Front End Noise on my 2001 Chevy Venture


Front-End Noise - October 11, 2004

I have noticed a "clunking noise" when the van is warm (after about 10-15 minutes from start)
when starting from a dead stop.  This noise does NOT happen when the van is first driven in
the morning (cool).  This noise appears to be coming from the right-front wheel.
Dropped off at dealer at 9:52am (after driving around with service guy so that the noise could
be demonstrated). 
I called at 2:55pm - Service guy said "They are working on it right now.  Hopefully I will know
something more about it later this afternoon." 
Dealer called back about 5:30pm - Said "The techs have gone (home), but they re-torqued
the nuts & bolts on the engine cradle and chassis, connected a 'Chassis Ears' & did a test drive
and could not find the problem.  I will talk with them more in the morning."
Questions/Observations:
- Did tightening of the nuts & bolts "fix" the problem (causing it to not be found during the test
  drive)? 
- Was this another thing that was not done right during the Sept. 8 repair (engine cradle had
  to be removed to reseal oil pan)?

Oct. 12, 2004 8:45am - I called the service guy and asked if the tightening of the engine
cradle bolts "fixed" the problem (so that they could no longer hear the noise).  He said "They
can still hear the noise - they just can not locate it."  He also said "They already have about
2 hours into it.  I need to talk to them more about it to see what is happening next.  Then I
will give you a call."
3:00pm - Got message to call the service department back. They found that a "top engine
mount bolt" was rusted/corroded. They cleaned the bolt and lubricated it & the area.
BUT . . .
Now the "Check Engine" light is on and it was misfiring during the test drive (it wasn't when I
brought it in). So they gave me an "additional estimate" of another hour to find out what it is,
with the provision that if it was caused by something that they did, it would be free.
4:15pm - They called back and said that a spark plug wire had been pulled off (slightly) during
the repair today, which caused the misfire.  No (additional) charge!  Yahoo!
Repair Report of Oct. 12, 2004.

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