this is the problem
I have been searching for this noise for over a year... I have been searching high and low. But I think I found it! At first I thought it was the shocks but it made noises at times when the shocks didn't move. Side to side motion. I got the noise when I went over bumps slowly, almost a crawl.
Ok so, I found this bracket on top of the rear differential. I get alot of play when I move the rear differential side to side and up and down. There are 2 sets of bushings that are suppose to cusion the differential. Probably if your getting this noise you notice the very top busings are shot; flattened, dry rotted and collapsed. All in all it would be best to just replace all the bushings in that area. If you think I'm wrong, just be aware that you get a bouncing noise up and down, you get a noise when your suppension extends forward hand backwards and you will get a side to side noise. It makes sense and if you look at where the differential is you will also notice that this is the spot where the noise is coming from. I too thought it was the spare tire.
I am enclosing a link that has the scrematic and also you can purchase from this site at a much cheaper cost than the dealer. Somewhere around 60% cheaper, and they are oem parts. I do not work for this company for parts, but I have been coming to this post for the past year trying to isolate this issue. At first it was minor, now it is so blatant. I was about to change all suspension parts til I isolated this noise. Good thing I ddidn't because none of that would have worked. Not saying that you shouldn't change your shocks if they need it, just saying fix the problem at hand; or else you will be dissappointed.
I cant tell you how many times I have had a mechanic try to isolate something and it was about as helpful as asking my 2yr old neice what she thought. The only difference is my niece wouldnt have charged me so much
Disclaimer... I am not a mechanic but I have been working on cars since i was 10. My dad is a mechanic but retired so throughout the years I have done my fair share. I have not changed these parts yet because I am waiting for them to arrive. But as soon as they get here and I change them I will update all of you on the fix. I am 98% sure this is the noise.
total price of fix from this site was 108$ for just the parts. I called the dealer and it was going to 275$ for these same parts, not to mention they didn't have all of them in stock. Not sure yet but I cant imagine it should take more than 1 hour to do. I say 30 min but you never know.
I have a honda element 2004 so this link is for that
http://www.hondapartscheap.com/index...AL - MOUNT
parts 16, 17, 18 & 26... (26 is the bolts, Might as well change these too they are cheap enough)
as you will see it says recommended qt 2 on some of them this means you need to order 2. There is not 2 in the package.
GL let me know!
