406oc.co.uk

The dogmobile's been getting a bit rattly lately. I've noticed a clonk or two when driving slowly over minor bumps, but a much more pronouced noise when turning the wheel during low speed manoevering.

What's the favourite / most common source of knocks?

(I've checked the steering rack is securely fixed to the crossmember - which one or two people have had issues with).
Doesn't seem to be any noise on taking up the drive, engine mountings all look OK.

Drop links are the most likely suspect. Also possible broken front spring? Get the corner in question up and have a good nosey around and see what's got some play.

Seconded, 406 (& C5) drop links are made out of cheese.

Check the bottom ball joint as well.

Are we talking no.3 here, guys?

Yep, that's the usual suspect!
Get a bar under the anti roll bar and lift up and down, you should feel the movement if it's worn.

That's a great help, thank you gents.

Any recommendations (Pug, EuroCarParts, etc)? Any point in sticking to OE or 'quality' pattern versions? Are they all junk?

seconded and thirded !! also look for possible suspension leg top bearing
failing as these make a knocking noise as you turn the wheel , as regards
replacement drop links i got mine from eurocarparts , there were 2 choices,
the cheap one's, well my cock would of offered more support the more
expensive was ok but i could have got one's of flea bay just as good and cost
less

puggy wrote:my cock would of offered more support (

That's a memorable turn of phrase you have there, puggy

I see there's loads on eBay, but how do you tell which ones offer 'tadger plus' performance.

Well the black one's tend to be plastic the shiney one's metal , given how easy they
are to replace and they are known to be a weak point i suppose the most affordable
is the way to go !!

I just had my anti-roll bar links replaced because of a metallic "THUNK" I heard from beneath the car any time it went over any kind of bump or rough bit of road.

I was really panicking as I thought my exhaust mounts had gone... would have hated to have lost my Powerflow on the road somewhere less than 6 months after buying it.

Combination of the age of the links plus the crap state of our roads, I guess.

As an added bonus: I got the garage to swap out the whole passenger wing mirror assembly (£25 it cost me) and now I have my external temperature sensor working reliably for the first time since I bought the car! Woohoo!

Mine clunks when the o/s/f corner is raised or lowered by any amount (reasonable cornering, hard acceleration/braking). Funnily enough it started the day I removed the strut brace with the wheels off the floor and saw the suspension strut disappear... Hoping it's not the strut bearings, but the drop links are under a year old and have <5000 miles on them

Also check the ARB bushes doggy, no 2 on the diagram.

Thanks, Teamy I'm aiming to look at it this weekend.

Who ordered winter.

dogslife wrote:Who ordered winter.

You're not kidding, I've flicked the heating on this evening!