I recently replaced my daughters 2009 Honda fit with a 2007 Honda fit sport. The 2009 has got 241,000 miles on it. We replace the tires on it drove the car and a severe clunk and knock is coming out of the left side of the vehicle.I took off the tire replaced with another to rule out the tire being defective. I checked the strut And try to move the tire side to side up-and-down with no movement. The brakes do not feel like they are seized all of the joints seem to be tight. I’m thinking the knock or clog is coming out of the engine it starts immediately when I start driving down the road. If it’s coming out of the engine what kind of diagnostics can I do to determine what the problem is and repair it myself. In park when I throttle the engine there’s no sounds of knocking clicking or ticking only when the vehicle is in drive the clunk is noticeable. I plan on Driving this car in the summer and keeping it local. Any thoughts? Blue

 

A broken motor mount? If there's no noise with the engine running and the trans in park, it sounds like it could be a broken motor mount. Open your hood and have someone get in the car and start it. Have them put the car in drive with their foot firmly on the brake pedal and then start to raise the rpm's and watch for engine movement. If that tests negative, shut the engine off and check the axles for sloppiness/ unusual movement. Those are the two suspect locations for clunks around the engine compartment.

 

lets say it is the axial. What level of difficulty am I looking at? I’m Pretty handy and fix most problems. I hope it’s the engine mount... thanks for your reply

 

Removing an axle isn't difficult- just tedious. The major pitfall to avoid is having the axle cv joint come out of joint while installing it. With some understanding of how the joints in the axle work, and being careful- it's doable. There are u-tube videos available on line that are very helpful to watch before doing one. Most Civic/Fit front suspensions are similar and the basics are similar also. Removal of the axle nut will sometimes require an impact gun and installation will require a torque wrench capable of 140 ft.lbs..

Of the two possibilities we're talking about, my money is on a motor mount.

 

Dan, I’m banking on the motor mount too. It backed up fine with no noise. UTube is a savior and I have all the tools needed. I can now justify the cordless impact driver I bought Last year. I will surely let you know What I found when I dig into this deeper.

thanks for your help.

 

Did you check various linkages? Worn tie rod for steering and endlink for the sway bar could easily produce said noises. Same with suspension... even more so that if the top mount came loose, it'll do it while in motion, but appear fine when parked.

 

i did remove a tire and tried to hand move the linkage. Everything seems to be tight. It’s odd, I drive the car to work, everything is fine. Drove it home and it felt like the front end was going to fall off. I only live 5miles from work. It’s not like our roads are full of pot holes. No burnt smell, ruling out the brakes. The clunky is immediate. 5mph. I’m going to check that engine mount.

 

Some things seem tight when checked by hand, but are loose when under load.

The suspension top nut mount is one of those things. When you lift the car off the ground, it pulls the suspension down and actually tightens up the top part far more than you could ever shake (unless you’re Hercules, you’re fighting the strength of the springs and weight of the parts). But once you put it back on the ground, it’s still more than you could shake, but is has slack that will clunk when driving.

This is not theoretical, because this happened to my Fit earlier this year.

Other linkages are the same. Again, unless you’re Hercules, they can too easily be worn enough to clunk, but not enough for you to shake by human arm strength. Especially a swaybar endlink, unless you lifted the whole front end to check, the side you’re looking at will be hanging in the air, pulling the endlink down, while the other is getting shoved up by the wheel on the ground, fully tensioning it (as that is the job of a swaybar). If you let it clunk for a while, then it can get to the point where you can shake it by hand... unless it pops off. A popped sway bar endlink is one thing... but a popped steering tie rod would probably ruin your day, if not your pants.

If your engine mount failed, wouldn’t you notice simply by revving it while parked? It can also cause the wheel to hop like a crazed bronco under moderate to heavy acceleration. I know that’s what happened when the cam chain case mount broke (luckily it was under warranty).

 

This is just odd. I had my wife rev the engine while in park. The engine did move but not much. The clunk almost feels like the engine is going to siege. It makes a clunk at less than 5 mph. Could this be a bearing? It’s only in the driver side..at least what I can tell. Plugging away.. thanks for the help.

 

I'd wager it is your away bar end links being worn out.