hi,

I have a 1996 honda civic with 150k miles on it. I just started noticing this. I know things of this nature are hard to diagnose but i'm going to give it a shot.

I just started noticing this recently. I drove over a bump and there was a slight squeak from the back passenger side by the wheel. I parked the car and got out. I pushed down on the rear passenger side and it squeaked again but not every time i pushed it down. I also had to push it pretty hard to get it to squeak. The rear end of the car seemed to bounce back up normally so it can't be the shocks right? any way i went to dinner and came back and couldn't get it to happen again by pushing down on the side of the car. i'm going to drive it again tomorrow over some bumps to see if i can get it to happen again. I keep my car garaged every night and the weather has just been a little bit rainy if that would effect this at all.

I was also thinking about spraying some wd40 at the metal spring visible behind the wheel. would this help?

could this be dangerous to me or the car? i guess i can live with the noise

 

With it being a 96 and having 150K miles, I would guess it's the trailing arm bushing or one of the control arm bushings. WD40 will do nothing in this case.

 

are those serious?

how much would that cost to replace? I assume i'd just have to replace one.

 

They can cause some noise on the rear. I can't really speak from experience because mine have always been ok. Check yours first before looking into replacement. If they're all cracked and broken, they could be the cause of the noise.

 

awesome. thank you for the advice and picture as well.

I will look tomorrow.

also when i got home that night i noticed the button up front to pop open the trunk hadn't been pushed back in. maybe that was it?

 

Briceman,

I concur with Well Fed Hobo's contention- I've had these bushing wear out on some of my old Hondas before and they would produce an obnoxious squeaking sound whenever I'd go over speedbumps, potholes, etc. No bueno

On the plus side, bushings are never too pricey and the replacement job isn't too mechanically demanding. If I remember correctly, the OEM part number for the bushing that you are seeking is
10 52393-SR0-004 (it looks like it's a $34 part) but I would verify this with a simple Google search or your dealer's parts department.

Anywhoo, good luck with the fix dude