Technical Clonks and rattles

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Technical Clonks and rattles

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I can no longer put it off, I'm going to have to roll around the floor this weekend trying to find the source of our Pop's clonks and rattles on the front.

For a while it's had a muted rattle over rougher roads, that's pretty much all of them around here, particularly over the crappy surface of the work car park.

I swapped out the arb droplinks a few months ago and it did help a little, but not much.

I've now a slight steering wander and higher speeds, there's definitely more of a metallic, looser rattle to it (front left) and I can now feel a bit of a click/knock on the steering if I rock it back and forth (again it seems to feel like it's the front left).

I think all the friggin' road humps have caused it and I'm guessing it's more than just a simple swap out of one part, Grrr!
 
I've now a slight steering wander and higher speeds, there's definitely more of a metallic, looser rattle to it (front left) and I can now feel a bit of a click/knock on the steering if I rock it back and forth (again it seems to feel like it's the front left).

Track rod ends & bottom swivels would be the first two places to look. If it's that noticeable when driving then the cause should be obvious on proper inspection; easiest if you can get a second person to gently rock the steering wheel from side to side until it just starts to turn the wheels (EPAS off for this). Ideally check it on turn plates with the weight on the wheels (like they do at MOT time).

I think all the friggin' road humps have caused it

I'll swear some of these road humps are sponsored by Kwik-fit. Sadly not a problem that's confined to Fiat, but posts on this forum suggest their OEM suspension parts are less durable than many. Buying quality aftermarket alternatives at replacement time would seem sensible if you plan on keeping the car.

Interestingly my 1.2 Panda 169 is still on all of its original parts after almost 80k; running on 13" wheels & skinny tyres does seem to prolong the life of the steering & suspension components.

I'm guessing it's more than just a simple swap out of one part

Well you'll probably want to change whatever it turns out to be (pardon the pun) as a pair. Remember to check the tracking once it's all sorted.
 
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When I changed the arb droplinks, the track rod ends and rack tie rods seemed fine, yet it did still rattle.

Now that the wander/metallic click has started, I'm leaning towards larger wishbone bush that's fecked.

The knock when rocking the steering doesn't feel loose in the hand at the steering wheel, it feels a bit weightier, like it's further down somewhere after the road wheels have moved.

We'll see tomorrow, though I must remember to charge the battery up on my lazy spanner!
 
I'll swear some of these road humps are sponsored by Kwik-fit. Sadly not a problem that's confined to Fiat, but posts on this forum suggest their OEM suspension parts are less durable than many. Buying quality aftermarket alternatives at replacement time would seem sensible if you plan on keeping the car.

It's why the Mrs wanted shot of her Lounge and into the Vitara we've just bought.

It's a joke, we live in the city centre yet feel we need the ride height of a off road/crossover due to the humps.

I'm green in the eye with Squadrone Rosso and his plan for a 595, I've been out myself looking at them, ST's etc, but if I got one, I might as well drive it off a cliff and bounce to work on my bare arse!


I'm going to count all the humps on my way home from work today and clock the mileage, it's about three miles home (so just under an hours drive!) and I reckon there's more than 60 humps!
 
I'm going to count all the humps on my way home from work today and clock the mileage, it's about three miles home (so just under an hours drive!) and I reckon there's more than 60 humps!

Blimey....... it would be quicker walking home, hopefully your knees and hips would be OK as you'd be on the pavement and not walking on the humps :eek: :D
 
47 humps in 3.1 miles.

Walk, on the pavement, around Central London!
Are you mad?

I've had her up and had a good route around looking for the clonks and I can't see anything obvious with the suspension.

Track rods and track rod ends ok.
Rack bolted down tight.
Wishbone bushes appear tight enough.
Lower ball joints good.
ARB droplinks good and the ARB it's self appears tight in the D bushes.
Struts and top bushes appear solid too.

What I did detect was a bit of play in the steering that knocked a bit when the steering is slung one way then the other quickly.

I chased it down the column and that seems tight, so presume as the track rods etc are tight, the rack is loose and rattling in it's casing over rough roads.

The play is tiny, a few mil each way and it only seems to rattle over surfaces like cobbles, so I reckon the pinion bush/bearing might be sloppy.
 
Did you use a breaker bar and lever everything? Rattles are a pain in the butt to find and very frustrating. The old Rover rattled badly and had top mounts lower wishbones bushes etcetera and still rattled, always passed its MOT with no advisory but it drove me mad.
I hope you find the problem and tell us the secret.
 
It'll have to do for a while, now I know nothing is going to fall off!



Valid point, you don't want anything dropping off [emoji106] I once lost a backbox on the M42. Wasn't exactly fun explaining that to the Highways Agency as they needed to recover it [emoji52]
 
Valid point, you don't want anything dropping off [emoji106] I once lost a backbox on the M42. Wasn't exactly fun explaining that to the Highways Agency as they needed to recover it [emoji52]

Many years ago (when sales of far eastern cars had just started to take off), I was at a conference and remember a Birmingham-based parts manufacturer moaning very publicly about how the increasing number of Japanese components on British roads was threatening their business.

