Front end noise

[95SLS]

I guess a rattle.

I replaced the Shocks and struts with new and strut mounts. I thought that was it. But still have a rattle noise only when creaping around bumpy areas like parking lots or residential roads. Hwy is fine. When I did the struts, I thought the stabilaizer links looked felt pretty tight, but thats what it sounds like. Am I testing them wrong? I get the weight off and try to move them, everything is really tight! I thought it was an exhaust rattle, as the pipe that covers the cross over is a little loose, but i Mig welded that all back tighta nd still. But then on my way home from work, it was raining and I notice that the rattle goes away in the rain.

Ok, have me comminted! But i am serious! LOL It has to be something.

I put the Arnott system Shocks and struts in, it was EASY EASY EASY. I had it aligned at Caddy dealer and he did not mention any problems, had me out of there in 1.5 hours on a 4 wheel alignment. This dealer has done such a 180 Customer service wise, I am about to start using him again.

Any ideas on what I should do?

Mike C

[95SLS]

I always get these unsolveable problems.

Went through it all again. No clues here, I guess off to the dealer.

AFTER I get my new Radiator in.

[sal.carceller@cox.net]

I tested my endlinks on the swaybar by just removing them and driving the car. I also thought my end links where OK but once I removed them drove the car the knocking stoped. I then bought new end-links and while I was at it replace te swaybar to body bushings I now have a quite Seville. If you can get the endlinks off it's the best way to rule out the swaybar as the source of the noise.

[95SLS]

Well, I have been sitting on the board just waiting for a response to this. It SOUNDS like end links! But Like you say, mine also test out ok and seem tight. But last time I had it at dealer like 2 years ago, they did the end links for free and that stopped the same sounding noise, So i guess I am going to just replace them it drives me nuts!

I have to figure the size of the bar, I might be able to get neoprene bar bushings and that might be a good deal.

thanks a whole lot for the input and the great way to test them out! Donk! Why din't I think of that?

How much and where did ya get em? Caddy wants like $70 bucks too much. eh seems easy to replace as I just had em off for the struts replacement.

Mike C

[sal.carceller@cox.net]

How much and where did ya get em? Caddy wants like $70 bucks too much. eh seems easy to replace as I just had em off for the struts replacement.

Finding neoprene bushing will be very difficult if they are not the standard D-Shaped ones. The bushings on my bar had a very odd shape so I had to get standard bushings, got them from NAPA for $20 something for the pair they came as a pair in one box. The end-links I got from www.ebay.com see listing #7977682412 and send the fella a message I paid $41.99 for the pair including shipping. Note these end-links are not Cadillac parts but seem well made. They did not come with new hardware (washers or nuts) I got those at local parts store in Stainless steel did not want to use the old ones. The other bad part about these end-links was that they did not have the Torx slot in the center of the stud but it really did not matter that much when installing them. You also asked about the size of your sway bar you can see the swaybar if you slide under the rear of the front tire then just use a caliper to measure it if you don't have a caliper grap a few open ended metric wrenches and see which one fits most likely 19mm or 21mm. I have a 93 Seville and it has a 21mm bar. Will you do the work?

[95SLS]

Yea I'm thinking about it. (Doing the work) all depends, i figure out what it cost at the dealer, parts, my time at what I get paid at work. Depends on how it works out, I do it or have them. I have a fully eqiped shop. But I lost use of a right thumb in the Marines so I gotta be picky about what I try and do.

This seems simple enough though, the bushings might be a bear to get at. I looked at Rock auto . com for the parts and they had like a whole crapload of kits for this. Kinda don't know what one I need. I might call them.

I have my 95 on the "operating table" awaiting a radiator Just thinking of doing these jobs while it is sitting. I think I am putting a Trans cooler on also. B&M if i can figure out the return line. If all else fails I'll fire it up.

The factory manual don't always tell you what you want to know.

Mike C

[95SLS]

Your test would work Sal,

I just went ahead and replaced mine cause they looked factory. Only one was loose at one end but that was enough to rattle! it only had like 1 / 16th inch play!

They were a real bear to get off, i used a tie rod end tool to bang them off.

The bushings were fairly new so I skipped that and upon a test drive NEW CAR!

I'm adding this job onto the Shock and Strut Job I will be doing on the Eldorado soon. May as well while I am in that deep!

Thanks for the help. Real amazing though how dificult this is to diagnose. I mean I thought that was what ity was, just I could not PROVE it to myself. But, the new ones I got from Rockaut fit good, and both were less than 30 bucks. PLUS these suckers had greese fittings on BOTH ends so maybe that problem is no more.

The tip to instal is Run a nut on first and then remove and run the real nut on.

MC