i just bought a 96 lumina 156000 miles, real clean under neath, im hearing knocking sounds when i hit bumps, and when i put in reverse and accelerate you hear acouple crack sounds, i looked under neath every thing looks good, could it be a strut mount?

Control arm bushing, broken stabilizer link, worn out strut, bad ball joint?

you sure its in the front? I as this but not sure the rear parts of 1990-94 luminas GM used this single leaf spring that supports the rear . It has these rubber pads that wear off or fall of so every time you hit this little bump it rattles.

Welcome to the wonderful world of Lumina suspension/engine support noises.

At 145,000, my '97 has more strange noises than I can keep up with. Crunch/pop when it first begins to move in cold weather, the occasional loud bump from the front struts, creaking when you cut the wheels sharply, loud metallic screech from the rear on potholes and speed bumps...

At this kinda mileage, as long as I see nothing trying to fall out, I can ignore a lot...

You can raise the car and let the wheels hang, put a lever under the tire and lift upwards, see if the top of the struts are sloppy and give any bumps when you pry up and release...the front control arms have a "hockey puck" type of bushing that allows movement in several directions, they can make weird sounds when bad...

Torque struts, engine cradle mounts,trailing arm bushings, steering rack mounts... it just goes on and on.

All you can do is raise it and start looking and forcing things to see if they move in ways they shouldn't...

Yeah, you can go crazy trying to find it but stick to some of the more common problems. These are notorious for outer tierod and strut mounts. Easy to check the tierod ends. The strut mounts get a little more tricky to check. Like previous poster stated. Jack it up and get large bar to prop under tire and lift each side with tire on (car running) and then try to do it with tire off (car off). Get someone with good ear next to each strut when you jerk it around. Secondly it could be your front bearing. I've replaced them on front and back. Rear ones are tricky :naughty:. They radiate all around and could sound like they're coming from the front. However, they are the easiest things to change. 4 10mm bolts throught the rear brake assembly. Front ones are more difficult but nothing I'd pay to have done. Good luck hunting :runaround:.

Rob

I had issues w/ cracking and popping noise coming from the front end of my '95 when going over bumps and taking sharp turns at slow speeds.

Turned out the 2 sub frame bolts underneath were loose and the large bushings were making the noises. I torqued them both to ~120 lb.-ft. or so per my repair manual. Been 6 months and have not heard anything since.