Thread: 2000 GTP Front end vibration/clunk when sitting in park as well at lights

This is my first help post and I'm pretty sure this is suspension related or something going on up front. I have a 2000 GTP. Here's my situation i've noticed when sitting in park after a few seconds i get this weird vibration/clunk up front i can feel and hear if the radio is turned down. Once i start moving the noise I can no longer feel or hear. Same goes for when I'm at a traffic light I'll be sitting there and feel the vibration clunking noise and once I accelerate it's gone. Car is stock for now I just saved it from my dad shelling it out to a dealership for pretty much nothing for trade in. Car Has 133k on it and was never driven hard which is why I jumped on it mother was original owner (never moved the boost gauge). I am the second owner. But i just can't pin point could this be lower motor mount ? Trans mount ? any help would be greatly appreciated to get this noise gone. Thanks

Get under and start checking things over.

Something could be loose or broken.

And I'd say if its on the stock motor mounts, I bet they have seen some better days and might aswell replace them soon.

Yeah I'd say it's probably the lower engine/trans mounts. Cam's right, regardless, at the mileage it's at, they need replacing anyway.

Well one thing i did notice was I was throwing axle grease up on the the passenger side so there's a for sure fix to begin with and Morad's is 4minutes away so i'll be picking up an OEM axle they have in stock.. But while i'm under there I'll see if the mounts are going. I'm used to F-body's so i'm not sure what exactly the signs are when your under there on these grand prix's for the mounts. Signs there shot would be ? And thanks for the responses too guys

Smashed, and goopy crap all over them. Basically the mounts are fluid filled and over time break and leak all over and cause them to break down faster.

this is a shot motor mount.

Yeah i saw this picture on another thread that you posted lol that's insane. I'm just curious if this is the cause of my sitting and lights and sitting in park clunking noise up front. Or could it be the driver side axle throwing grease making all that noise as well ? Do bad axles cause noise like that at low idle or would that be more so the motor mounts.

pop your hood start the car put the e brake on, now shift it from park to reverse, while watching the engine or stand out side have some one else shift it for you.

if the motor jumps hard and moves a lot the mounts are shot.

also look at your dog bones, are they straight or twisted a bit, like the engine is not straight anymore.

bad mount can cause vibrations in park or driving.

sounds like you need a new axle too, that wont have anything to do with a vibration in park, only when driving.

I'm going to try that this afternoon. But i'll have my girlfriend sit in the car while i watch. She's always saying she wants to help with stuff Haha. Also I believe the dogbones are new my old man replaced them last year because my brother was doing whole shots in the car and snapped them pretty good.

new or not they will twist with the engine.

in the pic i posted, the top part with the u bend in the middle bolts to the engine. the bottom bolts to the frame, the u bolt is now sliding free back and fourth on that bar thats part of the bottom of the mount.

so it will move up to 2 inches, forward and back. may even look like more from reverse to drive.


edit: its not the dog bones that twist, its the bushings at both ends of the dog bones, so they will be turned to the left side, as my car was.

Did it today and well It's definately moving so looks like i'll be crawling underneath to replace the motor mount and while i'm at it I should just swap out the trans mount. This is gonna be a first for me on this type of car I'm used to swapping on older F bodies lol this is a whole new machine to my knowledge. Easiest safest way of accomplishing this ?

these mounts are real easy.

use jack stands take both wheels off. remove the dog bones up top. get a 2 foot long 2x6 or 2x8 to lay under the oil pan and trans pan, remove the bolts from one mount at a time, jack engine up, remove mount, clean the hole it lives in up, and drop the new one in.

its like 30 minutes a side tops.

heres a vid for the trans mount, this is a regal but its the same job, just apply this to the motor mount side, its the same steps.


there are 3 parts to this vid.

I actually really like the motor mount job for some reason, but yeah you should do fine with it. Follow Scotty's instructions. One thing he left out maybe is when you put the board under there, yes cover both engine and trans pans, but position your jack on one side of the board depending on which side you're working on at the time. Go nice and slow.

And one of the most common replies I see to these threads is yall run into the "omg it wont sit back down on the studs." My suggestion: lower the engine down to the point that the bracket just barely rests on the studs, stop the jack, come to the top of the engine and shake the crap out of it. You'll know when it sits on the studs.
Then you lower back down.

just a little wiggle get it back in place.

and you need to jack the engine up more to get the new one in. like 2 inches more.

and watch the pans not denting.

Wow this is going to help a lot. This doesn't seem to bad at all. After this while I'm down there I suppose replace the axle as well seeings that's my next major issue. Then i think i'm done for awhile until this winter when the GTP and Camaro are hung up in storage for revamp and paint.

Well just an update. Today i busted out the impact tools and snap on's and went to down on these mounts. I went at them solo and it was sort of a pain in the A$$. Took everyone's advice and through the car on jack stands and used a real thick piece of wood and jacked the engine up. Got the old mount out no problem and cleaned the housing it was sitting it. That was the most discusting part of the day as well that mount was toast I'll upload a picture of it later on it looked about as bad as the one above in the picture. Took the engine up another in or 2 and was able to slide the new mount into place and I see what everyone means by lowering it to get onto the mount bolts. So i lined it up just close enough to where it was touching and rocked the living hell out of the engine and kaboooom. Engine went right onto the bolts, lowered and it was set so then i made the mistake of tightening the mounts to tight and was unable to get the dog bone mounts back in so had to go in reverse everything and get the dog bones lined up (replaced those too also a pain to get them out) but linging those up solo with no extra hands is a pain too. But got those in tightened all the mounts and double checked my work and that was that. New mounts in place no funny vibration. Figured i'd do a write up incase someone else has to do this I kinda gave it a play by play. Also try and have a friend with you if I did I would have been done waaaaay quicker. But learning experience and actually was kinda fun. Also the hardest part of the job believe it or not was rembering how to line up those stupid plastic splash shield things. Make sure you have some zip ties too when re-applying those.

Thanks for everyones help

i think the mounts are pretty easy on these cars, i did mine solo, vs a v8 mount.

where you need to hold/lift the engine on one side. (having a cherry picker always helped) rwd trans mount is a walk in the park tho. to easy for words.

Been there done all that with the V8 and still do it. This is my first FWD every other day car lol. And my trans am's and camaro i've done all that and yes your right lift does help and you do need a friend as well. But I was pretty surprised at how easy this install went and it was messy too down there. Took me a solid hour to clean my finger nails out from all that fluid and grease.

yeah mine was a mess too.

this is most of what i pulled out of the bucket the mount sits in.

Yep mine looked the same exact way I still have it in a box in my trunk i'm gonna have some photo time with that mount. But it was literally just mashed and mangled much need replace but makes a whole world of difference now driving. Now it's time to fix the other minor things wrong with this car. Axle time which FWD whole different ballpark