Strut problem I have a 1998 toyota camery and it just developed a clunking soud when going over bumps. I notice the strut bump stoper is loose and the boot is rip up bad, the strut itself is absorbing good. Any ideas what it could be.

Could be a ball joint or the strut.

The stabilizer bar could be your problem however, since the clunking sound occurs when you go over bumps and dip it sounds to me that your problem is a bad or broken strut or strut mount. I would suggest that you check all of your struts. If a strut does break off it can potentially cause you to loose a tire while driving . I hope this helps you out, and good luck.

Hello Tompwestme.

While it is possible the struts or the upper strut mounts are causing the noise, the far more common, and much cheaper problem, is the sway bar links.
To check them properly a drive on hoist is best as it keeps the sway links at the cars normal ride height.
If you lift the car any other way it puts the links into a different position and may be harder to verify the wear.

The links are like small tie rod ends (a ball inside a socket) and when they wear they become loose and cause an awful racket on bumps.

Also where the sway bar is attached to the body there are rubber bushings that wear and allow the bar to wiggle inside and clunk there too, especially in cooler weather when the rubber gets hard.

Sway bar and bushing noise will be evident on the smallest of bumps whereas the strut mounts will need a little more of a bump to create the noise.
If the upper mounts are the problem your struts at 75k will likely be OK, but to change the mounts they have to come out anyway. So you may need to make a decision at that point if mounts needed.

There are a couple of possible common problems for you.
If you need more help with this problem, please ask me.
Thank you for using FixYa.

KL

It could be a couple of things.
Loose or worn out strut - (jack up car, remove tire and shake the strut really hard to see if it's loose. Check for signs of leaking or damage to strut)
Missing rubber isolator under front spring (visually inspect the suspension while tire is off).
Broken sway bar mount or missing rubber in the mount on the frame. (Lay under the front and look for where the sway bar mounts to the frame. Make sure everything is tight and the rubber is still in it.

either the strut is not tight or the strut mount it bad. did you change the strut mount when you changed the strut?

Strut tops are a common failure on the 97-01 era Camry/Solaras.

They will make a hollow rattle sound whenever you hit bumps or uneven pavement.

They can be replaced one at a time, and do not require strut replacement if your old struts are still in good shape.
Replacement does require a strut compressor and an alignment afterwards, placing it outside the scope of most do-it-yourselfers.

It is labeled "suspension support" in the following diagram. The bearing below it is typically replaced at the same time.

the clunk over bumps is either strut mounts or stabilizer end links. calipers are bad when you feel a pull when braking, or u notice excessive heat coming from your wheel

You have worn out upper strut bearing support caps. This is the device that is on top of the struts, and hold the strut to the car. This is a very common issue. You will need to remove the struts, and have the strut coils compressed to remove the bearing support caps. Please do NOT try to compress the strut coils without the correct tool. You could get severly injured if you try this without a proper coil-spring compresser.

Hi the most common fault on escort suspension is worn track control arm bushes followed by anti roll bar bushes i think you call them stabiliser bushes i would agree with your ford tech guy re the strut bushes let me know if it solves it

Check the macpherson struts to ensure they are not loose.  One way to check is visually in the engine compartment.  Check the top of the struts to ensure the nuts are not loose.  Another is to raise the side of the van where you hear the clunk.  Raise it so the wheel is off the ground.  Grasp and shake the strut to see if it is loose.  The struts should not be loose, but you never know.  As the strut is certainly ivnolved in bumps and rotates when the wheel turns, I would check there since you have already explored the bushings and links.