Low Speed Rattle and Pop

[Isophorone]

Hi everyone!

I have a 99 Corolla CE automatic with about 148,000 miles. Recently, it has started making rattle and pop noises at low speed, either when just about at a stop or just accelerating from a stop. I also hear these pop noises when going over bumps at low speeds. The noises seem to come from the front end and below the engine. My wife at first thought it was the brakes, but they are fine. She at least notices the noise, also. We don't hear the noise at high speed, but braking from high speed produces a groaning. We don't hear any noise when making turns. There is no vibration at high speed.

Does anyone have ideas about this? Maybe bearings, tie rods, CVs, or anything in that general area? Or is it just the car getting old? This has been a good car and we'd rather keep it going, at least for another couple of years. We are the only owners of this car and do keep up with maintenance.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Ron

[Buurin]

Could be the suspension - tie rod, ball joint and such, with the ball joint being prime suspect. To confirm, jack up a front wheel using your emergency jack, just enough to take it off the ground. Grab the wheel and try to wiggle it in all directions. That should give you an idea what is loose. You can also turn the wheel to see if it's the CV. To dig deeper into the CV possibility, however, you may need a floor jack to lift both wheels off the ground so they can "spin free".

Ball joint is the part connecting the steering knuckle - where your disc brake is - and the lower suspension arm.

[Isophorone]

Thanks for your help. We did bring the car into the shop to have them look at it. They said that everything is tight. We'll continue to monitor the situation.

Ron