[R.C.]

Hello again,

We have a 99 Taurus with a Duratec engine and 119000Km on it. We've been hearing a poping noise that is coming from all four corners of the car when driving up a driveway, that is on a slight to steep incline, from a angle (not approching the driveway straight on).
We brougt the car in to a dealership and they say it's the struts and they all need replacing but after inspecting the struts ourselves they look fine, no leaky spots and tried bouncing the front and rear of the car and that seem ok too.

We found it hard to believe that all four struts need to be replaced so we asked and researched around and someone mention something about the sway-bar end links may need to be replace and that they are the ones that are causing the pop noise.

Can anyone here confirms this as changing all four struts is quite the $$$'s

Thanks.

 

[Bob Gervais]

It's hard to say without driving the car. It could be either, honestly. Take a look underneath the rear of the car and make sure the stabilizer links are still attached and in good shape. You can check the fronts by pulling them towards you, with the weight of the car on the suspension. If they seem loose, they need replacing.

It's important to keep the weight of the car on the suspension. If you let the front hang, it'll tighten up the links, giving a false indication that they're OK.