Technical Possible under-car damage leads to clunking sounds – but what's broken?

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Technical Possible under-car damage leads to clunking sounds – but what's broken?

ducasi

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I was away on holiday last week in my car with my girl-friend, and where we were staying was a mile or so up a dirt track – so lots of mud, stones and pot holes.

More than once, whist going up and down these tracks we heard and felt some uncomfortable thumps and bumps.

On the way home it became apparent there was something wrong – a dull clunking sound while accelerating in 1st and 2nd gears, more so if taking a corner too. (E.g., negotiating a roundabout from stationary.)

Most of the rest of the time the car sounded normal though, except perhaps on particularly uneven ground.

I suspected a loose or damaged exhaust, but QuickFit said they couldn't see any problems with it.

The strange thing is that the problem only seems to be there when there's someone else in the car with me. When I was driving it today on my own, I really couldn't tell there was a problem.

The steering all seems to be OK – I did some lock-to-lock tests in a car park earlier without any surprises.

The noise does seem to be coming from somewhere where I'd suspect an exhaust problem, but as we all know, where you hear the noise and where the actual problem is isn't always the same.

Can anyone help me locate this problem? I don't want to take the car to Arnold Clark just for them to say they couldn't find any problem, and charge me for their time.

Many thanks!


[Sorry to create a new thread when I know there are a million similar threads, but as I don't know what the problem is, I don't know what thread this belongs to!]
 
I snapped some parts of the wheel arch liner doing exactly what you did mate, they tuck under the cars engine bay. They flap about if broken clunking on things. (replaced for £20 both sides)
If your really unlucky you could have damaged part of the drive shaft or even the transmission as its the next thing in the way. Theres is also a join from the mani-cat to the centre section of the exhaust that sticks out lower than everything else under the car which ive scraped a few times.
 
When I was in Cornwall, their is a quite a few rutty roads, and the place I was staying at, had harsh speed bumps, and I could notice a clunk. It turned out to be a replacement steering rack needed.
 
I've had a look at the wheelarches and can see no obvious damage.

It doesn't seem to be anything major in the transmission or steering, based on the lack of problems in actual driving.

I'm wondering if it's something to do with the suspension - drop links maybe?
 
not your air intake pipe came out of locating grommet is it..........
I'll have a look at that tomorrow, but I've just had a drive around with a mechanic friend, and failed to get the car to make any nasty noises.

Maybe it's fixed itself, or maybe the rattling part fell off somewhere... It's even possible that KwikFit accidentally fixed it while they were having a look. I'm a bit puzzled, though relieved that I'm not facing an expensive bill.
 


Could be facing The Bill..

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I had a similar noise when I caught the bottom of the car parking on the pavement, there is a small metal bar running across the subframe that I had bent up and would occasionally touch the exhaust making a rattle or clunk, bent it back down and it was fine.
 
Is is something I can see, or does it need a trip to Arnold's to diagnose?

Easy to see but you need to take the load off it to check for even the slightest movement in either end bush. With the road-wheel off it attaches the anti roll bar to the suspension leg, otherwise known as the anti-rollbar link. Its about a foot long, you cant miss it really.
 
Easy to see but you need to take the load off it to check for even the slightest movement in either end bush. With the road-wheel off it attaches the anti roll bar to the suspension leg, otherwise known as the anti-rollbar link. Its about a foot long, you cant miss it really.

I have this exact same problem and mines the 1.4 also, its in weds for fixing under warranty. It only seems to be happening on rough roads too.
 
not your air intake pipe came out of locating grommet is it..........
This has now happened – I popped it back in, but it didn't take long for it to come out again.

What's the easiest (and cheapest) way to get hold of the necessary part(s), and fit it? (I haven't been able to get a good look at it, but it must be an easy fit, no?)

Do you think a bit of tape will sort it for the moment?
 
Hi I had the same problem after navigating a ford to get to a friends house, the noise was in first few gears and clunked and vibrated like hell, I couldn't find the problem, I tried fixing all the arch liners and mud guards back in place and no luck.

After a few days! of searching I found that it was the thin strip of metal where the strut bar would be on the underside, this was bent up so therefore catching the exhaust, and so when accelerating in the low gears the exhaust will move more due to the more power needed to get the car moving. Check this it may be the same problem (y)

Clarify - Underside, where strut brace would be, check metal stripe going across, check for damage and vibration clucking against exhaust.
 
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