'05 CRD - Bad Lower Balljoints!

europachris · **Posted:** Wed Apr 12, 2006 12:57 pm

We took our CRD in the other day to have a front end "clunk" looked at. Symptoms were a clunk upon acceleration after coming to a stop. Sometimes there would be a clunk when turning a corner, also.

After getting the latest TSB flash downloaded (18-009-06), they isolated the cause of the clunking - both lower ball joints on the front suspension were bad. After repairing that, they drove it again and found another clunk. This time it was the track bar on the rear suspension, and the bal joint where it attaches to the rear diff housing was shot.

So, that's three bad ball joints on a 1 year old vehicle with 20,000 miles. Yikes!!!! :shock:

I'm not real happy about that.

Just to clarify, this is my wife's vehicle, and she's not a hot rodder. It's bone stock, never goes off road, and just has to traverse normal upper Midwest roads (not great, but not horrible).

It's really a shame to have an 'off road' vehicle have such inadequate suspension components. We really love our CRD, and aside from two EGR valve replacements, it's been very good to us. I'm really hoping I don't have to take it in every other oil change to have the suspension rebuilt......

Chris

kjfishman · **Posted:** Wed Apr 12, 2006 2:02 pm

Register a complaint with the NTSB on the ball joints so the government can see the track record and recalls will be issued. Last time they just ainspected and replaced but apparently have found a fix for the problem. Over all there are quite a few complaints about ball jopints across all model years.

kjfishman · **Posted:** Wed Apr 12, 2006 2:05 pm

kjfishman wrote:

Register a complaint with the NTSB on the ball joints so the government can see the track record and recalls will be issued. Last time they just ainspected and replaced but apparently have found a fix for the problem. Over all there are quite a few complaints about ball jopints across all model years.

Ok I am sleep deprived and this read:

Register a complaint with the NTSB on the ball joints so the government can see the track record and a recall issued. Last recall they only inspected and replaced as needed but apperantly have not found a fix for the problem yet.

Reggie · **Posted:** Wed Apr 12, 2006 2:39 pm

By all means register the complaint - that's about the only way to get DC to change the design. Moog has a quality replacement that adresses the problem and there is no reason why DC can't fix it right, they just don't want to.

dog_party · **Posted:** Wed Apr 12, 2006 3:25 pm

Does anyone know how to register a complaint with the NTSB? I went on their website and there are a whoooolllllllle bunch of PDFs to download, but I couldn't find any method of registering a complaint.

tired_old_dave · **Joined:** Wed Feb 22, 2006 3:45 pm **Posts:** 79

To do list includes new moog K3199's and kyb's since front shock requires taking apart the lbj. An earlier post mentioned the kyb's. Roger at Tirerack said he had no listing for a kyb for the CRD. Called KYB. The three women answering the phones and the tech on email send they are getting lots of requests today from crd owners. Then the tech said they have not tested the crd yet. Jeep confirmed the shocks are the same across the line but the springs are different(which is normal). The 2004 front shocks from jeep are part number 52088650AE superceded by part number 52088650AF(2005 shocks). KYB confirmed the sites' listing of 331017 for the front and 344404 for the rear.

Changed included to includes-still on the to do list

Reggie · **Posted:** Thu Apr 13, 2006 12:32 pm

dog_party wrote:

Does anyone know how to register a complaint with the NTSB? I went on their website and there are a whoooolllllllle bunch of PDFs to download, but I couldn't find any method of registering a complaint.

Try here:

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/

Reggie

europachris · **Posted:** Thu Apr 13, 2006 10:07 pm

Well, we got the CRD back from the dealer today, after 3 days of being in the shop. They replaced both lower front ball joints and also the track bar joint on top of the rear diff. housing.

My wife thought she heard something on the way home from the dealer, and when we all went out tonight for ice cream, I *definitely* heard it, and it's the same as it was. It's much more obvious from the passenger seat for sure, and I can feel it through the floorboard. It's a metallic 'poink' or 'pop' noise, and sounds a lot like something popping against fairly thick sheet metal.

It pops just as you come to a normal stop, and then pops again when you begin to accelerate away from the stop. Definitely something loose in the front suspension, but I sure can't see anything obvious.

Could it be an upper ball joint? I'm not thinking it's a swaybar or tie rod issue, and there is NO clunking when driving over bumps. It's strictly a stop/accelerate issue, and can be also caused by making a sharp turn.

What about something with the spring/shock assembly? It reminds me a bit of when the upper strut bearings went out on my old VW Rabbit many many years ago.

