Prompted by the recent resurrection of this thread (https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/506348-front-knocking-noise-from-lhs-we-think/) I thought I'd post regarding my recent experience with our model year 23 (manufactured March 2023 & delivered April 2023) manual Karoq 1.5 SE-L.

 

Pretty much from picking the car up I noticed a noise from the left front top mount area, most evident during low speed maneuvering (parking etc).

 

I eventually found the time to drop it in with the supplying dealer, who to their credit took a look straight away and subsequently booked it in for further investigation. 

 

Despite the car only being a matter of weeks old there is apparently a recent service bulletin regarding this noise - I was told rhe original fix was to replace the top mount, although updated advice from the factory was to lubricate with lithium grease.

 

The area was subsequently lubricated and at present the noise appears to have abated.

 

Whilst the car was in for investigation the technician identified a noise from the steering, which appears to relate to the electric motor. I'm told the car remains safe to drive and a request has been submitted for replacement under warranty, although I understand has been on back order for some considerable time.

 

The passenger side front window mechanism has also begun to make considerable noise, although only whilst going down, and was lubricated with advice to monitor and report back.

 

In the meantime the car remains exceptionally economical (a good 15-20% more MPG than the admittedly 4WD 1.4 SX4S-Cross it replaced), although I am beginning to find it difficult to drive smoothly (I have never stalled any manual car as often!) and now regret not opting for the automatic option, which I'm sure would integrate much better with the electronic handbrake and make for a more convenient drive, especially whilst in traffic.

 

The Karoq in-car entertainment system continues to infuriate and, despite appearing much improved over the last Yeti I owned, is in practice frustrating to use whilst driving and is actually less functional, despite it's 'connected' characteristics (which will expire in one year!).

 

I will post a further update regarding progress with both the noise, steering and window 👍

Edited 13 June, 20232 yr by pinkpanther
Typo!

Slathering grease over suspension components is a complete bodge and its shamefull that VAG resort to this rather than respect their warranty obligations.

 

The creaking sound is the result of a seized bearing causing the spring to wind up, the beraing either then moves with a jolt or the spring dislodges on its seat which will lead to failure.

 

I replaced both my top mounts when I replaced the struts as on removing one I was showered with bearing balls, after a couple of months the creaking noise returned, I put up with it for a long time and only recently fitted yet another new top mount bearing, the old one seemed in perfect order but the noise has gone.

Just now, J.R. said:

Slathering grease over suspension components is a complete bodge and its shamefull that VAG resort to this rather than respect their warranty obligations.

 

The creaking sound is the result of a seized bearing causing the spring to wind up, the beraing either then moves with a jolt or the spring dislodges on its seat which will lead to failure.

 

I replaced both my top mounts when I replaced the struts as on removing one I was showered with bearing balls, after a couple of months the creaking noise returned, I put up with it for a long time and only recently fitted yet another new top mount bearing, the old one seemed in perfect order but the noise has gone.

I did comment to the service agent that we appear to be heading back in time to a day when various bushes and so such require lubrication - after all the car is not a Morris Minor!

When they required lubrication they were fitted with grease nipples, VAG have gone back over 100 years.

 

When they start making the same economies with rubber components that they already have with brake discs, disc backplates, crossmembers & suspension components then they will self destruct at the first contact with any oil, grease or hydrocarbon.

 

In the days of Morris Minors mechanics had enough nouse to know that if they were told to slather grease onto a rubber component to tell the person where tthey could stick their request.

Edited 13 June, 20232 yr by J.R.

Further update - the noise from both the from LHS and steering motor continues and my local dealership have received further information from Skoda technical - I'll keep you posted 👍

On 24/06/2023 at 12:27, pinkpanther said:

Further update - the noise from both the from LHS and steering motor continues and my local dealership have received further information from Skoda technical - I'll keep you posted 👍

The car went back for further diagnostics and the noise from the LHS top mount area appears to have resolved with the application of white lithium grease.

 

The steering motor however requires replacement - due to be fitted in a couple of weeks.

On 29/07/2023 at 12:55, pinkpanther said:

The car went back for further diagnostics and the noise from the LHS top mount area appears to have resolved with the application of white lithium grease.

