Almost from new, our Skoda Yeti developed a rattle on the front end when turning left at a junction. Almost like the rattle you'd get on an older engine when the ignition timing was a degree or two out. 

Despite numerous visits back to our main dealer (now no longer in business) they were unable to solve the issue. 

I even went out with one of their technicians to replicate the noise, and although they were unable to offer a solution, they said they would, document it on the service record.... They did not. 

 

Here, for anyone else is the reason and solution given to me by our local Indie mechanic... He found it online, and it works. 

Even on brand new vehicles.... Obviously neither Skoda or VW were bothered about admitting to it or fixing it! Anothere reason not to buy from VW/Skoda again.

Test drove it at 15mph on quiet road violently swinging the steering right and left. Sure enough, a metallic front end knock on both right and left swing of the front suspension. Anybody who has gone fault finding for front knocks will have a list to work through e.g:

Broken front coil spring, bad shock absorbers, loose bolts on shock mounts, loose shock fixing nut, front strut swivel bearings, bottom suspension ball joint, engine mounts, exhaust or hangers and anti roll bar (ARB). Search the web and you find many inconclusive investigation reports for Skoda and vags.
I had both front struts off a VW last year, it is tedious, but the best way to get to the bottom of that illusive knock. This time I checked the coil springs for breaks first then started with a pinch bar and the front suspension normally loaded, huffed and puffed, pulled at everything - an MOT PASS, but the knocks were still there(?)
Then I decided to hack into the anti roll bar. The best way with those is to remove the tie rod connecting the ARB to the strut at one end, hang a length of 2" steel scaffold tube on the end of the ARB then test the centre mountings and far end tie rod left connected. Those centre bushes are hard to access but I found no play. Repeat for the second tie rod.
I started to undo the nut on the ball joint connecting the tie rod to the ARB. I've learned that is the best one to start with! Strange the nut on the left side was tight, but the nut on the right side turned (?). It wasn't, loose but the ball joint spigot was turning. I fitted a spline key into the end of the joint and attempted to tighten the nut. If I had carried on, the spline would have been wrecked and a new tie rod would be required. As the left side tie rod was disconnected I poked my short length of scaffold tube on the ARB end and waggled it up and down. Immediate metal to metal contact from the thread of the right side lower ball joint hitting the hole in the ARB! I had to find out what was going on because so many have just replaced the tied rod (with ball joints) but my ball joints had no play.
On the basis that new nuts are cheaper than tie rods, I cut a slot in the ball joint nut with a 1mm disc grinder whilst avoiding the threads on the joint end. A couple of chisel smashes later the nut could be turned with a spline key in the joint acting as the counter turn. So what is going on? These ball joints have plain M12X1.5 parallel threads and there is no taper fit on the ball joint. The hole in the end of the ARB is 12.5mm diameter which is 0.5mm oversize. They rely on the ball Hex collar nut torque giving sufficient friction to stop the thread moving around the hole in the ARB. Unfortunately, they screwed up because the 'collar' on the ball joint is narrower with a smaller contact area than the collar nut. They got the collar nut about right. but not the other half of the sandwich!
I'll leave it to your imagination to decide what you can do with a short 8mm wide strip of 8 thou brass shim and a M12 penny washer. I replaced both left and right lower tie rod ball joint nuts part N015 081 6 for £2.50. Test drove Yeti and there were zero knocks from the front suspension.
 This fault is very hard to find and many have just replaced the tie rod and ball joint assembly. I bet the dealers do this too. I think the sequence of events is the lower ball joint nut slackens off first, then rusts on the thread. Anybody using the spline key and wrench will find the nut torque in limits when the nut has actually seized and locked. The test is to try and tighten the lower ball joint nuts. If they turn along with the thread, there is no friction to stop the thread banging around +- 0.25mm in the hole.

 

 

 

Edited 1 December, 20241 yr by Yetianimal

Many thanks for taking the trouble to write this up.

 

I'm inclined to think that this is symptomatic of the disconnect between the folks who design cars nowadays and the people who actually use them and repair them. Maybe there is no handover between ones with experience and ones who newly join.  Engineering tradition and knowledge simply evaporate when people retire.

 

For what it's worth, I maintain a 2009 Mazda MX-5.  These cars are renowned for "eating" anti-roll bar links (same front and rear), which are about 4 inches long and have a ball joint each end with a taper pin.  They start to knock on rough roads after only 2 or 3 years.  The nuts seize up so one always has to cut them off. The old links that come off have no noticeable play in the ball joints, and are still stiff-ish to manipulate by hand, but replacing with new ones seems to cure the problem.  It must be only the tiniest of movements to cause a noise.

Thanks Austin 7.

 

You're right. Us older guys who could strip down most cars in a weekend, grind valves, replace pistons and fix pretty well any issues are all retired. 

I know cars are a lot more high tech these days, but most components still do what they have done for many years. 

There is a bone idle, lazy malaise in most dealerships. All they are interested in is selling cars.

Technicians are probably highly trained, and I don't knock them, but they are mostly under the scrutiny of the management bean counters, so the easy out is just for them to not deal with problems unless you arrive with your lawyer! 

A sad state of affairs which inevitably backfires on the dealership, because you feel aggrieved and so don't return to buy another car. 

Life in 2024…

 

 

The vast majority of dealers are part of groups. All are in it to make money.

 

Many of the 'specialist' (e.g. 'VAG specialist'), independent garages were set up by ex-dealer mechanics / technicians/ mastertechs who do it cheaper and have the retained experience that people want.

 

I have an old Subaru which I take to a garage that's a 3 hour round trip away because they know the older cars inside out still. They are the same price as a 'big city dealer' but know what they are doing.