Hi,

My scout is out of warranty.

The rear driver's side makes a creaking sound (like a house floorboard creaking/popping) whenever I turn and reverse up a driveway and occasionally just randomly while driving and sometimes over speed bumps at lower speeds.

I can't seem to see any broken parts... I always take my car to the garage to diagnoise issues as I am useless.

I have taken the car to the dealership twice for investigation but on both times they could not find anything wrong. I have been unable to demonstrate the sound to the mechanic as the garage is in a wierd place where everything is flat for so long I couldnt find any hills or embankments on the test drives. They could not hear anything on their test drives apparently.

Anyhow, I have tried recreating the sound by bouncing the car and tyres, and letting the car roll and driving up and down pavements. I also had my wife stand near the car while I reversed it up our drive (making the noise) but she could not hear anything from outside. The noise is auidable to me on the inside.

I have replaced both springs last week but that did not help.

Any suggestions? I'd rather not pay another round of £102 Skoda investigfation fee (each visit!) as it may be more economical to trial and error replace parts of the suspension. I do not have any reputable indi near me that I trust so I only have the dealership. I also prefer the stealership despite the crazy labour fee of £89 per hour!

Kind regards

Suspension squeaks and creaks are always a nightmare due to the difficulty in correctly, or at least easily diagnosing them.

 

The likely culprit will be a dry or worn bush. There are lots on the suspension, especially on the Scout (and 4x4) due to it's independent rear suspension.

 

Remember you also have a prop shaft (transfers power from the front wheels to rear) which is unique to the 4x4. These too have seals and the prop does move a little when changing gear, moving from forward to reverse and when changing gradients etc.

 

Unless you can easily replicate the squeak it might have to be a case of waiting until it gets worse!

 

Personally I'd be avoiding the main dealer at all costs. Try to find a good local garage, one that will diagnose the issue fist and then take payment!

Thanks Silver.

Do you happen to know what bushes there are on the rear suspension of the scout? I have had a look on the skoda workshop manuals website and tried looking for them on car part websites but I can only find two... If I have a list I can do some more research into each.

My gut feeling is it must be something close or attached to the chassis to make the noise audible from the inside but not outside. My bump stops need doing as they are frayed and orange so I was going to get the shocks, bottom and top nuts, bump stops and top mounting bracket replaced... i was hoping there would have been a culprit bush on the shock set up but I couldnt see any mention of one in the schematics.,

You wouldn't happen to know what bushes there are and where I can find them on the suspension do you? And maybe where to get hold of them?

Kind Regards,

If the noise is audible from the inside but not the outside, could it be something inside that's the source? Do you have a raised boot floor? I know mine occasionally squeaks, particularly if I've got stuff in the boot, when manoeuvring the car at odd angles. Just a thought.

Have you checked the rear anti roll bar drop links as mined squeaked every time I went up and down speed bumps when one of them was worn.

My bump stops need doing as they are frayed and orange so I was going to get the shocks, bottom and top nuts, bump stops and top mounting bracket replaced... i was hoping there would have been a culprit bush on the shock set up but I couldnt see any mention of one in the schematics.

 

The bump stops perished on my Scout too (and more recently on my Superb, they need improving Skoda!), this is a picture I took of my Scout's rear suspension when working out what needed to be done to renew them...

 

 

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/341314-octavia-scout-rear-shocks-do-i-need-all-new/

Found a few more from when I sold it a month or so ago, although I'm afraid they don't quite show enough...

 

 

 

Just to update, having spent ages with the garages trying to identify the popping and creaking sounds it turned out to be the top mount for the rear shock that had worn out. I can finally rest now that it has been sorted!

Was it this part?

 

Indeed it was!