The Mystery Noise

[avgwarhawk]

[SC38dls]

Something like that happened to me.  We bought our first new car back in 71 a Camaro. We had it about two weeks when every time we turned a corner we would here a rolling noise then a thump.  This went on a few days before we got it back too the dealer. They couldn't make it happen. We got the car back and a week later the same thing started happening. Took it back same result.  A week later the engine blew.  The tow truck came lifted the front end and the windshield shattered.  The dealer said it happens all the time. They put a new engine in and a windshield and said they could not find the rolling noise.  Two weeks later the 2nd engine blew.  The windshield shattered and the passenger window fell out.  The dealer said the side window was a first.  They sent a tech and a brand new engine from the factory, repaired the windshield and the side window.  The first turn we took and sure enough the rolling sound again. This time no clunk but what sounded like metal hitting the ground. The exhaust then roared.  The back end of the muffler fell off.  Back to the dealer for a new exhaust.  They said someone at the factory probably put a ball bearing in the muffler and it would get stuck and then sometimes roll  around, it finally tore the inside of the muffler apart. it apparently hit the back enough to put a hole in it and fall out.  The dealer paid two months of payments for us to make up for the trouble. I put over two hundred thousand miles on that car after that. 

dave s 

[Tom Boehm]

How did a ball bearing in the muffler cause the demise of two engines? Why did the windshield break when the car was towed? Was the body flexible enough to allow that to happen?

[SC38dls]

The engines were not connected to the ball bearing or what ever was in the muffler. The car is flexible enough that the windshield breaks.  One tech did say the car was either a Friday or Monday build or it was one that was on the line when a strike occurred and that’s why the engines were bad. Never got an official answer out of the dealer or GM. 
dave s 

[Max4Me]

I have a friend who is a Ford dealer service mgr. I had taken my new Excursion in bcz it made a thunking noise whenever I turned left across a dip in the road or into a driveway. Turns out the bolt on the left front rubber snubber between the frame and body was cross-threaded and not tightened down so there was enough travel to cause the thump when the frame hit it. But the funny part was the story he told about an elderly gentleman who brought in his new car saying it started making a distinct "Thud!" when he accelerated/decelerated or turned a corner. The shop guys checked everything from motor mounts to the differential and everything in-between. After a few days of failure and much head scratching, someone had the bright idea to check to see if the spare in the trunk was correctly anchored. It was. But what they did find was the man's bowling ball had come out of its carrying case and was joyfully rolling around in the trunk as he drove!