Someone quickly came back with a comment about the number of UK components on British roads, pointing out that he'd swerved around two on the M6 getting there. It brought the house down.
 
Many years ago (when sales of far eastern cars had just started to take off), I was at a conference and remember a Birmingham-based parts manufacturer moaning very publicly about how the increasing number of Japanese components on British roads was threatening their business.

Someone quickly came back with a comment about the number of UK components on British roads, pointing out that he'd swerved around two on the M6 getting there. It brought the house down.



That's just beautiful! Incidentally my disaster on the M42 was due to a British Leyland disaster vehicle I brought as a cheap runaround. Oh the irony [emoji23]
 
Marina/Allegro/mini?



Allegro 1100 [emoji106] British Leyland brown with a delightful vinyl interior that used to try and burn my a**e off when I got in. Brought it after my first car was knicked from a auction to get my by. £75 notes, 11 months mot and a sniff of tax. This was back in 2005 [emoji23].

Being a younger lad I wasn't around for the British Leyland saga, but my old man worked for them for nearly 45 years ending during the BMW reign and my grandad worked for them until the late 80's during the Austin Rover Group. They ribbed me mercilessly for months after buying it, but it was pretty reliable, would run on pretty much any volatile liquid and could be fixed with a lump hammer and a plate of smash if needed. Sold it just over a year later for £1200 to a BL lover. To each their own!
 
Allegro 1100 [emoji106] British Leyland brown with a delightful vinyl interior that used to try and burn my a**e off when I got in. Brought it after my first car was knicked from a auction to get my by. £75 notes, 11 months mot and a sniff of tax. This was back in 2005 [emoji23].

Being a younger lad I wasn't around for the British Leyland saga, but my old man worked for them for nearly 45 years ending during the BMW reign and my grandad worked for them until the late 80's during the Austin Rover Group. They ribbed me mercilessly for months after buying it, but it was pretty reliable, would run on pretty much any volatile liquid and could be fixed with a lump hammer and a plate of smash if needed. Sold it just over a year later for £1200 to a BL lover. To each their own!

I had an Allegro 1300, one of the last ever built and it was not as bad as made out. It did drink rather a lot of oil though. In fact every 3000 miles i would drain a gallon from my Citroen and keep it for use in 'Grot' who would willingly use all of this and more in the few weeks till the next change came round. Oddly it neither smoked much, nor leaked on the garage floor. I got £10 for mine as scrap after carefully dismantling it after rust finally ate the axle mounting points. Next day I git £20 for an old fire grate...... Just about says it all.
 
I too had a 1300 Allegro, in yellow. It actually was a quite reliable car - apart from trying to kill me once*, I had no issues with it.:)

*Pootling along on the A59, put my foot down to overtake something, pulled back in and she kept accelerating! All I could do was put it into neutral, then turn ignition off once I stopped. A look under the bonnet revealed the heatshield which guarded the carburettor from exhaust manifold had broken off and then wedged in the throttle linkage. Threw away heatshield, and never had any more problems!:rolleyes:
 
Going off topic I know, but since it was raised I began to think about BLMC cars and those that came before the merger.

I can probably think of at least one car from every company, built or designed before merger in 1968 that I would actually love to own.

Jaguar XJ Series 1
Daimler Dart
Land Rover 2A
Alvis 3 litre Coupe
Rover P5B Coupe and P6 3500S
Austin Healey 3 litre
Austin Champ
Mini Cooper Mk2 (an original Moke too)
Wolseley 6/110 (in Police spec)
Triumph GT6
Morris 1300 GT
MGA

After the merger, er, hmm, er,
Hang on.........
Maybe........
Wait a minute........
Surely a........
No, I give up!

Ok, perhaps an early Range Rover and possibly a XJC.
Then again I think both designs date back before the merger.
 
I too had a 1300 Allegro, in yellow. It actually was a quite reliable car - apart from trying to kill me once*, I had no issues with it.:)



I had an Allegro 1300, one of the last ever built and it was not as bad as made out. It did drink rather a lot of oil though. In fact every 3000 miles i would drain a gallon from my Citroen and keep it for use in 'Grot' who would willingly use all of this and more in the few weeks till the next change came round. Oddly it neither smoked much, nor leaked on the garage floor. I got £10 for mine as scrap after carefully dismantling it after rust finally ate the axle mounting points. Next day I git £20 for an old fire grate...... Just about says it all.



remember a Birmingham-based parts manufacturer moaning very publicly about how the increasing number of Japanese components on British roads was threatening their business.

Someone quickly came back with a comment about the number of UK components on British roads, pointing out that he'd swerved around two on the M6 getting there. It brought the house down.



You don't want a series 2a.. you don't!



As we are on the subject of British cars and their *ahem* reliability......check the beauty out! See how many celebs of the time you can spot in this. FYI if your using a Apple device to view, make sure it's off silent....or it won't play any sound [emoji106]

 
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1. I couldn't manage the full 24 minutes but my pick was the Renault 6 at the beginning.


2. Nice to see the interior shots of him in the back of the Princess without the usual gormless GoPro distortion and terrible CMOS rolling-shutter, making everything slant.


3.They looked older in them days.
 
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