The phantom clunk...

Westy said:
How did it go last night Welly?
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Haven't started yet mate. Dropped Bumble off at the olds and have left her there. Will pop in on Friday night and get her up in the air and then start work on Saturday night and through Sunday and see where I get to.

I still haven't amassed the parts needed. Trip to TPS at lunchtime, then down to Bristol tonight. Hopefully the prop will pitch up shortly :)
 
OK, so have been to TPS in Tewkesbury to collect the elusive Haldex gasket...

4.jpg


Audi wanted £7.30 plus VAT for this, however TPS managed a nice easy £1.30 plus VAT.

Prop bolts have turned up thanks Reesy, still awaiting prop. Steering rack collection tonight. Hopefully the Haldex oil will pitch up tomorrow as well....
 
Welly, Your not the only one with this knocking noise. Im too chasing this noise which is similar and driving me mad.. Mechanic has checked the car many time and still can find anything out of place..

Would be nice to find out what your outcome is.. Keep me posted please mate.

Thanks..
 
OK, a busy weekend in amongst other things I had to do.

Subframe dropped, old rack out, old prop out.

We did some testing of the old rack whilst it was still in the car - very notchy and horrible. Made all sorts of interesting noises too so fingers crossed....

Old prop came out with substantial wear on one of the front balance weights... may have been touching the exhaust a tad then. This was due to the exhaust being a little off centre - I haven't installed a strategic dent in the downpipe as I hope that it should clear when refitted properly.

Yesterday, got the new prop in, and rack bushes changed and that fitted and the subframe back on.

To be fair, none of this particularly hard, but awkward and time consuming...

Need to fill the PAS system and bleed it, fit the exhaust and then get the back up for some back end work...

More to follow.
 
Prop all O.K mate?

Sounds like you are doing alright so far and you might even be able to keep up with Jardo when your 4wd is working...
 
Reesy said:
Prop all O.K mate?

Sounds like you are doing alright so far and you might even be able to keep up with Jardo when your 4wd is working...
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I can't keep up with anything without it working believe me. She goes nowhere!

Reesy, you did leave the drive flange out of the bevel box on the prop and I didn't need it, do you want it back to mate back up to the bevel box?
 
Did you read my thread a few months back about my knock Welly?.
Mine was the sliding portion of the steering column..
Simply knocked the "crimp" in to tighten it [ which left me with very tight/ heavy steering for a few miles]
...Now its loosened off.. no knock, Et Voila.
 
MrCSW said:
Did you read my thread a few months back about my knock Welly?.
Mine was the sliding portion of the steering column..
Simply knocked the "crimp" in to tighten it [ which left me with very tight/ heavy steering for a few miles]
...Now its loosened off.. no knock, Et Voila.
Click to expand...

Interesting - no I didn't see that. However it does sound very much like it's coming from the area underneath the car. Any photos or a link to the thread dude?
 
Welly said:
OK, so have been to TPS in Tewkesbury to collect the elusive Haldex gasket...

4.jpg


Audi wanted £7.30 plus VAT for this, however TPS managed a nice easy £1.30 plus VAT.

Prop bolts have turned up thanks Reesy, still awaiting prop. Steering rack collection tonight. Hopefully the Haldex oil will pitch up tomorrow as well....
Click to expand...

I had one of these spare! Could of just gave it you! I used the old rubber ones on mine as they just seemed to be fine!
 
So then, the ongoing clunk hunt continues....

However I feel some headway might have been made.

Had 5 minutes to have a brief look the other day. Primarily the clunk is from the NSF. Decided to check the tightness of the wishbone bolts for arguement's sake (both lower arms have been removed and rebushed with OEM bushes before).

Atlas bush was tight with no issues, as was the main bolt. However, when tweaking the main bolt, the clunk reared itself.

Further investigation shows a gap between the bush and the subframe which shouldn't be there. No huge, and certainly not noticeable, but there none the less. I wonder if this slight gap is giving enough movement to allow the arm to move about when loaded.... causing the clunk.

The proposed fix is poly bush the front lower arm... Also fit new drop links that arrived today and also my replacement front coilies.

Pics to follow, when I find my camera, and can be bothered.
 
Westy said:
Blimey mate, fair bit of kit you've ordered up. Hope you clear the clunk. I've given up with mine but I'm sure it's my rear seats.
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He hasn't ordered much, the front coilies are because he was a cheap *** and got some from vietchinajapanistan, and the originals are ******
 
Reesy said:
He hasn't ordered much, the front coilies are because he was a cheap *** and got some from vietchinajapanistan, and the originals are ******
Click to expand...

LOL, turns out they are fine to be fair, top mount bearings I think are the problem, but obviously they will be changed.

And.... I have changed about a grand's worth of stuff chasing this clunk....
 
Also - vietchinajapanistan is not a real country.... so the didn't come from there at all! :p

They were from Taiwanchinajapistan.
 
Welly, have you managed to resolve this yet?

I too am chasing an annoying clunk, had the steering rack die on me and thought while I am doing that I may as well renew a few other bits while I have the subframe out. Parts replaced below.

