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Clunk on acceleration and braking?

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Old 09-20-2009, 09:47 PM
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Default Clunk on acceleration and braking?

I have a 97 Caravan, 3.8, 107K. I have had a lot of front end clunks going on. I did some research and decided to replace the sway bar bushings and end links. This eliminated the noises while going over bumps, however I still have some issues.
I have a clunk coming from the front somewhere. It only happens when accelerating from a stop or when coming to a stop. Motor mounts? Trans problem?
 
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Old 09-20-2009, 09:57 PM
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It clunks when I sit there and shift from drive to reverse. Pretty loud, not normal me thinks. It does it in using 3 and L also.
 
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Old 09-22-2009, 09:29 AM
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I have another problem that is probably unrelated. The drivers side front wheel gets very hot after about 20 miles of driving. Most likely a caliper. Do I need to change both?
 
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Old 09-23-2009, 08:42 AM
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Default Clunk

Not a Caravan but on my Neon, it was the exhaust doughnut that caused the clunk you describe.
 
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Old 10-08-2009, 03:03 PM
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Originally Posted by fishon1213
I have a 97 Caravan, 3.8, 107K. I have had a lot of front end clunks going on. I did some research and decided to replace the sway bar bushings and end links. This eliminated the noises while going over bumps, however I still have some issues.
I have a clunk coming from the front somewhere. It only happens when accelerating from a stop or when coming to a stop. Motor mounts? Trans problem?
Sticking caliper - my 82 Grand Fury caliper stuck on the passenger side - I only replaced it and had no further problems. But consider replacing the pads (both sides) and bleeding the system.

If you get clunking when stopped, shifting from reverse to drive and back, could be a mount or a bad axle joint (in-board)? Find someone you don't like to be near the front of the car to "listen" and see if they can pinpoint the source (mount, exhaust, etc.).

For a bad drive axle joint, park on the level without setting the parking brake. Rocking the van against the locked transmission should help isolate drive axle slop/noise more then the mounts (I think).
 
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Old 02-20-2010, 10:58 PM
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i had a clunk when comming to a stop on my 98 grand caravan se AWD, water was getting in from the radiator cooling lines and did some damage to the trans, it needed a total rebuild $2600
 



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