It's getting colder outside in the morning and the noise I was having now became worse.
I went to the mechanic this weekend but he was not much help..
so I added those hints below to see what you guys think it might be:

The biggest noise is kind of like rotating/rolling noise, kind of like a grind...
I tried to find the noise on youtube but did not find it yet.. I tried to record but it's hard to capture it.. I'll try again.

here are facts though:
- the noise is worse in the morning, the colder it is, the worst it is.
- in the morning, noise when accelerate and turn right is worse, but accelerating turning left, almost no noise.
- still in morning, when whole car is lifted up and driver accelerate and turn right, left, it doesn't seem to have any noise. (so it seems it's only when there is weight on)

- After I drive the car for like 15 minutes, the biggest noise disappear.

- But even after 15 minutes and when the main noise is gone, when I go on speed bumps, I can feel and hear something is not right.... kind of like if the strut did not compress fast enough and as if the tire took most of the hit of the bump.

- in general, it's a stiffer ride than it used to. mechanics did the bounce test for struts and they said it was normal.

- 2 different mechanics went under the car and did not see anything wrong, they shaked and rotated the wheel but nothing wrong there.
- I told mechanic if it could be the wheel bearing but he said it would not make that noise..
- lower control arm bushing were replaced a few months ago, they were busted after I took a shortcut on a dirtroad.

One mechanic say it could be a transmission issue.. because it gets better once it's hot... (I hope not!)
we don't think so.. maybe he didn't drive it long enough, but we think it something in front suspension area...
it seem like it happens when the struts goes up and down caused by acceleration,
or going over bump, but it sounds like a rolling noise.. so maybe when the struts go up/down, another piece linked to it is making that noise..
Feels like I need to put some WD-40 somewhere..

Another thing is if I'm on Neutral in the morning, it stops making the noise, but when I go on Drive, the noise starts again, I think because they are then vibrations and those cause that
mystery part to make the noise..

Argh.. what do you guys think ?

Thanks a lot,

(this is kind of following problem from thread : https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...nt-wheels.html)

 

Their is a TSB on the CV joints of these vehicles.

 

I checked a video on youtube and some guy commented on how to check for damagaged CV joint,
"when on a turn @ 20km/h or more accelerate in the turn when grinding "clonking noise" appears switch the car to neutral if the noise disappears your CV joint is done"

I'm going to try tomorrow to see what happen when I do that.

 

Well.. I went to the dealership just so they diagnose the problem..
and they showed me that the front upper and lower engine mount
rubber was all messed up.
Similar to how those control arm bushing were.
I guess I must have hit a bigger bump that I though.
I'm surprised that the other mechanics I went to didn't notice that..

hopefully that will be the end of that problem..

 

I have a similar sound on my 2001 Neon ES. I found that my engine mounts were all chewed out also, so I replaced them and it didnt change anything. The engine clearly did not bounce like I thought it was doing to make that noise.

Try this. Start from a dead stop and ease the gas ever so slightly just until you start rolling. Do you hear any clicks? Mine always seems to click when it engages to start rolling. So I think its a bad CV joint, or possibly a transmission issue.

Whenever I hit a bump at slows speeds it sounds as if my struts are bottoming out. Which may be possible because I am at 100,000 miles. But I am not sure. Do you have any of these symptoms also?

 

they are replacing the 2 bad engine mounts today, so I'll tell you what happens.. hopefully it fixes it..

The big vibration I have would happen even while I'm in park, so
I'm guessing from the vibration of the engine, so hopefully the engine mounts will fix that..

But I do have the same feeling you are discribing when I hit a speed bump.. I was thinking cvjoint/shaft at first too..

I'll let you know what happens.

 

Well, replacing those engines mounts did it, No noise anymore.
It's crazy how much noise came from those 2 parts..

 

I had the same problem. Replaced those two mounts, and it made it better, but only for a while. There's another mount between them--you can see it through a hole in the inside of the wheel well--and that one went out on mine, too. I changed struts, bushings, mounts, and was about to buy a new transmission before I found that mount. Replaced that, no more problem. Just in case anyone is having the same problem.