Tie rod bushings? Seem fine to me. Nothing else is happening/coming to mind that would indicate the TR ends are gone either.

Either way, I called the shop that had originally said everything was fine, expressed my unhappiness and told him about the mount and the new problems I am having. I also said in addition to the mount, anything that has wore because of it needs to be replaced now too since it was "fine" and "normal" the first time I took it in. He agreed and I have an appointment set up for Friday morning. I also went to Dodge and got two repair quotes. One for the motor mounts (the others are now starting to tear because the engine is kicking), and another for the CV axles. The service manager that I talked to said that is most likely going to be the problem with what I described. I will see on Friday. I appreciate the help thus far and hopefully everything will be getting fixed on Friday. If not and it is associated with the problem, but I am told as is well again........yeah. Let's hope not for his sake.

 

I too have the exact same problem as described with my 05 neon. It only has 42K miles on it. I do drive some bumpy/rough county roads. I have an appointment on Thursday to see if the dealer can figure it out. Symptoms are the same though, a popping cracking/binding noise multiple times while turing and going slow forwards or backwards. The only visual thing I can see is a tear in the bushing located on the lower a-arm on the rear mount going to the body. I was told there is a TSB for front end noise that has to deal any area where the axle goes into the bearing but I haven't been able to locate the TSB yet.

 

Just talked to the owner of the dealership, who is not too happy with what the shop did either. It is now the responsibility of the shop to replace all 3 motor mounts and anything that has become damaged because of it (CV axles, strut mount bushings, etc...).

I did talk to the local Dodge dealership service manager and he said that most likely, and what they see most of the time, is with the motor mount situation, that the CV axles are usually what will go.

1500sport- I do the same kind of driving every now and then up here in the mountains. I used to do it every day, but moving out of my parents house a few years ago sure has helped. It was really fun getting my Mustang to the house. Took me on average 30 minutes to go down the 1 mile country, dirt road to the driveway!!! If your motor mounts are good, from what I now understand after talking to the service manager and with that driving (I really feel for you and anyone else, I know how it is) it may be the strut bearings. If your mount is bad, could be a combination.

 

thats good darth, glad to see your dealer is wanting to take care of you and not stick you with it. Good luck with it.

 

Thanks! Leaving the house at about 7:15AM and will be taking a lawn chair to sit outside the bay!

 

Well got my diagnosis last night. As I suspected they said the lower control arm bushings were bad and could be causing some of the noise. They also said there could be an issue with the steering column and some seals in it causing binding. Of course they would not guarantee the steering column fix to solve the problem. I take bets that it is the control arm bushings. Also have a loose/bad upper strut mount on the passenger side. Anyways the car has 42k miles on it and of course the dealership can't do anything under warranty so I'm going to contact Chrysler today and see if they will cover it. I know it is past the 36k warranty but bushings don't just go out over night.

On a positive note, I had a shudder in the tranny upshifting from 1st to 2nd. Come to find out there is a TSB on that and it just requires a computer flash. They done that and it shifts great now, no more shudder. It was even covered under the 7 year/70k warranty.

All I can say is they don't make 'em like they used to. I had a 93 dakota with 122k miles and beat up and down the same roads and the only suspension component I had to replace on it was the sway bar bushings.

 

I got the mounts replaced, but the CV joints weren't the cause of the noise. Narrowed it down to a bushing somewhere. I was originally guessing the control arm or strut bushings, may be both from the sounds of it (no pun intended). At least 1. I got the mounts taken care of and 2. it is not a major problem that will require immediate attention.

 

Noise has now gotten progressively worse to the point that I am ready to blow the car up. Took it by NAPA today to order some brake pads and one of the guys came out to listen to it and said it may be the rack (the ram) judging by the nature of the sound and where it is coming from.

All of the bushings that I have seen so far look fine, so I guess I can't rule the rack out...

 

Just removed the wheels and tires and it appears that I need some new control arm bushings for starters. I will be ordering the set from Modern Performance, along with a set of the "street" motor mount inserts since I will already be going at it. It would be nice if that fixed all of the noise (I hope it does!!!). Also, the liner on the RF is rubbing on the tire (some scratches in the rubber, thankfully no cuts or gouges) and on the balancer so possibly the belt every now and then too.

 

Everything should be here Friday. Any thing special I should know while changing these or any tricks? I imagine it is fairly straight forward as to what needs to be done?