98 Elantra Rear End Rattle
 

I'm hopingsomeone can help. I have a '98 Elantra that has a loud rear end rattle on the right side. You know how a dish with a glass top rattles around when it's not secured? That's what it sounds like. At first, I thought it was something in my trunk (I regularly keep my softball gear in there). But, the noise continued even after I emptied it. Everything else seems to be secured.

I hear this rattle on every single little bump and it's getting really annoying. It's better on smoother surfaces,but there aren't a lot of themwhere I am during road construction season.

When I had thefrontbrakes replaced in Sept. 06, the dealership said the rear brakes were still good. Any thoughts?

RE: 98 Elantra Rear End Rattle
 

If the car feels otherwise "solid", my guess would be a rear sway bar bushing or maybe rear sway bar end link.

Attached is an exploded view of the suspension from the Hyundai parts manual. The sway bar components are near the top. The sway bar is labeled 55578, the bushing is 55514 (there is one each side), and the end link is labeled 55530A (there is one each side). The sway bar end links connect the ends of the sway bar to the struts, and the brackets over the busings hold the bar to the body of the car.

Replacing either one of those is quite easy, EXCEPT that the bolts are likely rusted badly, especially if you live in areas where the roads are salted. You don't have to mess with springs, alignment or anything like that; they are pretty much independent of the sway bar.

If the bushing is bad, but the bracket and bolts are still good, you can replace just the bushing. If they are pretty rusted though, you may considering replacing all those parts. The full part numbers are:

Bushing (1 pair required): 5551329020 (sedan); 5551329120 (wagon)
Brackets (1 pair required): 5551429010
Bolts (4 required): 5484928000

If not the bushing, it could excessive play in the end link, oreven a broken link(although my guess is the bushing). Anyway, the part number for the end link is 5553029500 (1 pair required), and the nut is 1327010001 (4 required).

You can use these part numbers to order from the dealer, but also check with auto parts stores to see if they carry these items. I know they do for later years.
http://208.8.111.88:8088/GROUP/NAS29...F/54-55511.gif
You may be able to diagnose this yourself just by jacking up the car and looking underneath. If the bushing or end linkis bad, it will probably be pretty obvious; to make sure, try pushing up and down on the sway bar and see if you get visible play or noise.

If you want to try to replace it yourself, use a LOT of liquid wrench or other penetrating oil before you start. Make sure the car is on jack stands under the body before beginning, and remove the rear wheels to make it easier to work. As long as both wheels are hanging loose, there will be no load on the bar (i.e., don't jack up just one side and leave the wheel on the other side on the ground).

If it's the bushings, just loosen the bolts. If it's the end links, you will need two wrenches; one on the nut that is removed, and one on the stud with the threads; it has hex flats. So one wrench is used on each side of the sway bar. Here is what the end of the end link looks like when it is removed. You can see the hex flats in the picture. If you don't use two wrenches, one on the nut and one on the stud, once the nut loosens a littls so it's not clamped against the sway bar, the whole nut-stud combination will rotate and it will never come off.

http://www.hmaservice.com/GRAPHICS/s5/s5ss049b.gif

If it's either of these things, it should be a very straightforward repair whether you do it yourself or have a mechanicdo it(except for the rust). Good luck.