General Clonking

[dansdad]

I have a MK1 Uno 45, 1 Litre. I am getting an intermittent clonking noise form the front left hand side of ther car, mostly when coasting on slowing down but occasionally it comes anytime.
Having said that this morning I drove it and there was no clonk at all except for on the retun journey.
It has new CV and tripode joints and boots etc so it aint them......everything else looks and feels as tight as it should be, no obvious leaks on the shocks etc and it is really peeing me off not being able to put me finger on what it is.
Any ideas??
Cheers.....
ps thought I had cured it last night by using a longer handle and getting an extra half turn on all the nuts n bolts but obviously not!!!

 

[Steven]

It sounds like a CV joint. When were they changed?

 

[dansdad]

I personally changed them on Saturday cos thats what I thought the problem was too!!!

 

[alexGS]

dansdad - Control arm balljoint perhaps? Common failure, hard to test while mounted on car. You have to pry against it with the car jacked up. Any strange feelings in the steering/lurches?

If no strange feelings then noises may be from the strut/strut top mount, perhaps get one from a breaker's to try a swap. There really isn't that else to make a knocking noise - the gearbox mount loose maybe?

-Alex

 

[dansdad]

Steering feels fine and balljoints tight etc
Clonk seems to be happening when I come off the gas and coast.....then stops when I brake or let the clutch back in.
Gearbox mounts seem ok although engine mounts look a bit wooly but as I dont know how "rigid" they supposed to be in the first place I dunno whether its them or not??
At this rate I will end up changing everything!!

 

[dansdad]

There`s more!!!
Drove car this morning and it clonked all the time, had a 15 stone mate sit in front with me and NO clonks!!
Made him move to back seat, clonking returned with a vengeance and wouldnt stop even after he got back in the front.
Could it be a shock on its way out??

 

[Morty Mort]

Or could it be the exhaust? Check all flanges and mountings from manifold to rear silencer.

Morten.

 

[alexGS]

Yeah, sounds like the exhaust now you describe it changing with weight in the car! Quite a common problem with the exhaust clonking on the rear beam with Unos...

The engine mounts, y'know, I've looked at those MANY times and thought they were too soft! They are very soft in an Uno to improve the refinement c.w. the earlier 128s etc. I doubt that they are your problem!

BTW check your handbrake cable on the rear beam - not because it will be causing the clonking, but because the exhaust usually makes a mincemeat of that cable!

-Alex

 

[Mazz0]

I was getting this noise too. One of my brakes was binding .. Just cleaned the area where it holds the pad (was rusty) and its fine now ..

To find out if it is indeed your brakes, apply little brake power. Noise should stop. If you can still hear it while braking then its something else..

Cheers