Nearside Rear Mystery Clunk

[lionatus]

Look at the exhaust mounts. If its even slightly misaligned or too high it might just slightly rub somewhere. I live on a main road so after a few near death experinces rolling the wring way from under car I started sending to a garage when a lift was needed. But the shortcuts they take. My burr noise came from the fact they didn't replace both exhaust hangers only one so mine hung to one side hitting the centre bridge, the 2nd time it melted my bumper as it leant to the side until the plastic melt away and there was clearance. Didn't notice as the ZT has a metal vanity bracket. so now its all slightly moved nearside, but no noise now. Not ideal but its wee things and they drive you nuts.

Originally Posted by JosephJ

Thank you again everyone.

Well, unfortunately I recently managed to strip the lower mount for the rear shock so a new arm was installed with a new bearing and ABS sensor. Guess what? The noise is still there!

I'll definitely check the exhaust centre mounts as the noise sounds almost the same. Also, my top mounts for the rear are new and tightened up well. I do have new front arms in place which definitely wasn't the most fun job.

I'll look at replacing the exhaust centre rubbers and see if that helps.

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[JosephJ]

I've replaced the middle mounts at work but the noise is still present. I did have a good look around the exhaust and it seems to be clear of anything close which is rather annoying (it's never an easy fix!).

I've had a passenger in the car who says the noise is hard to pin point. It's strange and sometimes it sounds like it's clunking even over a smooth road. My fuel tank does seem a little noisy when I bump it but it's definitely not the same noise.

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[suzublu]

I had a mate in the boot trying to pinpoint the noise which seemed to be coming from the rear, turned out to be a front droplink 😎 Changed both and noise gone

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[JosephJ]

I may have to get in the boot too! I do wonder if the noise is due to the Monroe shocks? It's almost like they rattle at the bottom bolt even though it's completely tight. The front links and bushes are all new from DMGRS but I've checked them and they all seem okay. The sound is definitely getting louder 😳

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[Maxfly]

Does it have those round rubber bush looking parts on the bottom of the rear shocks? They can rattle even when bolt feels tight, mine had this and had to nip bolt up with breaker bar a touch to stop it

[JohnnyBG]

Late in on this but I've had a similar experience. Ironically the rear dampers were renewed maybe 2-3k ago but now the rear nearside top mounting has failed.

Hope that I can get it in and fixed before Christmas.

Johnny BG

[JosephJ]

Thanks again everyone! The bushings and top mounts all seem to be in really good order. Oddly enough, tightening the lower bolt to 160nm seems to help a little with the noise. I've seen a post about worn out lower bolts so I'll replace those and update 👍

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[Devilish]

I had a weird one recently.
Had corroding brake line advisories for several years, it failed MOT last year on a lower ball joint, and I was told I might need to replace the brake lines before next MOT. As the only time the front suspension being touched, was when I replaced the front springs and upper strut bearings, I decided to put it to bed. So new wishbones, drop links and trailing arm bushes, then after the MOT, new brake lines and flexi hoses all round. I also fitted a new exhaust.

I have new springs, upper and lower arms, and drop links to go on the rear along with the subframe overhaul come the summer, because I wanted no future rear suspension MOT surprises.

For about a month I noticed a specific faint clunk/clonk/clank coming from the front somewhere, every time I accelerated or decelerated in first & second gear at low speed such as slow moving traffic. I could only hear it when the cabin fans were low speed and radio vol was low, and I could not pinpoint L or R, but it niggled me. Pro active is better than reactive, so I concluded there is no way it is transmission, because it is sound, it must be an engine mount. A 5 minute job, I popped off the lower mount, that had a split rubber, and replaced it, the hydramount was fine.
I thought the noise had gone but it had not, as I put it to bed after the MOT until spring I decided to address it in the summer.

Took it for MOT a few weeks ago, no advisories, but it failed on a broken rear spring, the tester said the top 3" was broken. I got a spring to replace it for MOT.

Taking it for re test I immediately noticed the faint clonk/clunk/ clank that was coming from the FRONT end up unit l the time I took it for MOT had disappeared altogether. It must have been the two ends of the broken spring playing clackers.

So how does the noise coming from the front work.

[xsport]

I had 2 different experiences with aftermarket exhausts. 1. the exhaust hangers were not placed correctly when welded on to the silencers , when manufactured. Too near to the cross braces. Not a huge amount , but enough to touch when the rubbers flex forward and back on the hangers. This happen sparodicaly depending on the road sufaces / potholes etc. Also when braking heavily and coming to a stop. The engine is transverse in its mountings and makes the forward and back rocking movements even more acute. (and that was with a new bottom teardrop mount fitted ) 2. The second was the exhaust was bumping against the rear nearside droplink. The angled exhaust pipe , which looked to have plenty of clearance from the link , did in fact touch when rocked by the exhaust forward and back. I found i could not make this happen during inspection whilst under the car,no matter what i tried , but i know that it did because of the light surface damage shown on both the exhaust and the droplink contact areas. All this hassle and noises have disappeared since having my cat back stainless system fitted. Fitted correctly ... Another example of aftermarket parts compared to the original rover parts fitted. The angles of the pipes are correct , when made on the aftermarket ones , but welded to the boxes at the wrong angle sometimes,especially at the rear to back box. You pay your money and take your chances .. so it seems .

[Devilish]

I fitted one once that had the hangers welded to the silencer, had to bend them a bit, and the tailpipes were visible. The one I bought recently I made sure had a cradle like the original, waaaaay easier to hook up the cradle without the silencer being there, then just lift the silencer up into it, you can also get them with oversise pipe, so when/if cut off it just slides over the original pipe, just had to hacksaw two slots for the clamp, and the tailpipes are hidden. Have fitted a few aftermarket, and this one is about the best. forgot where from and the manufacturer.

I cut up the excess oversize pipe into some 4" collars, for exhausts that have the same diameter pipe