front end rattle
 

2002 Escape

There was a rattle in the front end when going over bumps, often worse when the bump was only on one side. I changed the sway bar links and the rattle went away for 4-6 months, but not it's back. I used Moog sway bar links and greased them when they were installed. Is there something else making the sway bar links go bad again that quickly, or what else would cause the rattle?

I have the same problem on my wife's 2005 Escape. Changed the sway bar links and still does it. Now I have to check the lower control arms-bushings and ball joints, struts and wheel bearings. I hope it's not the struts.

Sounds like tie rod ends to me. Had the same symptoms on a Windstar once.

[quote=casanova;69783]I have the same problem on my wife's 2005 Escape. Changed the sway bar links and still does it. Now I have to check the lower control arms-bushings and ball joints, struts and wheel bearings. I hope it's not the struts.[/qu

Thanks beagleboy and Beanox. I found that the rattle came from the front strut boots. It looks like that over the years they've become dry and have shrunk in length causing them to come loose at the bottom end. I have wrapped duct tape (it fixes everything) around the bottom part of the strut where the boots touch, making the diameter of the strut bigger to decrease the clearance between the bottom of the boot and the strut, and "voila" the rattle is gone. I don't know if there are such a thing
as a strut boot with a zipper so that you don't have to take the strut apart to replace the boots.