Clunk in front left somewhere

My money sez it's the callipers. It may not feel like there's much play but they don't need much to clunk like that. Have someone in the car apply the brakes with the car on jacks or stands, grab the wheel and try to turn. You'll see what's what then.

Or stop the car right next to an assistant with good ears. They should be able to tell if the clunk comes from the top of the strut or somewhere lower, like the calliper.
 
I will get my wife to drive it and stop etc and I will listen. I really think it’s the gearbox mount but it looks good and can’t get it to hit using pry bar! Will see if I am hear where it come from. Will let you all know what I find
 
Good luck with that. Sometimes you can tell exactly where noises are coming from, sometimes they travel around and appear to be coming from other places. A very experienced Pug mechanic told me this on at least two occasions when I was tracking down noises.
He had a couple of amazing stories of experiences to illustrate this but I can't remember them.

You'd think that the pry bar would reveal movement....that's what they use in garages. And I have been told by a couple of garages using this method that certain bushes were worn out when they were worn but still serviceable.

Good idea though to have your wife drive, but whilst you contort around upside down in the back seat with legs flailing I hope nobody thinks you are being kidnapped.:clown:
 
Beano said:
Good luck with that. Sometimes you can tell exactly where noises are coming from, sometimes they travel around and appear to be coming from other places. A very experienced Pug mechanic told me this on at least two occasions when I was tracking down noises.
He had a couple of amazing stories of experiences to illustrate this but I can't remember them.

You'd think that the pry bar would reveal movement....that's what they use in garages. And I have been told by a couple of garages using this method that certain bushes were worn out when they were worn but still serviceable.

Good idea though to have your wife drive, but whilst you contort around upside down in the back seat with legs flailing I hope nobody thinks you are being kidnapped.:clown:
Click to expand...

Perhaps my point was not clear enough. The person listening tp the noise needs to be outside the car, that is why I said:
 
Beano said:
Good luck with that. Sometimes you can tell exactly where noises are coming from, sometimes they travel around and appear to be coming from other places. A very experienced Pug mechanic told me this on at least two occasions when I was tracking down noises.
He had a couple of amazing stories of experiences to illustrate this but I can't remember them.

You'd think that the pry bar would reveal movement....that's what they use in garages. And I have been told by a couple of garages using this method that certain bushes were worn out when they were worn but still serviceable.

Good idea though to have your wife drive, but whilst you contort around upside down in the back seat with legs flailing I hope nobody thinks you are being kidnapped.:clown:
Click to expand...

Perhaps my point was not clear enough. The person listening for the noise needs to be outside the car, that is why I said:

schlitzaugen said:
[...]

Or stop the car right next to an assistant with good ears.

[...]
Click to expand...


How would you stop next to someone who was inside the car?

Another way to locate sounds is to drive with your windows down past a wall or something that will reflect sound very well back at you. That'll at least tell you if it's on the right, left or both sides. A bit more difficult if the noise only happens at stop/start but not whilst rolling.
 
I was able to get my wife to just drive and stop next to me in small movements and it sounds like and I can feel holding the top of the strut tower to be the strut bearing. I’ve ordered some and will change them and let you all know.
 
I vote swaybar links. I changed one side first but clunk remained. Changed the other and it's sweet. I had thought it was shockers or something in there. Swaybar links bolt to the shocks so noise gets transferred through the whole assembly.
This was knowledge from the boys at Coles in Lismore who know their shit. I find their advice invaluable at times.
 
I had a similar problem on my 406. I nailed it down by disconnecting the sway bar links and then driving round the block which made the noise disappear. New sway links were easy to fit and not ridiculously expensive.

Down the track, the engine anti torque bush on the drivers side started causing somewhat similar symptoms and I also replaced that. Until I removed the bush, it looked okay.
 
Hi everybody
ok so it’s been awhile but have replaced the sway bar drop links as well as the strut top bearing assemblies. The damn knock is still there!!! This is driving me crazy. The whole front suspension is now new.

I checked all mounts again with pry pry bar and really gave it heaps. It’s not them. Only thing I can think is now exhaust knocking as it sort of knocks once or twice if you stop hard. Like it’s bouncing. I can’t see where it would be hitting though. No shinny bits anywhere from rubbing and looks like heaps of room around it all.

Anyone gor got any other ideas???
 
I think you need to be a bit more systematic with your investigation.

Or at least try the test I suggested above a bit more seriously.

Otherwise you need a hoist to check the exhaust.

Again, driving along a sound reflecting obstacle with your windows down should help pinpoint the source. Again, you need to take this seriously.
 
schlitzaugen said:
My money sez it's the callipers. It may not feel like there's much play but they don't need much to clunk like that. Have someone in the car apply the brakes with the car on jacks or stands, grab the wheel and try to turn. You'll see what's what then.

Or stop the car right next to an assistant with good ears. They should be able to tell if the clunk comes from the top of the strut or somewhere lower, like the calliper.
Click to expand...

Schlitzaugen is a good problem-solver, Marcus. Did you check the calipers ?? I once had a rear caliper develop slight looseness and a clunk on my 505 after the hub nut came loose.

And I second his point about being more systematic. It's easy to get frustrated and for your mind to jump around but one needs to settle down and look at things anew.
 
Still sounds like a top engine mount to me. Has the top mount been checked to be ok? No tearing or cracks in the surrounding mount area? You'd have to fully remove the top mount to properly check.
 
Ok thanks guys. Yes need to put it up on my hoist when I can and go through it all again. It’s quite weird that it clunks while driving after I put the brake on and then off. Doesn’t seem like it would move engine too much but brake caliper maybe. Although if I come to a complete stop and hold my foot on the brake it still does it when car comes to a complete stop so to me that rules out caliper.
Anyway I will go through all suggestions again and look at it all again.
Tha ks again will let you know what I find.
 
MarcusG116 said:
Although if I come to a complete stop and hold my foot on the brake it still does it when car comes to a complete stop so to me that rules out caliper.
Click to expand...

Are you saying that the noise is present while the car is stationary with the engine running? If so, then I'd be checking exhaust and engine mounts and anything else on the engine very carefully.
 
The problem is that a broken engine/g'box mount can allow enough movement for example for the exhaust to touch somewhere and the clunk will obviously come from that point hence on inspection you won't find any problem.

Callipers can develop wear in sliders/guides/etc. and will clunk when the wheel pulls them with its rotation. A loose calliper bolt (if you have a different type of callipers) might show the same symptom.

And so on.

That is why I suggested firstly isolating the source of the clunk. An inspection should then channel efforts along towards discovering the real problem.

As mentioned above, broken mounts may not show much movement when fiddled with, but it may be enough that something else is allowed to move and clunk.
 
Hi everybody. Today finally I had a chance to look at this again and was able to fix the problem. Just though I would share Incase anyone is interested or has similar problems in the future.
After replacing everything else I was at a loss so went back to the p bush. Noticed the left had rusty dust around the metal tube so was suspicious. Surely couldn’t be that. It did have a bit of play so bought new ones.
It turns out it was the p bush. So two out of two brand new Mayle bottom arms complete with p bushes have had the p bushes fail within a couple of months. The left ones centre steel tube was actually split at one end. It just slid off the pin. I replaced just the p bush and it’s now fixed. Hopefully these ones last.
Thanks again everyone for your help.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top