I am getting a clunking sound when I am reversing out of a parking space and turning the wheel in my car, I think that it is probably caused by the power steering rack bolts being loose because I know that the 8th gen civics had a similar problem with them. I thought that it was bad cv axles at first so I replaced them, but that didn't fix the sound and I took it to a mechanic to have them look at it to see if they could figure out what the sound was and they told me that the motor mounts were bad and so I replaced those this weekend, but the sound is still there. Tightening the steering rack bolts is the last thing that I can think of to try and I was going to do that tomorrow, but I was just wondering if anybody on here has done this before because I can't find anything showing what the torque specs for the bolts are.

 

Is it like a one time clack as you change from forward to reverse? It's not uncommon for the brake pads to clack when switching from forward to reverse. They can move forward and back in the caliper brackets.

Honda says replace all the rack bolts if you remove them. The torque is 44 for the large bolts and 43 for the short ones. To take the rack out, the whole subframe has to come down. If it's loose it should make noise every time you steer the car left and right.

Any shop worth anything should be able to tell if the rack is loose. Put it on the lift with someone in the car, raise it, then have them crank the wheel back and forth. Probably better to do it with the engine off. I would stop throwing expensive parts at the car and do more trouble-shooting. All I'm hearing right now is guess work. It might be worth getting a front end alignment. A proper shop should pry around the suspension and let you know if anything is worn before they do the alignment.

Has any mechanic ever heard the noise?