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Strange clunking noise from front end

13K views 14 replies 9 participants last post by  Damo9K 
#1 ·
This has been an ongoing issue for some time now, but as I had planned to replace every thing at the front end (suspension wise) I thought it would go away.

What I am getting is a staged clunking noise i.e it goes CLUNK clunk
This will happen when coming to a halt and pulling off (not all the time tho) it doesn't seem to matter if it's on full half or no lock
It only seems to come from the passenger side front.

Car has in the last 2 months had all engine mounts replaced (saab oe ones) and I have polly bushed (both sides) top engine stabiliser, polly gearbox mounts, polly steering rack bushes , new sas front & rear ARB , Koni shocks (been on for a few years now).

I have checked and tightened every nut,bolt and screw on the front of the car and can find no movement any where.

This is becoming a every weekend challenge to find the culprit, which is a real PITA as I only drive the car on the weekends

Has anyone got an idea of what could be causing it and or any of the polly bits fitted that might be the issue, I would really appreciate your ideas.

Cheers

Damo
 
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#2 ·
Had the same thing happen to my 9K.
The strange thing is that it only happened when the car was warm.

Since I couldn't find out where it could come from, I just jacked up the car and torqued down every nut and bolt I could find.
After that It was gone.
Unfortunately the way I solved the problem, I can't say exactly what it was.
(there were quite a couple of bolts not properly torqued down!)
 
#5 ·
Damob,

Long, long time ago in a far and distan....... No, not that one.

I once had a similar CLONK on stopping, reversing up and sometimes on moving off. It was on a 1979 Hillman Hunter GT. After a couple of fruitless visits to the garage I took the wheels of and started poking about ( Dad's new car, me only 17 !) Transpired it was the pad material coming loose from the backing plate allowing a slight movement. Worth a look. Whip the pads out and check they are as they should be.

...........d they all lived happily ever after.

Paul @ Kippen.
 
#7 ·
i have heard similar noises from the brake pads too, sometimes they are a loose fit in the caliper slider areas

make sure the calipers are tight to the knuckle

on 9000s sometimes the subframe will loosen itself, causing all sorts of mayhem when trying to accelerate, decelerate, or change direction. check the bolts and retighten

other than that it could be the usual balljoint or tierod.
 
#8 ·
My aero had developed a "clonking" recently, so I'd been folowing this thread with interest.

It seemed to be coming from the passenger side and only when making turns. I assumed the worst - track rod ends, ball joints etc & got Jim to cast his expert eye over things, but he couldn't see anything wrong

Well I solved the problem this morning, by removing the large wheel nut socket that had been rattling around inside the centre cubby hole and clunking when going round corners

Wish all my problems were that easy / cheap to fix
 
#10 ·
Thanks again guys for your input.
To answer all: yep checked driveshaft nuts (my torque wrench only just goes up to the correct footage) but there was no movement at all with that and a big bar.

Already tightened the subframe joint bolts (had that issue with my 2L 9k) so knew about that one

But I will check the brake pad idea this weekend, I doubt it's that pads moving in the calliper as they ds2500 and a tight fit IIRC, but the possibility that the friction pad might have come away from the backing is well worth checking out.

speedypancake I wish mine was that easy to solve

BillJ what do you know about getting the diff serviced/refurbed as there is an awful lot of slack in it.
I'm a bit annoyed cos the gearbox was removed by a local gearbox centre as they thought it had died and told me that they would fully recon it, but when I picked the car up they told me it wasn't the gearbox after all.
But they still took it apart and charged me £500 for the privilege
Cheers again

Damo
 
#12 ·
[ QUOTE ]
BillJ what do you know about getting the diff serviced/refurbed as there is an awful lot of slack in it.

[/ QUOTE ]
Have you got something to compare it to? I have always found a fair amount of backlash in the diff in a 9000. I think it's normal. The diff itself doesn't seem to be a weak point. The final drive gears have been known to strip but I don't think this gives excessive backlash (until it's failed completely, of course )
 
#13 ·
[ QUOTE ]
Have you got something to compare it to? I have always found a fair amount of backlash in the diff in a 9000. I think it's normal.

[/ QUOTE ]

No I haven't not a saab anyway, but compared to the front diff on my friends FWD MG rally car (no special diff) and a 4WD cossie front dif there does seem to quite a considerable difference, Plus a couple of my motorsport mechanic friends took a look and said it was pretty slack.

As far as I am aware when the gearbox centre "ripped me off " they said that the box was in good condition.
Thus I was wandering if it is viable to just get the diff recond, I know that setting the backlash is a bit of a sod unless you know what your are doing so I was hoping there might be someone out there who knows a man that can

Damo

Oh and thanks JohnCC for the link, have read all and still no more new ideas
 
#15 ·
[ QUOTE ]
ylee coyote: my strange clonking was finally tracked down to the hub itself
the bit that holds the ball joint in place had excessive play

so new hub carrier later ......

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah did check these and I did replace the lower mounts that attach to the hub (can't think of the proper name - been on late emergency server call -and brain just wants to shut down now )

Ta again

Damo
 
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