I have a 2001 Grand Caravan that I bought used in October. A few weeks after purchase I noticed a clunking or knocking noise coming from the front end. Took it back to the dealer I bought it from and they diagnosed the problem as struts, strut mounts and strut bushings with a total cost of $900! I basically said no way and took it to Sears for a price of $300. Unfortunately that did not resolve the problem so took it back to the dealer and after chewing everyone I could find a new one they diagnosed the problem this time as sway arm bushings and links. I got them to replace those for free. Everything was good until a few days ago and the noise is returning. Not as loud but it is returning. Took it back to the dealer again and now they tell me that it is the rack and pinion but that it is just noisy and not posing a safety hazzard and therefore my extended warranty that I bought would not cover a noisy part. Huh?

I have read about 30 pages of the posts here and have seen the sway arm bushings and links come up time and time again. Have also seen some posts were others were told it was a bad rack but have not seen any followup from the rack people as to wether that resolved the issue.

Guess long story short my questions are theseis?

1. Should I have the rack and pinion done? My fear is that it will not solve the problem and then I am stuck with a $700+ dollar repair.
2. Should I believe them and accept that the noise is just a nuisance, turn the radio up louder and forget about it? ;-)
3. Is is possible that the bushing and/or links that they just installed in early November have already started to go bad in 3 months?

 

I have a similar problem and replaced the stabiliser bushings, the noise is a lot less but still noticeable so I am going to replace the left and right links from the bar to the front struts.
Had these checked and all say they are OK but I believe they are the culprit and were checked under load so they might have checked OK.
Cannot believe the struts or steering rack will make this noise but will report back on this.

 

Utrecht,

I would interested to hear what you find out. I too find it hard to believe that the noise is coming from the Rack and Pinion as it sounds like the same noise that I was hearing 3 months ago when they replaced the sway bushings and links. At this point I am far more apt to believe that they did not do the sway bushing and links right and they are failing again. I think they may have given me the rack story knowing full well that I would pay them $700 to fix it to find out that was not the problem. What really concerns me is their statement that the vehicle is still safe to drive with the noise! Because of their statement my extended warranty is basically worthless because it does not cover "noisy" components!

 

Same problem here. Now on my '01 Grand Caravan Sport, I had a worn rack & pinon, but that wasn't the problem. Turned out to be the sway bar links. The ones that were in there were factory and the plastic inserts were totally worn out at 140,000 miles. I bought a set of them from a vendor on eBay...$35 per pair plus $15 shipping from Canada. Easy to replace, but a caveat...don't lose the grease fittings they come with. Napa carries grease fittings that diameter, but if you use the longer ones that Napa has, on the bottom of the driver's side, I believe it is, it'll rub moving parts and it sounds horrible. Personal experience, I lost both packs of two. Luckily after a short search, I found the originals and put those on. It stopped the clunking completely.

 

It's most likely your stabilizer bushings (there are 2 of them and are worth about $5 each) I have a 2001 Caravan and have replaced these several times. Start with those since they are so cheap. If you go to the dealer and tell them what you want they probably won't even look up the part number because it's a common problem. You links may be worn out too, I've replaced those once.

 

This is a reply to my previous message. Like I mentioned before had the swaybar bushings replaced and the links checked. Was told links are good but still had this annoying clunking going over the road, bought a set of links and replaced them, now no more noise.
There has been a lot of problems with front end noise on this website and IMHO they should be contained in one subject (page?)
One more thing I did buy the links via eBay from World Suspension Hialeah Florida and found they are possible made in Taiwan who sort of copied the original but do not have the Torx 40 in the mounting bolt but have the selflocking nut, by trying to tighten this nut there is no way to keep the bolt from turning so the solution is to buy some regular metric M12 / 1.75m/m pitch and lockwashers so you can tighten these links.
Hope this helps.

 

I think one reason for the bushings to be wearing out fast in some cases is a bad strut. With the wheel(s) constantly jumping up and down I think they could wear the bushings a little faster. Just a thought

 

I agree bad struts would make the swaybar and links go bad sooner and theswaybar bushings + links would most likely not make the front end totally quiet.
Also a bad steering rack and tie-rod ends could be a source of noise but I would go with replacing the cheapest parts first before replacing steering rack and/or struts.
IMHO DM. would have been better of to stick with the old way of tieing the bar to the front end with a long bolt and some rubber bushings as there seem to be lot of DC van owners with this swaybar problem.

 

Sorry it has taken me awhile to post this update but here you go.....

I decided to take the van to another shop for a second opinion and boy am I glad I did! they found the problem to be that the sway arm bolts were not tightened down properly from the previous install! They put the wrench on each side and WOW, no more noise. Beats a $700 plus rack that would not have fixed it!

Needless to say I called the shop that originally did the repair and let them know that they would not be getting my business ever again and I would personally see to it that everyone I came in contact with knew how terrible their service was!

 

Good for you, it pays to use your judgement in a case like that.
Glad you found the problem before spending mega-bucks.
Jake