55 Plate 2.0 Petrol Octavia VRS.

When engaging the clutch in 1st gear, or 2nd gear (at crawling speeds) I keep hearing a clunking noise from the engine bay. Anyone any ideas as to what this could be? Car drives perfectly but the noise is so annoying!

Dual mass flywheel? Not 100% sure the petrol engined cars have them, all the diesels definitely do, but it sounds a lot like DMF problems...

engine/gearbox mount maybe???

I'd rate post #3 as being slightly more likely than post #2, but mechanical diagnosis over the internet using text only evidence is still rather an imperfect science

Agree with Greg could possibly be a mounting if its a clunking sound you hear.

Does it also happen when you come sharply off throttle, in first/second and sometimes even third gear, at low (<30mph) speeds?

Mine did, and the problem came and went coming off throttle, but could always be recreated by pressing the clutch pedal. My first thoughts were loose engine mount, which the dealer tightened - still there. Then i thought might be suspension or something with the front passenger wheel - dealer checked all the suspension and couldnt find anything. Finally i thought clutch and gearbox but this seemed all fine too.

Eventually i came across http://briskoda.net/octavia-ii/knocking-noise-my-gearbox/73590/ and traced the problem to the airbox which was loose/had come unclipped. This caused a big bit of plastic to hit the radiator which makes the clunk. Even when we'd worked out what it was it still sounded like it couldnt be that though, as it sounds 100% like a mechanical noise, but mines been temporarily patched up now and it's 90% gone. When i get it sorted properly i fully expect it to be resolved by this rather surprising solution!

Worth grabbing the airbox and seeing if it moves........

Please clarify...

If you move the gear lever without engaging the clutch you get no noise?

If you are in first, disengage the clutch then engage it again you get the noise?

Check the dogbone engine mount at the rear of the engine.

Does it also happen when you come sharply off throttle, in first/second and sometimes even third gear, at low (<30mph) speeds?

Mine did, and the problem came and went coming off throttle, but could always be recreated by pressing the clutch pedal. My first thoughts were loose engine mount, which the dealer tightened - still there. Then i thought might be suspension or something with the front passenger wheel - dealer checked all the suspension and couldnt find anything. Finally i thought clutch and gearbox but this seemed all fine too.

Eventually i came across http://briskoda.net/octavia-ii/knocking-noise-my-gearbox/73590/ and traced the problem to the airbox which was loose/had come unclipped. This caused a big bit of plastic to hit the radiator which makes the clunk. Even when we'd worked out what it was it still sounded like it couldnt be that though, as it sounds 100% like a mechanical noise, but mines been temporarily patched up now and it's 90% gone. When i get it sorted properly i fully expect it to be resolved by this rather surprising solution!

Worth grabbing the airbox and seeing if it moves........

Yes, now and again it does happen when coming off the throttle sharply at low speeds, I will check the airbox tonight and see if it has somehow worked loose. Thanks

Please clarify...

If you move the gear lever without engaging the clutch you get no noise?

No Noise

If you are in first, disengage the clutch then engage it again you get the noise?

Check the dogbone engine mount at the rear of the engine.

If you are in first, disengage the clutch then engage it again you get the noise?

Yes not all the time but about 50% of the time I hear the knocking noise.

Clutch/Gearbox all seem fine and car drives really well(27k miles on the clock), just the noise is driving me mad and to be fair, it's been doing if on and off since I've had the car. Dealership couldn't find anything related to the noise on the car's last service apprx 6 months ago. Many thanks.