the strut "boing" sound

excuse me for starting a new thread on a subject that has had a lot of coverage on several other threads but, I cannot find this information and asking on one of the other threads has gone un-noticed, anyway: concerning the "boing" (or clunk) sound that primarily occurs when turning the wheel at slow speeds (in which a defective strut or struts is the cause)....does anyone know what the actual defect with the strut is? in other words - what is the difference between the defective struts and the struts the dealers are installing to fix the problem?

thanks

Mine did that for the first couple of months and then stopped by itself. I'm not sure if that is a common experience amongst owners.

Mine did that for the first couple of months and then stopped by itself. I'm not sure if that is a common experience amongst owners.

Nice to know that the sound might go away. Mine is two months old and still makes it when I reverse out of a stall and turn the wheel (When cold). I hesitate going to the dealer.

Mine started after a few months after I bought it, then went away. It might have something to do with temperature? It made that sound a lot in the winter.

I've had 1 front and both back struts replaced. Still a bong when I back out of the driveway. Hard to replicate for the dealer but I am going to mention it next time it is in.
The dealers don't seem to look into what is causing it they just swap it out and that is it. I hope Honda is looking in more detail in what is causing this. Not a major flaw just an annoyance.

Doug

My dealer replaced the rack and pinion, and the clunk went away. To me it sounded serious enough not to ignore.

Figure out how to reproduce the noise to save grief at the dealer.

like Dave, I mean Featster, the clunk was loud enough not to ignore, and it was alway there. I'm supposed to get mine back today with a new rack. We shall see. Re: the observation that they dont troubleshoot anymore, one consideration is that I'm told that the dealership back charges American Honda at an even higher than normal bill rate so they dont mind this work and it may contribute to replacing major assemblies rather that smaller parts, and I'm not so sure that it doesnt work out best for us in the end any way. With a new steering rack I was concerned that a "bare" unit would show up at the dealership and the mechanic would spend the first half of the job moving a whole bunch of items, clips, boots, etc from my old rack to the new one. I was told that's not the case. The new one is a complete replacement unit with all the boots and what have you preinstalled. I like that option much better! Of course during the warranty period this is OK, after that when its comming directly out of your pocket, then you do want a little more consideration taken. Maybe thats when you do your own work or go to your trusty neighborhood mechanic if you are fortunate to know one.

thanks everyone...dsowell, did the dealer mention what the defect with your struts was? that's what I'm curious about, how are the replacement struts different / better.

My boing was missing lube at the top of the strut assembly...took the dealer twice to fix it but once they had it hasn't returned...Don't forget to have your dealer do an alignment since rmeoving the strut is necessary to relube. many dealers will try to get away with out the alignment!

thanks kbird, that sounds reasonable....do you know if it's possible to get lube to the effected area without strut removal?

hello,

Here are some links to show what the strut assy consists of. My thought is this. On a new vehicle, lots of things are tight and need a chance to seat a little. If the noise was there and went away, I'd keep my eye on it, but hope it was just initial tightness. If it wasnt there originally, then I'd take it to the dealer and have them fix it. I certainly wouldnt try to lubricate it. While the picture isnt great, I fully expect the bearing to be a sealed design, and its up under a boot and even if you could, for long term reliability and warranty it needs to be probably replaced by the dealer. my 2 cents

My clunking was fixed with an entirely new steering rack, and my BOING sound was fixed with new struts. I suspect the strut bearing that allows the spring to rotate with the strut body as you steer was binding then releasing as the tension increased. The mechanic where I purchased the truck was great. The HONDA 800 number insisted that he replace the struts first, even though we both agreed that there was something wrong with the rack also. With the truck on a lift you could not duplicate the BOING, but you could see and feel the clunk in the rack. Every other component, linkage and ball joint was checked and found to be tight. When the replacement struts only fixed the BOING sound he called American HONDA back and got approval to replace the rack also. Day 2 of having the truck back and up to this point all is good- I expect it remain that way

Our trucks: see item 13

http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/auto/jsp/mws/prddisplay.jsp?inputstate=5&catcgry1=Ridgeline&catcgry2=2006&catcgry3=4DR+RTL+SUNROOF+NAVI&catcgry4=KA5AT&catcgry5=FRONT+SHOCK+ABSORBER

Pre-sales/tech info from Monroe: You can see a common bearing design and where the bearing commonly lies

http://www.monroe.com/tech_support/tec_struts.asp

http://www.monroe.com/tech_support/tec_suspsystemfund.asp

thanks schwejo

Is this noise something that those of you with the problem experienced regularly? Only asking because I have hear the noise, but only twice since I've had the truck (10 months).

