assemblies and inserting some general synthetic grease between moving parts and re assembly will fix the squeaking for an extended period of time. try that and see if it helps.. Ron

[gr_diver]

Hi dallasmanta,

you are right my car is a '78 model. Although 5 years newer than the average Opel car this forum is about, most things are exactly the same, except body panels, and emissions control. Mechanicals, suspension, gearboxes, differentials etc, are identical...

Thank you for your suggestion, I will try to lube these with grease. The sway bar is easy, but the pivot bolts of the control arms will be tougher, and I don't know if I am capable of performing this job... I'll see and evaluate!

Thank you very much!

[jlthunder]

If you have sway bars, carefully unbolt them, spray all rubber areas with silicone lube and reassemble. Just a thought.

[gr_diver]

I found the problem. Unfortunately...

The upper ball joint attempted suicide! The end of the spiral spring that holds the boot in place on the wider (up) side, somehow got dislocated in the past and punctured the boot a few mm lower from where it normally sits. Thus the grease slowly bled out. I found a blob of grease exactly on the hole. Result = dry ball joint. The split is very small, like a small hole about 2mm long, towards the back of the car, and slightly to the inboard side. It was totally invisible, due to the grease being black and flat above it...

I re-filled the cavity with a lithium grease spray can that has a straw like WD40. It will hopefully lubricate things slightly before it gets bled out as well. I will leave it like that for a few days to soften all parts, and then I will inject normal grease in, and seal the boot with RTV. And pray that it will hold...

The bad things is that all four ball joints are relatively new, I had them replaced exactly 2 years ago (5/2005), and they have no play whatsoever. The rest of them are just fine...

Thanks everybody for your replies and valuable time!

Antonis

[dallasmanta]

Once you get dirt and moisture in the ball and socket it is only a matter of time before the ball joint will fail. If you dont drive the car every day the rust will make the manual steering very heavy to turn.

Since you are in Greece you may have access to grease fitting equipped replacement parts. They will out live most sealed parts if you service the grease fittings every three or four months.

[gr_diver]

After about 10 days since I injected grease in the ball joint, the squeak is totally gone...

It was a slow process, with the squeak slowly getting quieter, and it got completely gone about 2 days ago. I will re-grease it a couple of times again with the same kind of grease that has good penetrating ability due to pressure (spray can), and then inject wheel bearing grease and seal the boot. Fortunately the hole in the boot does not get any bigger. I believe because it is a puncture at a point of little stress, and not a wear-and-tear split at the point with the wider diameter...

My main relief is that it not embarrassing anymore to drive around. I had many passengers ask me "what is that noise?", and a few times pedestrians had looked at me when stopping at traffic light while they were crossing the road, and the suspension made that final "down and up" movement...