 

The steering motor however requires replacement - due to be fitted in a couple of weeks.

The power steering rack/motor has now been replaced and all currently appears well with the vehicle, from a mechanical perspective, although I continue to find it's infotainment system infuriatingly complex to use.

 

A previous  Dashcam installation also appears to have killed off DAB reception.

The noisy top mount has recurred and the car is now booked in for yet more diagnostics - hoping for a permanent fix this time🤞

Noisy on ours too - they did grease them, and that seemed to "soften" the noise so it's more like a chattering than a knock, but it's still there.

 

Was interesting that they gave me an identical courtesy car and that was totally silent.

11 hours ago, Rory said:

Noisy on ours too - they did grease them, and that seemed to "soften" the noise so it's more like a chattering than a knock, but it's still there.

 

Was interesting that they gave me an identical courtesy car and that was totally silent.

Indeed - every other Karoq I've driven hasn't exhibited the noise, although I'm strangely glad to hear I'm not alone!

The time I really notice it is when driving up and down floors on tight multi-story car parks - lot of turns and slow enough speed that other noise doesn't drown it out so it's knocking almost continously.

10 hours ago, Rory said:

The time I really notice it is when driving up and down floors on tight multi-story car parks - lot of turns and slow enough speed that other noise doesn't drown it out so it's knocking almost continously.

Same here 👍

On 28/04/2024 at 23:50, pinkpanther said:

The noisy top mount has recurred and the car is now booked in for yet more diagnostics - hoping for a permanent fix this time🤞

Car went in for further diagnostics (2 days), although was returned with 'no fault found'. 

 

The noise remains, although seems to have quietened in the warmer weather 🤷

On 20/05/2024 at 23:02, pinkpanther said:

Car went in for further diagnostics (2 days), although was returned with 'no fault found'. 

 

The noise remains, although seems to have quietened in the warmer weather 🤷

Noise has returned 😕

Our car was in for service today and I'd asked them to take another look at the knocking / chattering noise on low speed corners.

 

It seems to do it all the time when we drive it so it seems completely obvious to me, but once again the dealer said they couldn't find it.   A young service advisor came out with us and heard the noise (but it wasn't as obvious or repeatable as it usually is) and he did seem genuinely dismayed that they hadn't picked it up.  He took their "most senior technician" out with him, then put the car on a lift but couldn't determine the fault.

 

I said I thought top mount bearings were a common issue but they dismissed that.  They seem to be focussed on lower arms / drop links (at first they said CV joints).  I don't know, but it strikes me as unlikely that they would knock on a car with 4K miles (it's done 8K but they're same as when we picked the car up) and that whatever was making them knock wouldn't be apparent upon examination.

 

They offered to have the car back but it's always a faff to get it off my wife for a day or two.   I need to try harder to find the circumstances where you can reliably hear it - turning the tight right off the main road into our road it always does it with mutiple knocks, and turning into our drive.  But I couldn't easily replicate it with the dealer.  I mentioned earlier in the thread that in multi-storey car parks it basically does it the whole time while cornering for the ramps.  I'm wondering now if it's doing it all the time but once above 20MPH or so then road noise drowns it out?

 

 

 

 

On 17/06/2024 at 22:01, Rory said:

Our car was in for service today and I'd asked them to take another look at the knocking / chattering noise on low speed corners.

 

It seems to do it all the time when we drive it so it seems completely obvious to me, but once again the dealer said they couldn't find it.   A young service advisor came out with us and heard the noise (but it wasn't as obvious or repeatable as it usually is) and he did seem genuinely dismayed that they hadn't picked it up.  He took their "most senior technician" out with him, then put the car on a lift but couldn't determine the fault.

 

I said I thought top mount bearings were a common issue but they dismissed that.  They seem to be focussed on lower arms / drop links (at first they said CV joints).  I don't know, but it strikes me as unlikely that they would knock on a car with 4K miles (it's done 8K but they're same as when we picked the car up) and that whatever was making them knock wouldn't be apparent upon examination.

