I am used to having solid axles front and rear never had independent suspension.
When I drive over a short and high speed bump I can hear a creaking sound.
When I drive trough a minor corrugation I can hear a knocking sound. I am positive it is coming from the front driver (Right hand side in our country) side.
Vehicle has about 120 000km on (about 80000 miles)
Can anybody point me to a step by step for eliminating all the possibilities?
You do not mention what year and model you have. On my 2005 Outback I just recently replaced the Lower Control Arm bushing and the anti-sway bar end link (with new lock nuts), and that fixed the noise I had going over bumps. See the thread below.
Creaking could also be a worn out strut, my '03 does the same thing on rough road and speed bumps in the passengers side rear and I already replaced the rear endlinks just to make sure it wasn't them.
disconnect the end link and drive around a little. you only have to unbolt one spot on each end. if you still hear noise its not the swaybar.
can you reproduce by bouncing the front end up and down while parked?
when up on jack stand is there any play in the tire (side/side or top/bottom)
take wheel off (while on jack stand) and look around. anyplace look like its rubbing (bare metal exposed/no rust). check behind strut boot and see if evidence of leaks.
by using process of elimination, squirt some spray lube making sure to do one joint at a time, and then go for a test drive.
I went through similar this summer and found it was my front end links. very hard to diagnose b/c unbolting those buggers are a pita. Good luck!
I am taking to test the struts this afternoon. I could not find loose bushings when I had the wheels off. Everything felt nice and solid. I will ask the workshop to double check that.
OK had it on a lift yesterday, and armed with a tire iron I tested all the joints on both sides. All jonts are nicely lubed.
Lower control arm bush hardly 1mm play
Stabilizer end joints no play
Ball joints have limited movement up and down, but nothing from side to side.
CV joints and boots are fine.
Struts are testing within spec
Only area I could find was the Stabilizer bar bushes keeping it on the chassis cross member. When I lever the stabilizer bar there is about 10mm of play (just below 1/2 inch) The bush in the bracket looks like it is a two part bush that sandwich the bar in the bracket. The bush will sort of separate with the force.