I have a 2000 Intrepid and when turning, particularly left, or going over a bump there is a very noticable clunking from the passenger front. I took the vehicle to Les Shwab to have struts done, thinking this was the problem. The struts were fine and they could not find any problems with the front end. They said they thought it was the strut isolators. Has anyone else had this problem? I have crawled under the car and had a look and I don't see anything out of the ordinary, motor mounts are ok and all bushings look good.

 

I have a 2001 Intrepid and the same thing is happening with mine. I have no idea what it is either, but whenever I turn hard left I hear a loud clunk in the front end on the passenger side. I'd like to figure out, too, what is going on here.

 

I had a 2000 Intrepid R/T with the exact same problem. The clunk noise your hearing is metal on metal contact between the spring and either the lower spring seat or the uppser strut mount (or both)on the strut assembly.This condition happens when the rubberofeither the upper spring seat or the lower spring seat fails. (To use an analogy, it would be like us losing thecartalidge between our bones). The spring seats deteroate over timeas theyexposed to the elements (water, salt, etc.)and do weaken and simply fallappart anddisappear in pieces over time. The clunk noise caused by this condition can be duplicated consistently after a turn is made, the wheels are straightend (or turned the other direction), and the brakes appiled. This is because the end of the springsmoveagainst the spring seat and mountas the vehicle turns and vehicle wieght is shifted.

In my case the lowerspring seat on the passenger side had completly fallen away and the other 3(upper on passenger side and both on drivers side)were completly worn and falling appart. I picked up the replacement rubber pieces from the Dodge dealership and installed them myself by removing both front strut assemblies, disassembling them and putting them back together with the replacement rubber. I did this one at a time using a coil spring compresser rented from my local auto parts store.

After I completed this the noise went away, and the car rode smoother than it had in a long time. I guess the rubber deteroated gradually over time that I didn't really notice the gradualreduction in ride quality until the day the clunk noise arrived!

Hope that helps.

 

Just to add to my above comment, the rubber pieces are called upper and lower spring isolators and run about $35 each(give or a take a few bucks) from the local Dodge Dealer.

 

Thank you for the help! I should be getting my Intrepid back this week, so I'm glad it's something I can tackle myself.