Good weather, not hot, not cold, no rain. 1997 Dodge Stratus 2.4 no ABS.

Didn't hit any big potholes or curbs, and noise began while driving straight at 65mph on a highway.

While driving home from work last night I began hearing/feeling a clunking noise. clunk clunk clunk clunk

It seems to be from the driver's side, more in the pedal than in the steering column.

I can hear it from about 55-70 mph well it speeds up and slows down as I do. At first it did not seem to be there at all while accelerating, or maybe just not as audible. It lasted for a couple of miles then I stopped being able to hear it as well.

Pulling into neighborhood, 15-20 mph audible clunking could be heard when making a left turn only.

Next morning, noise started off about the same, but then got really loud, car is now parked.

Steering seemed to turn just fine, and it couldn't be felt in the steering wheel as much as in the pedals.

Any help appreciated.

 

do you have any mechanical experience? do you have somewhere warm to take it apart and look at things?

if so, i would pull the wheel off and look around...alot of things could go bad and make a clunking noise.

you say that you noticed it at higher speeds as well...when you speed up, does it get faster, or stay the same? or does the wheel speed not matter, and its more often when you hit bumps?

if it picks up with speed, it could be something like a broken belt in the tire..ive seen that a few times, and it almost made the tire feel like it was square when driving.

if it doesnt pick up with speed, i would look at the suspension components, or if you can make the noise by putting it in gear, while stopped, and ease into the throttle, it could be a motor mount issue...

 

It was a simple solution really, Just can't believe that was what the problem was.

Turns out that my wheels were loose...that is the LAST thing I would have ever thought. I jacked it up with a mechanic friend, we spun the wheels and could hear the axle from the passenger side to where it connects in to the trans area rattling around. BOTH front tires were loose, and somehow we missed it because we were concentrating on the noise under the car. He took it to the shop and went to take off the wheels, and noticed that they were loose...tightened them up and no more noise!

I know I must be some kind of idiot to not know my wheels were loose, but it had been forever since I had the car worked on, so I don't know what happened there.

My question is about the axle...even though my tires were loose, should it have been able to be so easily moved up/down with my hand?