GeneralIesrussi

Hey guys,

I have a 1991 305 z28 camaro, (260,000 km) and I have been getting many different and strange noises from this car for a while and figured I would finally get your guys opinions.
So lets lay down some facts first, I have owned the car for one year, drove it an additional 10,000 km in this time, I have no idea when the shocks/struts were last replaced, and I dont know what condition the suspension was in.
I brought it to a shop a few months ago and while they replaced some wheel bearings they had to "pop one of the springs back in that was out of place" or something so i'm unsure if maybe this is part of the issue.
Anyways, where ever I go all the time, with the slightest rock or pebble in the road the car with make little tiny squeaks very frequently (0.2-0.8 seconds apart), like de de de deet dee deet de-de-de like metal squeaking, like jingling keys I would think. I never hear the sound on smooth flat highway, so it has to do with minor bumps. And getting in and out of the car results in a groan like errrh, but the car does not bounce while driving around, or maybe its always been that way and I can't tell the difference. and while driving or speed bumps and little bumps slowly the car will do the same slow frame torquing groan sound. Its rather unappealing and very worrisome. It sounds like it comes from the passenger rear more than anywhere else. The squeaking sounds more like Driver front but could be throughout the car.
I have never checked or refilled and frame oil holders or anything under the frame that I would need to, I read somewhere that there is a little rubber cone on the control arm I think that needs to be "firm but not squishy" with grease, I thought this might be likely but haven't the time to check and want to cover all my bases.
Please let me know what you think and share any similar experiences, I can try and record audio at a later date if need be.
Thanks,
-Bryce

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

Never heard of "pop a spring back in"; not sure what to make of that.


For the "jingling keys sound, replace the sway bar end links and bushings. Don't use stock ones such as Moog or whatever; use poly, Energy Suspension or Prothane. You'll probably need to measure your sway bar diameters with an open end wrench to make sure you get the right bushings: get ones that are slightly smaller than whatever you measure, that is, round downwards rather than upwards. The end links will need to be about 2.5" on both front & rear.


The "sqweeek" or "groan" could be any number of things. I'd suggest starting by looking at the upper shock mounts, which are inside the car, under the back seat. Pop the seats out, pull back the carpet covering the almost-vertical part of the tunnel behind them, pop out the 2 big white foam spacer things, and look carefully at the top of the shocks. These cars FREQUENTLY break the floor pan out right there, and that makes all kinds of weird noises when it happens.


Replace the rear shocks in any case. They're cheeeeeeep and very eeeeeeezy to replace, and are usually nothing but useless dead weight within the first 10,000 miles of a car's life. (ANY car... not just these) If they've never been replaced, you might be astounded at how much difference having good ones makes.


And of course grease the chassis... there are 2 ball joints, 4 tie rod ends, and 2 joints in the center link that get grease, in these cars. Nothing in the rear. (stock, anyway) Pump em full of grease until old grease and water quits oozing out of em and new clean grease starts to emerge, and then of course wipe up all the mess.

GeneralIesrussi

Thank you very much for the great detail in your reply, I will follow up on all those at the soonest time I can, as for the spring, all they said was it was slightly out of place and they put it back which I don't know either, i'll get the parts to fix these as soon as possible, if the issues you listed are all of which true, if worst comes to worst can I drive the car for another week without something breaking? As I am very busy until the months end,
Thank you very much,
-Bryce

Queball

get a stereo system, with subwoofers, n turn it up n drive no more sounds ....hehe

lube up that gal!!!! (ur car)

GeneralIesrussi

Lubing the car will have to be the first thing I do while I wait for the parts to arrive, just to clarify, the type to use is the grease gun tube kind right, its very thick and yellowish-grey, am I correct?

-=Z28=-

iTrader: (3)

Something to think about also is, these cars are generally squeaky and kinda rough riding and do make noise. However, what you are explaining, Sofa nailed. Id check the whole front end.

Maybe "pop a spring back" meant it was out of its perch?? or needed to be spun to fit in right?

-Dan

novaderrik

my car started making a weird rattling noise in the dash area after putting IROC spec springs in it this year... i isolated it to the base of the windshield not being glued down very well: i can push the middle of the glass up about 1/4" and just putting a little pressure on it stops the noises... the glass is cracked and will be replaced sometime in the future unless i find a more solid shell to put all my parts onto..

my 84 Regal T Type used to make a similar sound, but the glass was glued in solid putting in some frame braces from a Monte SS took care of the noise on that car. they also stiffened up the front of the car enough to make it feel more "tight" when driving it... been thinking of making similar braces for the Camaro to see if they do anything..

Reid Fleming

iTrader: (2)

Does it sound like it's coming from the rear seat wheel well? Near where the speakers are? If it sounds like keys jingling, you need to check the sway bar mounting bolts. They're probably loose. The rubber bushing in there is probably long ago dry rotted. Might as well check the front sway bar as well.

You can easily crawl under the rear of the car to check the sway bar mounts without having to jack it up. Seeing the front ones is a bit tricker.

The axle mounts for the sway bar generally stay in place. But those connectors up near the rear shocks tend to wear out.

GeneralIesrussi

It does sound like it is coming from that area in the back, maybe the front too but I am unsure, so I will do as sofakingdom recommends and replace the sway bar links and bushings, so you are also right Reid Fleming, thank you for where exactly to look, as for novaderrik my dash did use to make a similar sound so i'll try pushing on my window a bit to check, but its new since 2001 so it should be fine. I think I have a lot to go on and check now, thank you very much everyone.
I will follow up on my results here when I get the chance, if anyone has any further ideas feel free to post.