Low creaking noise when pulling away

Hi Guys,

I hope someone can advise on this:

My car is a 54 plate accord ctdi and i have just had the pleasure of replacing the DMF and clutch at 116k miles costing just under £700
This job was done by a local mechanic only a couple of weeks ago.

Today i have noticed a low creaking noise which i suspect is coming from the front suspension. This only happens when pulling away in first and will only creak for around 1.5 seconds and goes away as soon as the car accelerates as normal (not heavy acceleration). It will also occur when braking and coming to a sudden stop.

Checks ive done so far:
Getting out and pushing down on the front to check the suspension - no noises
turning the steering wheel full lock each way - no noises
No clunks or creaks when going over speedbumps.
Pressing the clutch pedal does not cause any creaking noises either.

Does anyone have any idea what it could be? maybe something to do with the recent dmf/clutch change?

Anti roll bar drop links partially siezed ?

Interesting! Mine does the same thing and I can't find where the noise is coming from... all joints and bushes look OK and I can't replicate the noise with the front wheels off, even when I put axle stands under the suspension legs to put the suspension back under normal loading.

wobbin said:

Anti roll bar drop links partially siezed ?

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+1 here, these puppys creak like mad, but only when going slowly. They run out of grease and give a creak/squeaking noise.

jayok said:

+1 here, these puppys creak like mad, but only when going slowly. They run out of grease and give a creak/squeaking noise.

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the creaking only occurs when pulling away and a second before stopping. If im driving really slowly e.g. in first gear with foot off the clutch but not giving any gas, there is not creaking. its very odd that it just does it the moment i pull away and then stops a second and a half later.

if it is the anti roll bars then anyone know how much this would cost to fix?

I think the Honda OEM droplinks are around £50 each, or third party one start from about £20.

I had mine creaking whilst going over speed bumps, I had a look at the droplinks which were still intact but a little bit of force popped it off - so it was just holding on although visibly they looked ok. I replaced the droplinks and the noise went.

Photo of a rear one, I just done the same thing on the front with a prybar and it came apart without any notable force. This rear one I soaked in silicone spray and it took much more force to break (I just decided to do all four, although it was only my fronts that were creaking)

moved to correct section

Worn out tie rods not he steering rack can cause creaking also?

TanTheMan said:

the creaking only occurs when pulling away and a second before stopping. If im driving really slowly e.g. in first gear with foot off the clutch but not giving any gas, there is not creaking. its very odd that it just does it the moment i pull away and then stops a second and a half later.

if it is the anti roll bars then anyone know how much this would cost to fix?

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That's the shift of the weight in the car, you won't notice/hear it when moving as the road noise drowns this out. Currently, I've the same on my rear ARB droplinks. They need to be changed. I only get it at the car comes to a slow full stop. It lasts for less than a second.

Did you ever find out what caused it. Mine started doing this suddenly about 100 miles after suspension rebuild on the front, but i think it is coincidence. It is not arb related cause i have disconnected the arb and driven a little like this and noise is there. I can only replicate the noise when car is in gear and push from the front. It comes somwhere from the cenre of the engine bay.

Found it. It was the radiator support bracket rubbing against the subframe probably because radiator support was a bit deformed after a hit from underneath.

My Tourer did the same thing untill yesterday, the mecanic says it was from the break pads, i change them and replaced also the direction ball joint dust cover,it was broken. the noise was gone.