General brava weird knocking / rumbling maybe right side only ?

[brandnewcombineharvester]

hello everybody.

new on here, but have been nosing around the site for a good while now.

and i can't seem to find an exact answer to my small, (i hope problem).

and here it is:-

i have a knocking / rumbling sound, i will describe it as EXACTLY as i can, so as to hopefully get a decent diagnosis
it happens all the time i am driving, unless i am going under 5 mph on a glass smooth surface.
it does not increase when turning and is not present in reverse.
it is not a 'uniform' sound, although it is constant, i.e it is random in its timing. for example, rather than 'knock,knock,knock,knock'. it is 'knockknockknock,knock,knock,knockknock,knock'. and so forth.
the frequency does increase with speed, but i feel this is due to the road travelling faster under the car, until such a speed is obtained that one simply cannot hear it due to actual road noise any way.
the noise can also, at low speeds be felt very very slightly on the floor.

i am thinking possibly some kind of bush, but would like a few concurring diagnosis' from you good chaps on here first before i order the replacement part.


i thank you guys very kindly in advance.

 

[brandnewcombineharvester]

Forgot to say, the car is a year 2000 , 1.2 brava.

 

[bluejohn125]

There are various things that can become loose or worn on these cars, so go through the obvious diagnostics first.

You will need to get various corners of the car up in the air and then remove, wiggle and rotate a few things.

First check that you don't have any loose wheelbolts, then spin / jiggle each wheel and check for smooth running and no play in and out, up and down. At the front this should show play in trackrod ends or wheelbearings.

As far as bushes etc go, check the rear shocks are not loose or worn in their mountings, and especially the front wishbone bushes (but these usually give a solid clunk when braking or going over humps etc.) Also the front anti-roll bar bushes on the droplink to the wishbones.

Otherwise get a mechanic to put it on a ramp and do the above checks for you...

 

[brandnewcombineharvester]

hey thanks john.
i just tried jacking it up both sides, and there is no apparent movement or noise. wheels are also tight. (that would have been a lovely quick one if it were just loose wheel nuts!)

on a quick inspection underneath, i have noticed the wishbone bushes have been recently replaced too.

does one think its likely to be maybe a different bush of some kind as it's just plain strange that its a random knocking / rumbling on virtually any road surface, even at VERY low speeds?

i have not heard a gearbox or drive shaft fault behave in this manner before. or maybe i am wrong?

i know its not going to be cv joints etc.

i am just wondering what kind of bush / joint would behave in this way!

ps, someone told me possibly something to do with worn struts at the top?

it's rather annoying now.


thanks once again for your prompt reply

 

[Bushboy]

If you're confident its not the wishbone bushes or CV joint then I would suggest the strut top mount.

Its a fairly simple single wishbone setup. So only so many bushes or joints. A rumble would usually indicated a wheel bearing but that wouldn't knock. Knocking would usually indicate bushes or a CV joint but CV joint would be a regular knock with the speed of the wheel.

Pop the bonnet and look at the suspention top mount. Bounce the car and see if there is any play in it. There shouldn't be any play.

We had a similar sounding problem on my partners old punto although no rumble. Turned out to be the top mount. Had a good cm of play and would just bounce around as you drove...

 

[brandnewcombineharvester]

Thanks mate.
I am fairly good with cars, so is this a job I can do ? As in replace the offender ?
Do I need a spring compressor ?
Many kind thanks.

 

[brandnewcombineharvester]

hey guys!

think i have found the problem!

had a more in depth look today under decent light and in the dry.
took the wheel off, put the car on a axle stand.

had a very good poke , lever , and pry and tug and pull everything i could possibly see!

and what i have discovered is when i grab the track rod end right on its ball joint near the front brake, and pull up on it , it clicks and sounds like what i hear when driving, and i can say,when i pull up on it, it has got about 3-4 mm up and down play.

sooooooooooo, i have orderd one and shall fit tomorrow evening!

 

[Bushboy]

Nice one!

The track rod end will have movement on the ball joint but shouldn't have any up and down play. Must be fairly worn.

Hopefully that's the culprit.

If not and you still suspect the top mount, it's something you can do at home. You will need some spring compressors though as you'll have to disassemble the strut and spring to get the top mount off. Easy enough. You might need a vice as well to clamp the strut in whilst trying to get the top bolt off.

 

[brandnewcombineharvester]

hi there bushboy.

well...... and

i have done the track rod end, it has almost cured it.
the loud knocking has now gone totally!

but alas, there is still a mild rumbling / light knocking, which i 'could' put up with until the mot in august, but i would really like to totally rid the beast of all ills.

really need to know what to look for and how to tell f its the strut top.

or maybe the inner track rod end maybe?


lol, please help me

 

[bluejohn125]

I had to overhaul these bits on my high mileage Brava this summer.

First I (suddenly) got a rough, rumbling noise from the front wheel, I suspected a bearing and this was confirmed by mechanic and me by lifting the wheel and rocking it at 6 o'clock and quarter past 3 positions - there was play in both directions so bearing at fault...

On the other side there was a clunk with quarter to 3 pulling, so some play in the in-and-out direction. But there was no play in the track rod balljoint so it wasn't the track trod end, but the inner track rod.

I replaced both inner track rods (Delphi) and the bearing (SKF), got everything aligned and now all is well. Weirdly between changing the track rod in August and my MOT at the end of December, on of the track rod ends developed play (and it was only 2 years old)....

 

[brandnewcombineharvester]

hey thanks!

i can tell you that when i am sitting in the car stationary, and rock it from side to side i can hear it lightly knocking.

does this aid in a diagnosis?

 

[Bushboy]

The knocking could be a number if things. All I can really suggest is that if it's easy enough to get it to knock with the car sat stationary, you get someone to make it knock whilst you listen under the bonnet to see if you can work out where its coming from.

Pretty much how I diagnosed the top mount problem in my partners Punto. I could make it knock by just bouncing the front suspension up and down with the car on the drive.

As for rumbling. Most likely one of the wheel bearings but have you thought about the gearbox? Is the rumble only when moving or there with the engine running at stand still? Does it come and go as you engage and disengage the clutch? Maybe a worn differential if the rumble is constant when moving but not when sat still.

A wheel bearing can usually be diagnosed by how the sound comes and goes as you take corners. If the rumble goes quiet as you take a hard right turn, it will be the drivers side bearing at fault. Hard left turn would be the passenger side at fault.

 

[brandnewcombineharvester]

hey thats great bushboy!

thank you so much!


i have now properly located the problem with help from the mrs rocking the car for me.
yup! deffo the upper strut mount!
i have ordered the replacement and i have some spring compressors.

it's not a bad little job to do actually.

thanks once again you guys!

:slayer: