2000 Plymouth LX thumping noise driving me nuts ! HELP!

badgett · Post by **badgett** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 12:44 pm

The right front tire on my neon thumps really bad. Its not the tire because this is the third tire I've had on it and this one is brand new. I don't think it's bearings because my wheel will not move when I shake it up on the stands. When I turn to the right it almost quits. When I turn to the left it thumps so bad it drowns out the radio. I do all highway driving so I am going crazy listening to this. Please help!!!!!!!

King Crab · Post by **King Crab** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 1:03 pm

Have you checked out your struts or bushings?

badgett · Post by **badgett** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 1:10 pm

how do I check these?

chrisrunsi · Post by **chrisrunsi** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 1:38 pm

For the bushings, more than liekly it is control arm. Jack up the front and look at where the arm connects. Neons like to eat front end bushings. My 03' has 62k and my bushings are done for but I only hear it when the road drops off quickly. You might also be hittign your bump stops, does your car look lower than normal? Try just pushing the fron end down and see if you hear the thump.

latief · Post by **latief** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 2:27 pm

Do you have signs of uneven wear in the problematic tire ? tire "cupping" or even wear, along side with a thumping noise could easily be a a bad strut. with the bad strut the tire will not stick properly and evenly to the street causing the wear and the noise.....

bounce the front of your car, and see if it bounces allot....you will need new struts then!!

Also, a bent rim could cause the thumping noise also...

good luck...

Post by **occasional demons** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 2:54 pm

Does it do it regardless of the surface you're driving on? Just when you hit bumps, or is it "timed" with each tire revolution?
Maybe you have a half-shaft CV joint that is failing. When you have it in the air, grab the half-shaft and see if the axle part of it moves in any direction. It should be almost solid if it's good.

badgett · Post by **badgett** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 3:30 pm

I does not matter the speed or road surface. I have bounced up and down on the front and haven't heard anything. No uneven tire wear and rim is not bent. Had it checked. It sounds like someone is hitting my passenger floorboard.

King Crab · Post by **King Crab** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 6:25 pm

You've probably already checked this out, but I'll ask anyway..... could there be anything that has wrapped itself around the axle shaft itself that could be the cause of the thump?

BlackRoseRacing · Post by **BlackRoseRacing** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 7:36 pm

I got my money on the LCA bushings are shot

PioneerUrban · Post by **PioneerUrban** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 8:04 pm

OP ~

I'm willing to bet that the problem lays with the strut "plates" that the top of the struts fit into.

I also had a thunping noise while driving, so I changed my struts(they needed it anyway) and the plates out. Sure enough they were completely shot. No wonder I was hearing all kinds of noises while I was driving.

No more thumping noises now.

Good luck!

badgett · Post by **badgett** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 7:45 am

can you buy just the plates? The sound doesn't change when I hit a bump though.

Post by **occasional demons** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 8:05 am

Another possibility that has nothing to do with your suspension. Does the '00 have the solenoid like the older cars (90's) for the evap pump? They tend to click pretty loudly, and on the Shadows they mounted them to the firewall with a rubber hanger. On the shadow i just pulled it off the hanger and let it hang. (Or maybe it was my jeep

) No more annoying thump. Wish I would have remembered/thought of this sooner. But it never was loud enough to drown out the radio...
But the solenoid has a very consistent rate, about twice a second. It will do it while not moving too though, so this is a long shot at the best.

Danteneon · Post by **Danteneon** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 11:24 am

I don't think the 2000 has that solenoid. But you are right about the condition. We got a lot of complaints about that.

Post by **occasional demons** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 12:27 pm

That one took me a bit to figure out, as it isn't that loud under the hood. but the firewall makes a nice sounding board. Pretty sure it was the Jeep. IIRC the Shadow 3.0's had them mounted in the t'stat area.

Donkeypuncher · Post by **Donkeypuncher** » Sat Nov 01, 2008 12:07 am

Possibly a bad wheel bearing? Only reason I say that is because you said it stops when you turn the wheel, just a thought.

Can you feel it in the steering wheel? Could be the cv joint going bad on the passenger axle. Get up to speed and put it in neutral and coast, if it stops I would bet it's the cv joint. This happened to me a few times on the avenger, damn lowered fwd cars.

Post by **occasional demons** » Sat Nov 01, 2008 11:08 am

badgett wrote:I does not matter the speed or road surface. It sounds like someone is hitting my passenger floorboard.

But is it a constant, or variable noise? Did you by chance run over a Dwarf?

Donkeypuncher · Post by **Donkeypuncher** » Sun Nov 02, 2008 6:07 am

Anything over 30mph and my axle would shake the entire dash, but that was at the end stages of it's demise. The early symptoms were similar to what you're describing, just not below 30mph.

03sxt · Post by **03sxt** » Sun Nov 02, 2008 9:52 am

TIE ROD ENDS.

I just replaced mine on the front. I'm almost willing to bet my soul. Does the shuddering get so bad that it feels like your car is going to shake apart? My shaking was between 30mph and 70 mph, though.

m2736185 · Post by **m2736185** » Sun Dec 14, 2008 2:27 am

I had the same problem and it was the struts. You can just check your tires for uneven wearing and you will know if its the struts.

Kelevra · Post by **Kelevra** » Sun Dec 14, 2008 2:29 pm

m2736185 wrote:I had the same problem and it was the struts. You can just check your tires for uneven wearing and you will know if its the struts.

Not true. uneven tire wear could be because of numerous things including, but not limited to

Bad alignment (tow in or out or + or - camber)

Bad bushings (as this allows the control arm to 'slide' on the mount throwing out the alignment periodically or all together)

Bad tie rods (allowing the wheel to move .5 a degree or more back and forth)

Under inflation of tires (Normally you will see edge wear on both sides with substantial tread in the middle remaining)

or bad struts (normally will throw the camber out resulting in inside tire wear

non-magnum · Post by **non-magnum** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 8:32 pm

Check if your front struts are tightened all the way, I had similar problem on my neon (when i did alignment for my car). The second i start driving on gravel it felt like my exhaust was dragging on the ground turned out that my rear arm was shot.