Thanks Guys,

Just finished with tightening both strut tube nuts,were a little loose.But once I popped the wheel bearing cap off,there was slack in wheel while off the ground,sure enough I found that the bearing nut was way loose.The left was somewhat loose,tightened it,but the right one was pretty loose(hand loose).But I also found that while wiggling both tires side to side,there was some play there,(maybe inner tie rods).Well on the test ride I found that most of the clunking was gone,over little bumps,but while turning back into my driveway some of the same noises were still there,probably inners?Shoul I have replaced the inners with the outer ends?Outer ends seemed easy to replace,Inners?

Quite pleased though finally.Most louder noises gone.I know is an old car,but kind of my pet project and don't want to proceed with perf upgrades until basics are handled.

Thanks again for this help and any more.

I've got an 84 and an 81 and have had my fair share of clunks. First things first, tighten up all the bolts/nuts in the front end...3 13mm nuts on top of the strut towers, the two big crossmember bolts at the base of each strut tower, the rear control arm bracket bolts, the bushing bolts (not too tight), swaybar bolts (make sure the sway bar end link bushings are sitting right in the cup washers, if not, they could pop when the swaybar goes up and down). Second, check the wheel bearing tightness (this was the source of both my 240 clunks). Jack up the car and grasp the tire at the 12 an 6 o'clock positions and try wiggling the tire back and forth...if you feel looseness or hear a loose-bearing type noise, take the grease cap off the bearing, remove the cotter pin, tighten the castle nut 1 notch and put the cotter pin back in along with the grease cap. Let us know if any of these things fix it.

Mike Hale

84 240 243,500mi.

I have found that the nut at the top of the strut casing sometimes gets loose and allows the strut cartridge to clunk inside the casing. The nut is accessible by jacking up the car, removing the wheel, and reaching through the sping coils with a large pair of channel locks. It's not the perfect cure but it may help you find the problem. I have also read that the front cross member bolts, accessible in the engine compartment, can become loose but that has never happend to me.

Clunking in the front could have many causes. Without listing them all-here's a way to track 'em down:

1) Carefully jack the car up and then lower the wheels on a 4x6 (10" long or whatever) laid flat or 2-2x6's laid flat - ramps will work great if you have them - just trying to get the front up a bit but still resting on wheels as normal.

2) Have a bigass billy bob bounce the car while you listen, preferably with a cheapass mechanic's stethascope. Don't forget the crossmember mounts in the engine bay. Isolate the sway bar ends and bounce more....ne a Sherlock, detective.

Does this make sense? Get back with me.