My 06 HCH was in the shop again today for the fifth time for the same problem. Ever since day 1, there has been a creaking noise coming from the left front suspension. You can hear it when you turn the steering wheel or go over bumps below 20 MPH. The current diagnosis is the strut bearing at the top of the strut is out of whack.

So the revalation today was that the service dept decided to replace the entire left strut assembly. When they placed the order, they found out that the part is backordered all over North America with no ETA. The interesting thing is that the right strut assembly is not backordered only the left is. Apparently lots of dealers have been ordering '06 left strut assemblies.

I haven't read about anyone else having the same problems as me, but I think there are a bunch of people getting the repair and having the same noise. Has anyone else been plagued by this problem?

 

Can't say that I have personally, but I remember a very similar problem in my father's '92 Mercury Sable. That car must have been to various shops five or six times before the noise just went away all on its own. Nobody could figure out what was doing it, nor why it suddenly stopped.

 

i have a similar creaking noise but have not bothered to get it looked at.

 

Dan,

Only a simple noise huh ????

Nothing major can come up aas noted by the tech's regarding running as usuall until the replacement strut arrives. Say, like cvc joints, tie rods, etc. ???? How long of a wait, did anyone say ???? Keep us updated.

Revelation, as in well-well !!!!

John

 

I'm happy to update those who are interested. Here's the latest news:

The service dept called me last week to let me know the replacement strut had come in. In the meantime, the creaking had continued to get louder and louder - definitely worse since the dealer tried to fix it the second time.

Yesterday they replaced the strut assembly and, for now, the car is quiet and happy. This time the service rep was very happy to tell me their chief mechanic understands why the strut was creaking and why their earlier attempts made it worse. They led me into the service area to talk to him in person and he explained that there was a special seal or cup at the top of the strut that is easily damaged. He said it is virtually impossible for them to replace just the bearing, the seal or the top of the strut without damaging the seal when things are put back under spring load. However, when they replace the whole thing as a unit, they can keep it intact.

For now, I'm just keeping my fingers crossed. If I can get by the next couple of weeks without it relapsing, I'll believe the repair was good.

One surprising thing was that Honda called me in one of their regular customer service surveys followups. Based on my experience with the service rep not communicating effectively and also some of the repairs actually breaking other things, I had some critical scores and comments about my experience. Apparently, the service dept gets these negative reports promptly along with the customer's name. My service rep actually said, "I understand why you scored us low in your survey, this has really taken us a long time to fix." This shocked me a bit since I had assumed Honda would try to shield customers from potentially irate service depts - but that does not appear to be the case.

Cheers,
-dan