Could it be a wheel bearing loose inside the hub? No noise when rolling or turning that would indicate a failed bearing, but maybe there's some play?

Very distressing, as now it has to go back to the dealer for G*d knows how many more days. Each time it's been in (EGR x2 and now this) it has been 3 days.

ARGH!

Chris

tired_old_dave · **Joined:** Wed Feb 22, 2006 3:45 pm **Posts:** 79

Someone here, and forgive me for not remembering who I thanked, said he finally found his clunk by laying on the diesel while his father drove it back and forth. It was the passenger side motor mount. It was driving me crazy too. From underneath it took mine ~ 1/4 to 1/2 of a turn to stop the clunk.

europachris · **Posted:** Thu Apr 13, 2006 11:02 pm

tired_old_dave wrote:

Someone here, and forgive me for not remembering who I thanked, said he finally found his clunk by laying on the diesel while his father drove it back and forth. It was the passenger side motor mount. It was driving me crazy too. From underneath it took mine ~ 1/4 to 1/2 of a turn to stop the clunk.

Funny you mention that - I recall reading this some time ago. But, indeed, it seems that it very well may be the source of the noise, as I does feel like something is shifting around just ahead of me while in the passenger seat, and the noise feels like it's related to the mount shifting on the body (the metallic 'poing' sound).

But, it's not apparent when revving the engine, or even just slowing and accelerating. It's strictly when stopping with brakes and accelerating again.

But, indeed, I'll print this out and bring it to the dealer. It may be an issue of a wrong spec or poor job of torquing motor mounts at the factory.

Chris

LibertyCRD · **Posted:** Fri Apr 14, 2006 7:40 am

Have you eliminated the U-joints as a possibility yet? From your description of starting/stopping and clunking...that sounds very much like a frequent issue that many people have with U-joints these days.

europachris · **Posted:** Fri Apr 14, 2006 8:09 am

LibertyCRD wrote:

Have you eliminated the U-joints as a possibility yet? From your description of starting/stopping and clunking...that sounds very much like a frequent issue that many people have with U-joints these days.

No, haven't eliminated those, but I would expect there to be other noises or vibration with bad u-joints. This noise really feels like something moving back and forth that's loose, either engine on a mount or suspension parts.

Chris

LibertyCRD · **Posted:** Fri Apr 14, 2006 8:15 am

Well I just thought I'd ask. Ford pickup trucks as well as many other brands/models of 4x4s have frequent issues with this. I've experienced it myself on vehicles. The symptoms are just as you describe..."popping" or "clunking"..a loose feeling...mostly on take-off or stopping. There were no other vibrations or noises whatsoever. Only a feeling of something not being right when stopping or taking off. And of course the occasional clunk like steel hitting steel. Turned out that the problem got to be so widespread that Ford and some other companies issued TSBs on it. In 99.9% of cases, it was the U-joints or the improper lubing of the splines on the driveshaft causing the problem. I just thought I'd make sure you checked those and eliminated that possibility.

europachris · **Posted:** Fri Apr 14, 2006 9:06 am

Good points, LibertyCRD!

I'll verify the dealer goes through the driveline and checks all the relevant parts as well as the motor mounts and suspension again when we take it back. This should be a pretty easy find as it's 100% repeatable.

My wife suggested I ride home under the hood to find out where the noise was coming from.....she's so sweet! :wink:

europachris · **Posted:** Tue Apr 18, 2006 7:37 pm

tired_old_dave wrote:

Someone here, and forgive me for not remembering who I thanked, said he finally found his clunk by laying on the diesel while his father drove it back and forth. It was the passenger side motor mount. It was driving me crazy too. From underneath it took mine ~ 1/4 to 1/2 of a turn to stop the clunk.

---> Got the Jeep back from round TWO at the dealer for the clunk. Looks like it was indeed the right side motor mount causing the clunk. The wife went out grocery shopping after we picked it up, so I'll make sure it's indeed fixed when she gets back.

The upside is that we got the ball joints replaced under warranty, also, but man, what a PITA! We love our CRD, but it's been in the shop now 12 days in the year we've owned it (two EGR replacements and the 'clunk' issue).

My Jetta TDI has been to the dealer 1 time in 4 years and 85K miles. That was for some trim to be replaced under warranty on the interior. But, I've had to replace several glowplugs, struts/shocks, tires, and a full timing belt replacement that I did myself. Basically normal wear and tear. It's been a great car so far, but there's been a lot of 'lemon' TDIs, also.

CHris

'05 CRD - Bad Lower Balljoints!

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