 

They offered to have the car back but it's always a faff to get it off my wife for a day or two.   I need to try harder to find the circumstances where you can reliably hear it - turning the tight right off the main road into our road it always does it with mutiple knocks, and turning into our drive.  But I couldn't easily replicate it with the dealer.  I mentioned earlier in the thread that in multi-storey car parks it basically does it the whole time while cornering for the ramps.  I'm wondering now if it's doing it all the time but once above 20MPH or so then road noise drowns it out?

 

 

 

 

That was pretty much my experience sadly.

 

The noise has returned and seems more pronounced in the warmer weather? 

 

Planning to ask the dealer to take another look and will report back 👍

Not sure if this the same but Just got my 2023  Karoq last month with 6 k on the clock  and today have noticed a similar noise  eminenting from the front tyres which is more pronounced inside the cabin and at low speed which happens when I turn left or right .

I'm sure it was ok yesterday and the only difference is it's a warmer day which is probably sheer coincidence .

Off to the dealer to show them it tomorrow.

 

 

20 minutes ago, stevethemook said:

Not sure if this the same but Just got my 2023  Karoq last month with 6 k on the clock  and today have noticed a similar noise  eminenting from the front tyres which is more pronounced inside the cabin and at low speed which happens when I turn left or right .

I'm sure it was ok yesterday and the only difference is it's a warmer day which is probably sheer coincidence .

Off to the dealer to show them it tomorrow.

 

 

Our was previously investigated, but the noise came and went, but appears to be more evident with the onset of the warmer weather. 

 

The dealer took another look earlier and are now we fitting two new top mounts under warranty 👍

 

I'll update once they are fitted. 

On 17/06/2024 at 22:01, Rory said:

Our car was in for service today and I'd asked them to take another look at the knocking / chattering noise on low speed corners.

 

It seems to do it all the time when we drive it so it seems completely obvious to me, but once again the dealer said they couldn't find it.   A young service advisor came out with us and heard the noise (but it wasn't as obvious or repeatable as it usually is) and he did seem genuinely dismayed that they hadn't picked it up.  He took their "most senior technician" out with him, then put the car on a lift but couldn't determine the fault.

 

I said I thought top mount bearings were a common issue but they dismissed that.  They seem to be focussed on lower arms / drop links (at first they said CV joints).  I don't know, but it strikes me as unlikely that they would knock on a car with 4K miles (it's done 8K but they're same as when we picked the car up) and that whatever was making them knock wouldn't be apparent upon examination.

 

They offered to have the car back but it's always a faff to get it off my wife for a day or two.   I need to try harder to find the circumstances where you can reliably hear it - turning the tight right off the main road into our road it always does it with mutiple knocks, and turning into our drive.  But I couldn't easily replicate it with the dealer.  I mentioned earlier in the thread that in multi-storey car parks it basically does it the whole time while cornering for the ramps.  I'm wondering now if it's doing it all the time but once above 20MPH or so then road noise drowns it out?

 

 

 

 

Whilst troubleshooting the noise yesterday we realised it was most evident with 2 front seat passengers, whereas it vanished entirely when the car was 'unloaded'.

 

This more than likely explains why it was less evident when previously investigated (on a ramp in the workshop) but returns when in normal everyday use.

 

Hopefully replacement top mounts resolve the issue 🤞

6 hours ago, pinkpanther said:

Whilst troubleshooting the noise yesterday we realised it was most evident with 2 front seat passengers, whereas it vanished entirely when the car was 'unloaded'.

 

 

I saw that mentioned somewhere the other day - have you noted it previously?

 

As it's my wife's car, if I'm driving it she's usually in the car too.  However I did use it yesterday on my own and, just as you said, I didn't hear the noise at all.  I was wondering if the dealer had actually done something, or if it was due to the suddenly warmer weather.

 

The warmer weather did highlight the a/c system noise again though, I guess as it was working a bit harder  That really doesn't sound right at all (they've changed the compressor already but I'm not convinced that's the issue).