ARB poly bushes (ARB collars fine)
Track rod ends
Ball joints
Poly front and back wishbone bushes
steering rack
poly steering rack bushes
top mounts and bearings
drop links (only 12 months old)
subframe bolts

After doing all that I now have a deep clunk coming from the lower osf. Only happens under braking and load sounds exactly the same as yours.

Was under the car last night checking and tightening subframe bolts. Forgot the check steering rack bolts but will be doing this tonight as well as checking the steering rack crimp position as suggested by MrCSW.

It sounds as if the rear subframe mount is moving with a clunk as you can feel on the floor pan, but I have now done this f'ing tight and still no joy.
Going to try removing the droplinks just to definitely eliminate anything to do with ARB which I am sure it is not.

Driving mad now though!!!!!

Hope you are having more luck then me.
 
My Bora 4motion has a similar clunk, pretty sure it's coming from the rear drivers side area. I can feel it through my seat as well.

It's when I accelerate that I hear it so it's something moving forward and backwards. Never get it when braking, however if I tap the brakes then hit the go pedal I hear the knock at the back again.
 
*Clunk update*

Been under the car again at the weekend and went through all the bolts/nuts I could see.

1. Tightened the steering rack mounts bolts by half a turn on a couple of them (no difference)

2. Also reseated the nsf suspension spring as it was not fully butted up against its location indent, managed to do it in place with spring compressors so didn't have to remove. (no difference)

3. Got a t-bar out on the subframe bolts (wasn't done to the specified torque just as tight as I could get them!!)

Clunk is now all but gone! :)

I do get a very slight faint knock only sometimes when braking and turning at the same time now, but nothing like it was before which was when pulling away and braking. But this could just be down to me being massively paranoid about knocks now!
Going to get under the car again and have another crack at getting the subframe bolts tighter still as that seems to be working.
(Now where did I put that scaffold bar!!)
 
mined has a knock too passenger side sounds like at front of the seat but underneath car when turning and braking then reversing on the other lock (ie turning round at end of my road to come on the drive cos its the only way i can get on lol (stupid coilovers lol))
will have a try of the swinging on the subframe bolts first at weekend to see if its that before attacking other things and will let ya know
 
So.... New poly front lower arms bushes, drop links and front coilovers (warranty replacement) have all been fitted.

The clunk has gone on the one side where it has always been.

Other side's remains, but the BBJ looks poorly so I suspect that to be fair.

Time will tell if it's solved...
 
Welly said:
So.... New poly front lower arms bushes, drop links and front coilovers (warranty replacement) have all been fitted.

The clunk has gone on the one side where it has always been.

Other side's remains, but the BBJ looks poorly so I suspect that to be fair.

Time will tell if it's solved...
Click to expand...

Maybe you'll be able to enjoy the car a bit more with the knocking gone! Any pics of the bush you removed? Did it look shagged?
 
Westy said:
Maybe you'll be able to enjoy the car a bit more with the knocking gone! Any pics of the bush you removed? Did it look shagged?
Click to expand...

It was definately shagged by the time I got it out... Didn't want to come out with the usual techniques... Heating and beating.

So... I had to resort to a slightly more unorthodox methods - I cut them out with a hole saw, then cleaned the wishbone out with a flap wheel. The bush when they did come out don't look much like they dud when they went in.

To be fair, the bush actually looked fine anyway, it was the gap between the bush and the subframe when it was fitted that was the concern.

It was this one:

wishbone.jpg


New bushes very very easy to install by comparison, press fit by hand. Makes a nice change... Also feel much tighter to drive. £33 well spent.
 
cooper505 said:
Just been doing a quick search on knocking subframes and the golf seems to suffer from it as well.

Might try sticking some shims in the subframe to stop it moving about.

Home Page > ES#2102460 Subframe Spacer Plates - With Hardware - 7M3499349A

Part number for shims
The Shim is 7M3499349A
Click to expand...
Did the spacers sort the problem? I'm experiencing the same/similar symptoms as Welly: a loud clunk, felt through the footwells, only when moving (nothing while turning on the spot). It clunks when turning left, then won't again until turning right. Subframe has been off in the past as steering rack looks like it's been replaced, plus I've had it off to replace ARB in an attempt to cure the clunk... bolts could well be the originals! Will try TPS for the spacers, otherwise looks like they're coming from the States?

Here's my problem:
http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/a3-s3-forum-8l-chassis/160744-knocking-sound-running-out-ideas.html

Thanks in advance!
 
Last edited:
Holy thread revival....

Well, my hunt for the clunk has now stopped... because it's fixed.

Fixed purely as a surprising by-product of fitted the Brembos as it goes.

My Brembos came complete on hubs with wheel bearings with less miles than mine - so I chose to fit the whole lot. What a shock it was to find the phantom clunk gone when fitted...

Done about 1000 miles since then and the clunk has yet to return so I can only presume it's gone.

Was definitely something to do with the passenger side hub - although what I have no idea. I've always had trouble with the hub on that side - I suspect the wheel bearing.

Seems odd for a wheel bearing to have 0 play, make no rotational noise and yet manifest itself as a clunk - but hey ho.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
 
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Glad youve sorted it mate. What brembos you gone for?
 
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