Clunking from somewhere?...

[djheath]

As some of you know I changed my clutch three weeks ago and in doing so I also changed my front droplinks. The first two weeks everything was fine, but last week I have started to get a strange clunking/banging noise I think from the front. it's like something is loose and rattling every so often. I jacked the front and rear of the car up yesterday and had a good look at everything. All bolts are tight, and I gave everything I could grab a good yank and it all seemed fine and there was no play in anything. However I have a feeling it could be my new doplinks because, I dont get he noise when turning corners, i.e the drop links will be forced to be tight so cant rattle. I only get it when going in a straight line and going over small imperfections in the road - a small pot whole etc. Going over speed bumps causes no noise and at high speed I get no noise. It's only at about 30 mph or under I get the rattle as I go over the undulations in the road - not all the time though just every so often. If I bouce up and down on each corner of the car there is no noise from the suspension either.

Anybody any ideas?

The doplinks I bought were from euro car parts and they only had the cheap ones in stock - £9 each, but I notice they sell some proper german ones for £22. Would it be worth getting them?

I cant think of anything else that could cause the noise? Is there any test I could do to eliminate different parts of the car?

[bangernom1cs]

HI,

Ive put new ones on that have been worse than the old ones, and more than once but they tend to be the rears.
Just double check the ones you fitted to be sure before you discount them.

Ive also had dirt cheap ones last for ages and 'good' ones go very quickly!

T

[djheath]

Well I have had another play today as it seems to be getting worse. I have found if I bounce the suspension to take the load off the car and at the same grab the droplink there is play in them. They "rattle" at either the top or the roll bar end. I think I will try and tighten the bolts up, but they are very tight already. I cant believe droplinks would wear out after just three weeks though, no matter how cheap there were, but its the only place I can find movement and the symptoms all point to them.
Thanks for the reply.

David,

[teamster1975]

Have you changed the antirollbar bushes?

[djheath]

Have you changed the antirollbar bushes?

Are they the big rubber bits that the roll bar is "hugged" by on the chassis? No I haven't? The car was fine before I changed the drop links so I am assuming its definitely them.

[teamster1975]

Are they the big rubber bits that the roll bar is "hugged" by on the chassis?

That's the ones. They're usually fecked on D8's, piece of p1ss to change.

[djheath]

Well I managed to get a bit of time to have a proper look today, so took the wheels off and found the top loc nuts on both drop links had come loose. I managed to tighten then up with the help of lumpy the lump hammer, and now no more noise! Hazzah!

Hopefully the nuts will stay tight for longer than 3 weeks now!

[sammyv6]

This sounds like the same fault as mine. Going to give it a check in the morning. Great post

[frogface]

I'm getting a clunking and can't see anything loose. What's a droplink? and where are they?

[jasper5]

Droplinks are another word for anti roll bar link rods, they drop from a flange on the strut to the anti roll bar, they have a ball joint on either end and are about a foot long.

Best way to test them is to put a bar under the anti roll bar and feel for any movement in the ball joints.

Feel for movement in the "D" bushes at the same time.