 

 

Ah, it's mentioned in the other thread (linked at the top of this thread):

 

On 17/09/2022 at 14:28, kprida77 said:

Our 2018 has a knock from the LHS (nearside). I was hoping it was the drop links and replaced them (as cheap) myself but the knock is still there. I believe its the top mount. I found (after changing the drop links *sigh*), with ours you can only replicate it if someone is sat in the passenger seat when you push down on the front. Bonnet up, push on inner wing edge or the front hard to get it bouncing (I have to get a good bounce on it to knock). If you bounce it without someone in the passenger seat, no knock noise. The knock coming from the top of the strut. Might be worth trying to see if you can replicate it that way (careful when pushing hard you dont bend/dent anything!). 

 

 

Edited 21 June, 20241 yr by Rory

Went to the garage today. A technician immediately said bring it in and get a new steering rack. Ok to drive at the moment. It'll be done next month and will take two days.

Let's hope he's diagnosed it correctly.

All to be done under a warranty on a 8 month old car with 6k on the clock🤔

2 hours ago, stevethemook said:

Went to the garage today. A technician immediately said bring it in and get a new steering rack. Ok to drive at the moment. It'll be done next month and will take two days.

Let's hope he's diagnosed it correctly.

All to be done under a warranty on a 8 month old car with 6k on the clock🤔

The steering rack was replaced on mine within a few months of delivery. 

 

The garage picked up a noisy steering motor whilst investigating the noisy suspension and a replacement was authorised under warranty and fitted a few weeks later, although had no impact on the suspension noise. 

 

If the replacement top mounts don't resolve the issue it'll be a case of either living with it, or considering moving the car on in favour of something else. 

 

Whilst in the showroom yesterday I was impressed by the new Kodiak and was surprised to see a base model 1.5 TSi DSG 2WD 5 seat Kodiak (energy blue only) wasn't much dearer than the energy blue 24 plate 1.0 TSi manual Karoq SE L on display🤔

Ours doesn't seem to have been too bad since it was in the garage, but had 4 adults in today and the knocking was insane!  It was noticeable on a straight bumpy road, at slow sped but sounded more like it was coming from underneath the car.  

 

With the other two people dropped off and just wife and I it became more intermittant - I'm having so much trouble trying to reliably reproduce the noise - it seems to need just the right speed and possibly with the front reasonably loaded by braking as you turn, say into a fairly tight side road.

20 hours ago, Rory said:

Ours doesn't seem to have been too bad since it was in the garage, but had 4 adults in today and the knocking was insane!  It was noticeable on a straight bumpy road, at slow sped but sounded more like it was coming from underneath the car.  

 

With the other two people dropped off and just wife and I it became more intermittant - I'm having so much trouble trying to reliably reproduce the noise - it seems to need just the right speed and possibly with the front reasonably loaded by braking as you turn, say into a fairly tight side road.

My local main dealer kindly loaded up the car with a mechanic whilst another inspected the suspension 👍

 

We had 4 in the car when the temperature hit 28 degrees on Monday and the noise was much more evident. 

 

Hope you get it sorted🤞

On 21/06/2024 at 21:45, pinkpanther said:

The steering rack was replaced on mine within a few months of delivery. 

 

The garage picked up a noisy steering motor whilst investigating the noisy suspension and a replacement was authorised under warranty and fitted a few weeks later, although had no impact on the suspension noise. 

 

If the replacement top mounts don't resolve the issue it'll be a case of either living with it, or considering moving the car on in favour of something else. 

 

Whilst in the showroom yesterday I was impressed by the new Kodiak and was surprised to see a base model 1.5 TSi DSG 2WD 5 seat Kodiak (energy blue only) wasn't much dearer than the energy blue 24 plate 1.0 TSi manual Karoq SE L on display🤔

Early indications are replacing both front top mounts has resolved the issue with excessive noise. 

 

I also recently took ownership of a 2021 Octavia Estate 1.5 TSi manual and noticed none of the driveability issues (ease of stalling) evident with my 2023 manual 1.5 TSi Karoq. 

 

The ride is also considerably more comfortable on the Octavia, which I suspect is probably as a consequence of the 16" alloys and 60 section tyres, as compared to the (relatively) low profile and in my view over-sized 18" items on the Karoq.