Both times the noise occured while I was turning into a steep driveway from an angle. It definatly sounded like the noise you are describing, but I'm just curious as to why I'm not hearing it more often if it is a problem. Also, the truck is not handleing bad or anything like that.

One last question....I get a very soft, boing each morning when turning out of my parking stall... I mean you have to turn the radio down to hear it but definitely its a binding strut noise....do I take it in now to fix or maybe its not bad enough for honda techs to care... or could this be the start of louder boings and clunks in a year or 2...I know most of you had constant loud noise which warranted the repair..:confused:

my .02 worth.

Why would you not get it fixed ?

You bought a $30k vehicle. Any abberant noise or function is intolerable and shouild be remedied by the dealer asap.

I know I enjoy my RL more now that the noise is gone.

As I understand it the strut must come out. I expect that some lube robot on the passenger side of the vehicle wasn't shooting high enough or whatever for a few units.

Of course all this assumes that my that Honda dealer was telling me a close variety of the truth...You just never know these days.

Nice to know that the sound might go away. Mine is two months old and still makes it when I reverse out of a stall and turn the wheel (When cold). I hesitate going to the dealer.


exactly how my ridgeline sounds.

My RT has been making the boing sound for about 3 weeks. I took it to the delear and they tried lubricating the strut. Sure enough a day later it was back. Now they have a new strut on order. I'm going to tell them I expect a wheel alignment after the sturt is replaced.

I'll post the outcome of the replacment when they have completed the install.

psango

I have an RTL built 3/06 didn't make any sounds or noises until after 1,000 miles, my wife to the truck to the dealer and left it there for them to find the problem, they ofcourse didn't/couldn't duplicate the "boing" until I got there, I asked the service advisor to get on the driver seat and as soon as I turned the wheels the "boing" sound appeared..
He then told me that he needed to order the left (driver side) strut, after they replaced the strut didn't hear the sound again, it's been now ~200miles..
I hope stays that way..
There is no doubt that there is a problem with the driver side strut, just don't know why Honda has not came up with a recall, perhaps because besides the noise there isnt' anything else to worry about..:confused:

FS..

Boing sound from the passenger side front strut is gone. Had the strut replaced today under warranty and it seems to be gone for good.

I'm glad to be done with that one. Now I can enjoy the nice driving ability of my RT and not have to listen to that anyoing sound.

Livermore Honda was very quick and proffesional about getting it done.

Psango :)

Had my Ridgeline for well over a year. Had this identical problem after the first month of ownership. It was sporadic in occurence. Happened to be close to my dealership when it reoccured and looked at it with one of the service techs. It was the top portion of the spring getting stuck on the plate while turning, building up some torque and suddenly releasing that was making the sound.

Replaced the strut assembly, got an alignment done, and over a year later... all is well.

Go get it fixed.

Which dealer in Calgary?

skywalker....exactly how loud and annoying...mine is a very soft boing...you really have to be listening for it to know its there. Better yet, its not as loud as the ABS system setting itself each morning....:(

You could definately hear it with no radio, and pulling out on my quiet street. I suppose you could drown it out with the sound of heavy traffic or having your radio cranked up a bit. I seem to remember that you could also feel a sight vibration up through the steering wheel.

RMS56,
Jeff the service manager at Crowfoot Village Honda looked after it.

My "boing" sounds are very noticable when I release the park brake, put the vehicle in D, ease the brake, and slowly move forward. The sound occurs again when I turn at a slow speed.

I thought this is normal and let it go for several months until it got slightly louder. I purchased my RT in 1/06 and have put on 21K miles...love every snowboarding, camping, mountian biking, and long distance cruise mile. It's cool to generate the double look from others at the ski slopes when I swing out the tail gate to change into my snowboarding gears.

After having read the content of this forum, I am calling the dealer to have this repair. This forum rocks!!!!:D

I asked the Service Manager about the strut problem. He said he was unaware of it. I pointed him to this site. He checked it out and now I have new complete strut assembies under warranty. No more "boing"! Seems to steer a little easier now too. Yes, ROC does rock! :D

right strut started making noise at 1k miles...finally got dealer to order new strut. Day I took it in to get that fixed, the left started 'boinging', at 7.5k mi. now right is okay, left is still bad. waiting for new strut, and AM radio harness fix.