Good afternoon all. I drive a Fabia vRS mk1 (2004)

I have a mysterious knocking sound that appears to be coming from the front end of the car possibly passenger side but its hard to tell when driving. Its driving me crazy.

I've replaced the droplinks (which is what I was told was the issue and to be fair they were slightly worn) which didn't fix the issue. I then replaced the ARB bushes which actually seemed to stop or at least dampen the knocking for a while. I also replaced the passenger side top mount which made no difference. I've checked the bushes and mounts and no apparent rubbing or looseness on these. I went underneath with a pry bar and went over everything I could think of suspension related and nothing appears to be loose or worn. This morning I greased the gearbox top mount although the knocking didn't appear to be coming from there but I read other posts describing the same sound and it seemed to at least temporarily solve the knocking for some. But I'll find out if its made a difference when I go to work shortly.

The knocking is fast and metalic and only happens on rough roads, I checked the inner tie rods and both appear to be slightly worn but I cant replicate the same sound when rocking the wheel side to side as I can hear when driving over bumpy roads, also I cant feel the knocking through the steering wheel when driving. When I rock the car side to side I also cant hear knocking.

Sorry for the long text but does anyone have any ideas as to where the knocking could be coming from as I'm adoment the rack isn't the source of the knock I'm hearing. I'll replace the tie rods shortly but while I'm under the car I'd like to check any other issues that could be the source of the knocking in case when I've the tie rods the knocking doesn't stop.

Are there any common wear and tear or failures on the Fabia front end that you can make me aware of?

I really appreciate the advice guys. Thank you

P.S I created a post a long time ago regarding heavy steering which it seems was the brake pads/discs causing the problem as I've replaced them and the steering is much lighter in case any one reading this has the issue and its not pump or rack related.

Edited 12 May, 201412 yr by FabiaJames

If the gearbox mount solved the issue I'll update the post.

Hmmmmmmmmmm top post as my ibiza has same issue

Most things are new too like you but mine sounds like its inside car poss inside door or behind glovebox.

Dosent do it when cold seems to take a few mins to appear, like a click noise when acclerating and braking.

Ive got a feeling something is moving inside the door

Sorry for late reply I've been rather ill and didn't feel like checking emails :p yours could just be a clip broken inside the door card or inside the actual door. I had this happen to me, it was rattling and pretty annoying but I was lucky and it was just in the door card.

An update on the knocking/tapping. It seems to be coming from below the gear stick or in that general area. Its baffling me. I will try to check to make sure it isn't an exhaust bracket. I'm sure I already checked but it almost seems to be a bracket making the racket. Heh

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

Mine has the same, people seem to think it could be the suspension just slightly broken ("slightly")

 

weary on replacing the suspension without knowing for certain yet!

Its funny you mentioned suspension as last night I did "the bounce test" on my car to test the Shocks. I have eibach springs so its a bit stiffer than standard, but the car does bounce a couple more times when I stop bouncing the car. The rear just pops back up. It would explain the lack of control I feel sometimes. It could also tie in with why my car pulls to the left slightly. While pushing hard on the drivers side (car was parked on a curb and weight was on the drivers side) I could actually hear a popping which seemed to be from the shock.

I'll list the things I feel when I drive the car (although I never assumed shocks caused any of these issues until I did some research) so just some info if anyone else has the issues I have. Get your shocks checked

Nose dives under heavy breaking

Car bounces over potholes/speed humps

Horrible fast knocking noise on rough road

Feeling less control when turning sharply and excessive body roll

Less traction

Harder to drive in a straight line in high cross winds

Flat spots on tyres

I may have missed some things but these are pretty much the symptoms I have.

Why I never thought to check the shocks I dont know but hey, I think I've found the issue.

The shocks must have been shot when I got the car hence not really noticing any difference in handling.

No wonder I always prefered driving my mums vRS :p

I'll get them replaced ASAP I may go with the Sachs shocks, any one know if they are any good?

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

Chances are it wont fix the pulling to the left, mine does that. I asked on here and quite a few do it, obviously tied in with the cars natural wanting to aim for the kerb due to the camber on the road

If it doesn't sort the pulling I'm not overly fussed. If it makes the steering lighter and stops that awful knocking ill be happy lol

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

Im going to get mine checked out soon ill let you know what mine comes back as, at the minute its developed a new one where you start moving in reverse and the same knocking goes from .. thud..thud..to thudthudthudthudthudthud *10!

 

Have you checked the tracking with regards to the tyres? My tear wear was really uneven until i had it set up properly, some garages will check it for free and charge only for adjustments but make sure they have a good setup as cheap ones never noticed a problem with mine until i went somewhere that had a decent bit of kit

I had a weird rubbing/knocking noise in the front of mine. Tried everything but to no avail. Ended up being two little rubber bump stops in the bonnet near where it hinges. Popped  them out and no more noise!

I had my tracking checked and they told me it was barely off they adjusted it a tiny bit but it made no difference. They didnt charge me but asked if i would like them to do a check on the car to see if any parts are causing the tracking issue but i had work shortly after the tracking was done. I guess i should take it back and see if they can find the source of the knock while they're at it.

Thanks for that seanw, if I grab the grille on my bonnet and move the bonnet up and down thats the same knock sound I hear. I packed out the bonnet and removed the rear rubbers and pushed and pulled on the bonnet all round and no knocking there now. Although I do still have a loud knocking but not so frequent so I guess the bonnet could have been one source :p

Im almost certain its the top mount on the drivers side or shocks on both sides as I can still hear the noise sounds like from top of the shock so hopefully I can check the mount and check the shock for leaking soon.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

Ok this should be the end of the thread now. Thanks for any help guys but the problem is sorted.

New droplinks failed after around 3k miles. New ones in and knocking fixed. Also put new top mount in on drivers side. Whilst shock was out tested the resistance and theres little if no resistance the shock falls on its own very slowly. A bit of resistance when you pull the shock out so I'll be replacing those in the next few weeks.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk