Metallic Clunk When Pulling Away

[JohnR]

110K miles on the clock, drop links just changed, passed MOT ok but there is (been there for 5k miles) a metallic clunk when pulling away. It is not there if you kangaroo whilst going slowly in first (so don't think CV's or drive splines). My suspicion is lower wishbone bushes.....does anyone concur with this? Is there an easy test for this?

Thanks,

John

[big_kev]

Who changed the drop links ?

[NikpV]

how about the roll restrictor ??

[Sher]

With the offside front off the floor and you rotate back and forward about 3 or 4 inches is there slackness/noise?

 

This can be compared to the nearside front off the ground as a reference.

 

Symptomatic of splines and inner CV joint wear.

[Bigjeeze]

That sounds like the problem I had before my splines went west!!

[JohnR]

No. That was the first thing I did. If you jack up the wheel and check for slack by rotating the wheel there is hardly any to speak of. And in answer to the other post, I changed the drop links myself.

[JohnR]

ok, I just confirmed that my original diagnosis was correct.

 

a) If you heel/toe the accelerator/brake in first gear then reverse then first there is no clunk at all.

:unsure: If you jack one side of the car up and get someone to yank the wheel hard left to right, you can feel the play in the rear wishbone bushing, and also hear the clunk noise.

 

Will get some from the well known auction site. Think they are about

[JohnR]

Have just ordered lower wishbones with bushes and balljoints for

[AndyMan]

Not sure if this applies to you (can't hear your clunk from here) but my first Gal (a 1996 2.8 V6) did that from when I first bought it.

 

It didn't seem to get any worse so I ignored it for a while until one day it did a really big clunk (during a spirited pull away at the lights) and then seemed to be very much worse.

 

I drove slowly and carefully to work (where we had a ramp) and found that the engine rocked in the bay as if hanging from the upper parts only.

 

Looking underneath (behind the tray) I found a big steady bar with rubber bushes that presumably reacts all the torque - mine had a broken bolt in it (no head). I surmise the bolt had never been tightened and the constant impact had eventually snapped the head off.

 

This might not be your problem, but it tightening one bolt saves you all that angst it's gotta be worth checking.

 

Cheers

 

Andy

[seatkid]

:31: If you jack one side of the car up and get someone to yank the wheel hard left to right, you can feel the play in the rear wishbone bushing, and also hear the clunk noise.

Sounds far more like track rod end wear which is a very common fault and an easy job to replace.

 

Never heard of wishbone bush wear on Galaxy....but I might be wrong.

Edited September 12, 2007 by seatkid

[NikpV]

Not sure if this applies to you (can't hear your clunk from here) but my first Gal (a 1996 2.8 V6) did that from when I first bought it.

 

It didn't seem to get any worse so I ignored it for a while until one day it did a really big clunk (during a spirited pull away at the lights) and then seemed to be very much worse.

 

I drove slowly and carefully to work (where we had a ramp) and found that the engine rocked in the bay as if hanging from the upper parts only.

 

Looking underneath (behind the tray) I found a big steady bar with rubber bushes that presumably reacts all the torque - mine had a broken bolt in it (no head). I surmise the bolt had never been tightened and the constant impact had eventually snapped the head off.

 

This might not be your problem, but it tightening one bolt saves you all that angst it's gotta be worth checking.

 

Cheers

 

Andy

 

 

yeah thats the roll restrictor

[JohnR]

Ok, I fitted the new wishbones and ball joints this morning. Problem solved! It was the rear rubber bushes that were worn. On the drivers side, it was cracked on both sides of the rubber, and more than 1/2 way through.

 

Fitting them was not too difficult took about 1.5 hours altogether:-

 

 

First, spray fixings with WD40 a couple of nights before hand

Remove plastic engine tray, 6 fixings with 10mm socket and extension

Jack up one side and chock it, remove road wheel.

undo 2 socket screws (with 8mm hex key) which secure the lower ball joint (neat idea, you don't have to split the joint itself)

undo the screws securing the ends of the wishbone using 21mm socket and long breaker bar (tightened to 90Nm which is about 3 weetabix on a 2ft breaker bar ;-))

pry the wishbone ends out (I used a small wrecking bar which was ideal)

Reassemble with new wishbone and ball joint.

Note that on mine, the new ball joint needed a 22mm ring spanner (original was 21mm) and a 7mm hex key (non-standard!) to hold the centre against rotation.

Repeat for other side.

Note that after doing this, the tracking will be out. I drove it around to ATS and had it laser aligned.

 

Next job is disks and pads all round.....ATS quoted

[seatkid]

:lol: Well done JohnR - a shining example to us all!

 

I would check your dealers (Ford/VW/SEAT) as well as here , here and here for parts.

 

I really think ebay is not the place for disks, unless they can prove who manufactured them. A lot of chinese pattern parts are sold on ebay - not the kind of thing you want to fit on your car!

[Bigjeeze]

:lol: Well done JohnR - a shining example to us all!

 

I would check your dealers (Ford/VW/SEAT) as well as here , here and here for parts.

 

I really think ebay is not the place for disks, unless they can prove who manufactured them. A lot of chinese pattern parts are sold on ebay - not the kind of thing you want to fit on your car!

 

 

I actually bought a set of rubber bushes for my wishbones but have never fitted them _ I can't remember if they were the front or rears though. It's certainly something I will look into as they are replaceable - I suppose it just depends on how much you pay for your wishbones in the first place.

 

Wel done John.

[JohnR]

[legin]

I had a clunk with my 2.8 and it was an exhaust hanger had broke.

[legin]

just had a look under the engine tray and found the roll restrictor broken,the bolt has snaped off.Any clues to the price of a new one?

[legin]

I had the snpped stud drilled out by a local engineering company.Was quoted