I am interested in this as well as I have had a clunking noise coming from the driver side suspension especially when going over speed bumps. I replaced the four sway bar bushings and had a new ball joint replaced on the drivers side. I was thinking maybe it was the shock as all the other suspension bits were tight when checked by the mechanic. Very annoying and frustrating....
Btw, I'm interested in what the idler arm does and where its located as well.
I have had an ongoing, very irritating clunking
noise in my front end (both sides) since I bought
my '95 e320 Wagon, 2 years ago. My mechanic
has told me that the spindals have deformed
where the bearings mount. He tells me it's $1200
job to replace the spindals. It sucks, but I don't
really want to spend that kind cash on this car
which has 205K miles. He has checked on the
bushings & he says they are all OK...
Johnny C!
__________________
"Once man has tasted flight,
he will walk with his eyes turned
skyward, for there he has been &
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Just had to chime in as I'll be putting in a new drag link bar and steering damper shock after my puller tool comes in this week. That was the source of the rattle for my car and the steering play was pretty bad as well.... I think the damper and the bar combined were about $90 from germanstar.com....
To answer your question about the idler arm. It is the name of a steering system component. It has no relationship whatsoever to how the engine runs at idle.
It might be best to take the car to a qualified front end shop and have them check it out. In my area, Goodyear stores have the alignment machine necessary to properly align our suspensions. At worst, a few bucks spent there should tell you the source of the mystery "clunck".
Go to Walmart or whatever and pick up a ramp set. But the front end of the car up on the ramps and chock the rear wheels. Slide underneath. Starting from the driver side the mechanical steering links and surfaces are as follows...
ball joint (left), tie rod (left), pitman arm connection to steering mechanism, draglink, steering shock, idler arm, tie rod (right), ball joint (right)
All of this can be eyeballed by you in your drive way. Look for worn bushing, metal to metal contact and collasped joints.
Idler arm has nothing to do with idling at least not in the sense you are talking about. Its a rubber connection that holds the tierod and draglink in place on the passenger side just like the pitman arm does on the other side. It doesn't do much except create a strong pivot probably why its called an "idler". But if it is loose or worn it causes a change in steering "feel".
Clunk can also be caused by a sway bar bushing failure or sway bar link failure which is common. The metal link that holds the bar to the chassis near the middle of the bar breaks. Or the bar connection near the wheel breaks loose. Instant clunking.
Is my front end going to fall apart and kill me if I leave it for a couple more weeks until I can get it in to the shop? I am so mechanically stupid, that I cant even fathom looking at this. LOL
__________________
2000 C230K -- Travertine Beige Metallic
2002 ML320 -- Alabaster White
2002 ML320 -- Brilliant Silver - Dad's
1991 300CE -- Blue Black Metallic -- 129,000 miles -- Sold
1981 300SD -- Classic White -- 190,000 miles -- Sold
1977 240D -- Over 300k miles (Wrecked) -- My 1st car
Cool, I dont have too many harsh roads I drive on and it's silent on the freeway, so I will take it in in a couple weeks and let you know what they do find.
Had the swaybar bushings replaced... RATTLE IS GONE... car is tight as a drum agan!!! Best money spent so far... that noise was really irritating/embarassing
Don't forget the drag link 
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