Yes, yet another Fabia front end knocking thread, but this one has me stumped & I seek the wisdom of the forumites.

 

First the symptoms:- When the car is cold first thing in the morning the knock is quite severe. Over rough road is very loud & hollow sounding, I can cause it by violently rocking my steering from side to side & get a 'thunk - thunk - thunk' sound. As the car warms up or on hot days the knocking gets less severe & its hard to replicate the knocking noise by rocking the steering wheel. In general, when driving the front end feels rough & harsh & the suspension sounds loose like something isn’t bolted up. When stopped, no noise can be replicated by rocking the car (side to side, up & down & back & forth)

 

'aaahhh - I know what that is' I hear you cry, however, I replaced all the parts associated with the major common causes of knocking & I have spent the better part of £300 trying to get this sorted with absolutely no luck whatsoever.

 

This is what I've changed:

 

Engine Mounts - Gearbox & Dog-bone. The Offside one seemed in good condition so I didn’t replace it as the other ones I removed were fairly ok.

Suspension - Changed Dampeners along with  ARB droplinks, upper bearing strut bearing & grooved ball bearing. Inspected springs & ok.

ARB: Changed bushes.

Tracking arms along with ball joints.

Console bushes were replaced with solid Cupra ones about 3 years ago & still look fine.

Brake pads replaced & callipers inspected to ensure nothing was loose.

 

My next port of call is to possibly replace the wishbone as either the balljoint or the smaller bush could be causing the issue. However, I've not read (or can’t find) that this is a common issue of causing knocking noises. Has anyone had a similar issue to me & it turned out to by the wishbone balljoint or small front bush that cause knocking?

 

My other thought it could be that the steering rack is shot, but I inspected it when I was doing the track rod arm & it seem really solid with no looseness to it or play.

 

I'm kinda getting desperate now so any help is really appreciated.

Edited 28 April, 201511 yr by Chris Berry

Are you sure the wishbone bolts into the console are torqued up properly? I had a very similar knocking on mine and this is what it turned out to be.

Are you sure the wishbone bolts into the console are torqued up properly? I had a very similar knocking on mine and this is what it turned out to be.

 

Do you mean the bolt that holds the wishbone in at the front end? (highlighted by the big black arrow)

 

Aye, that's the one (22 in the pic).

ok, I check it out tomorrow afternoon.

ok, I check it out tomorrow afternoon.

 

Has the car been lowered? I've heard of drop links catching when lowered. Also have you checked the power steering fluid levels - silly question I know but the gaiters hold any leaks so if the seals have failed it's not obvious until the gaiters have split.

 

You can remove the small clip and push it back a few times - if fluid comes out then your rack is on it's way out.

battery tied down?

Quick update:

Didn’t manage to look at the car last night - family time took priority!

Car hasn’t been lowered.

No signed of fluid leeks & both gaiters from the steering rack track rods were removed when I changed them - both bone dry inside. Haven’t checked the power steering fluid levels, why would this cause 'clunking' if it were low. (just curious)

Battery is tight on, not budging.

 

My next port of call is the wishbone ball joint & its small front bush. These are still the original ones when the car was new (nearly 12 years) & they could be shot!

Would anyone recommend getting this..

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150983691864?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

It seems fairly cheap (too cheap?) but after replacing so much & getting nowhere, I'm getting really disheartened in spending even more money & not getting anywhere.

For the price of the ball joints i'd get them replaced. the reason i asked about the fluid level is because it's easy to over look in a service thanks to skoda sticking it under the battery.

 

if you've already checked the arm gaiters then don't bother with the fluid levels. Only if the level was low would you then check them.

Cheers Wilsonian.

 

So do you think those wishbones (from the link) are any good? For what you get is a very good price. ECP come in at around £100 for just the ball joints & wishbones.

I got my wishbone and ball joints off ebay (can't find the seller) but their similar to these:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VW-POLO-9N-SKODA-FABIA-LOWER-WISHBONE-ARM-BALL-JOINT-BUSH-PASSENGER-DRIVER-SIDE-/301515025078?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&fits=Model%3AFabia&hash=item4633b22ab6

 

If you've already replaced your drop links might as well just get new ball joints.

Thanks Wilsonian, I've ordered those & they should be with me sometime next week.

 

Just need a nice sunny afternoon to change over the wishbone(s); knowing my luck, it will probably rain now for the next 3 months!!

Basically when stationary the cars weight is loading the offending item.......... when driving you can have un-loading of the item................I would check the torque settings/tightness of all the suspension bolts & subframe bolts...............

Basically when stationary the cars weight is loading the offending item.......... when driving you can have un-loading of the item................I would check the torque settings/tightness of all the suspension bolts & subframe bolts...............

Yeah, I'm going to go around all the fixings when I change my Wishbones later next week (weather depending).

However, I'm 99% sure the suspension is OK as this was changed only 6 months ago in hope of fixing the issue but it did nothing help at all.

Yeah, I'm going to go around all the fixings when I change my Wishbones later next week (weather depending).

However, I'm 99% sure the suspension is OK as this was changed only 6 months ago in hope of fixing the issue but it did nothing help at all.

Hi did you ever get to the bottom of this?? . Sounds like the prob I have

Regards tony

Check the exhaust system, a broken mounting can cause knocking on the underside.

I did sort this out in the end, in was in fact the anti roll bar bushes of all things. One of the reasons I didn't suspect them is that I only changed them not so long back. I think Euro Car Parts had supplied 20mm ones instead of 19mm ones and because the knocking didn't go away I thought something else was faulty. Anyway, after changing also everything I thought it couldn't hurt to change the bushes to some Powerflex ones, once these were fitted the knocking complete vanished.

Did you get the 20mm ones from powerflex? Or do they do 19mm ones?

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Broken front strut spring ?