Fabia vRS clunking :(

[willmag]

Hi Briskoda forumers, 

 

Unfortunately my Fabia has an ongoing clunking/twanging noise at the front. Its a very temperamental noise, sometimes it'll never happen on a journey and sometimes it'll clunk 5/6 times in a few hundred yards. Its done nearly 140k.

 

It has been to a VAG specialist and he could not find anything wrong.

 

Symptoms:

Over bumps, not necessarily potholes (most cases)

When turning round a roundabout, not slow speed turns (again, very rare in this case)

When I accelerate hard in second and come of the power (front of car dives, this is also quite common)

 

I've been under and checked:

Top mounts, there is a little bit of movement in them, few degrees either way. Is this normal??

Console bushes, seem ok.

Drop links changed recently (high quality ones).

CV joints, cant really tell. Boots aren't split.

Steering seems tight.

Ball joints seem tight.

Engine mounts? They seem very slack and bouncing, could this be the cause??

 

So shall i change the top mounts and see if that helps?

 

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks, 

 

Will

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Stewpotz]

Arb bushes might be perished causing the bar to move around

[Titanium_Man]

Have you looked at the front ARB and bushes?

Just a thought ....

[andsoutham]

Check your front anti roll bar bushes too and see what condition they are in

[andsoutham]

Oh wow the same advice 3 mins apart... We are sad sad men :P

[Titanium_Man]

Speak for yourself

[willmag]

Haha yeah sorry forgot to say, they are reasonably new, less 20,000 miles on them. Gave them a decent shake and couldn't find any movement :(

[michalko82]

It was my passenger side top mount making same clunking noise (it was driving me mad for weeks)took the plastic covers off and ...the left one was moving few mm side to side. Tightened up and noise has gone

[willmag]

It was my passenger side top mount making same clunking noise (it was driving me mad for weeks)took the plastic covers off and ...the left one was moving few mm side to side. Tightened up and noise has gone

Ooooh interesting, how do you tighten up??

[sepulchrave]

Ooooh interesting, how do you tighten up??

 

Check the three bolts that hold the top mount to the strut turret on each side.

[willmag]

Check the three bolts that hold the top mount to the strut turret on each side.

Ok cool, i'll try that. What about that hex fitting thread in middle, does that do anything?

[theezenutz]

Yeah that holds the strut to the top mount

[willmag]

Yeah that holds the strut to the top mount

Can I tighten that too??

[theezenutz]

Hopefully not unless its loose. You'll need to put a Allen key in the hex hole and a suitable swan neck spanner on the nut to stop the piston rod from spinning.

Edited 10 March, 2016 by theezenutz

[FromTheDarkness]

I had a similar noise, i got fed up and got a new hub/bearing and drive shaft fitted, noise now gone.

[theezenutz]

Me too but it turned out to be a slightly loose drop link that clunked when driven over bumps.

[Sam84]

I replaced all my bushes with powerflex, bottom arms, top mounts, track rod ends and it went away. I still get a very slight bobbly noise when i first set off but i put that down to my AP coilovers.

[michalko82]

they have tightened the middle bolt

[vRSAnt]

Dont rule out bad bump stops if its going hard over bumps and quite low already

I had this and I had fitted my (cut) bump stops the wrong way around. Ideally should have fitted proper ones too.

Before I cut them it felt really bouncy like it was riding on the stops. That was a joke and only experience suspension that bad in a Fiat Punto.

 

Then dropped and it was great but crashed and banged really bad.

The stop had the had part the wrong way around so on drops was hitting hard plastic instead of the softer part, strange but true.

 

Its probably not this but almost certainly suspension of some kind. I'm only adding this really to share my own experience / explanation of noise just for the sake of it.

Edited 10 March, 2016 by vRSAnt

[willmag]

I've just been out and jacked it up again, ARB seems all good, gave it a really good shake and no movement. Went for a drive and drove for a good five miles with only 2 knocks. It happened when going over a small pot hole and when coming out of roundabout (bit of weight transfer and half a turn of lock on).

 

Also I heard that the damper on the passenger side (where the noise is worse), is quite 'hissy' when I bounce it up and down when compared to the drivers side. Could they be the problem??

 

Cheers