more strange knocking sounds

I've posted about this a couple of times now, although i'm not sure if this latest development is related to the previous posts. I have an escort which has had something knocking from the front for the past few months, basically when i set off forward there was something that felt like it had some play in it and was moving backwards before hitting something, it was only a small knock and i felt it more than heard it but it was more noticable when setting off from a stop going uphill.

It now seems to have turned into quite a sharp knocking sound which appears at random although i did notice it appeared almost all the time if the steering wheel was turned sharply to the right whilst moving.

I've just had the drivers side front wheel off and have noticed that the rubber cover on the wishbone balljoint that attaches to the wheel hub is split open. There is no play in the ball joint, i've had a good swing on the wheel when it's off the ground and bounced the car when it's on the ground and everything seems as it should. I've checked all the nuts and bolts in and around the fron wheels and they're all tight, also checked the trackrod ball joints and the rest of the bushes on the wishbones and everything seems fine.

I'm now at a loss to know what it could be, the wishbones themselves were only put on earlier this year. The car dosn't handle any different when driving do i now have no idea what to check next. Anyone got any ideas?

Thanks

Reply to
tollermccallum
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This car does have McPherson struts does it not? If so, it is likely that the bearing at the top of the strut is gone, allowing the strut to wander. Need to take the strut off, remove the spring (careful), and replace bearing.

Rob Graham

Reply to
Rob graham

Worn CV joint, innit. The rubber boots are MOT items, IIRC. The split allows moisture in and grease out, causing the wear. A new boot and more grease may cure it, but I doubt it. Mind you, I thought clicking while turning right, meant the left hand one had gone, so perhaps they both need attention.

Reply to
Willy Eckerslyke

Yeah....TAKE IT TO A GARAGE.

Reply to
Conor

The message from Willy Eckerslyke contains these words:

Usually it's the one that's at the sharpest angle which clicks. When you turn left the left wheel points more to the left than the right wheel to account for the circle on that side being a smaller diameter.

Reply to
Guy King

I'm not convinced it's the CV joint, if it were i'd expect the knocking to to be contiuous when cornering and it's not. When the wheel is turned it may clunk once and then stop. The bearing going on the strut sounds like a more credible option so i'll check that tomorrow.

Anyone know what i can use to compress the spring and where i can get one cheaply?

Reply to
tollermccallum

The message from "tollermccallum" contains these words:

Could be the lower swivel. If it's worn a track in itself then rides out of it at the end of its travel.

Reply to
Guy King

You said the noise came when you started straight off. I would check to see if all of the engine and transaxle mounts are in good shape. Sounds to me like your problem is mounts. Scott

Reply to
zonie

I'll check the engine mounts etc but i'm convinced it's to do with the wheels / suspension. It appears to be more on the passenger side but i had some tyres put on recently and they've made a bit of a mess when they've put the wheel nuts back on whihc means the socket is slipping when i try and undo them. I'll get it off tomorrow and check the wishbones and struts.

It's really bugging me because it's not affecting the handling of the car at all, i've had various suspension wishbone problems with other cars and they have alwasy affected how the car drives and this in itself gives some indication of what the problem could be.

It's be much easier if i had a pit, unfortunately a friend of mine who does is in ireland for the next few weeks.

Keep the suggestions coming!

Thanks

Reply to
tollermccallum

My money would be worn splines on your input driveshaft into your CV joint.

I had exactly the same problem. You'd start to pull away, and nothing would happen until an enormous clunk, and then all would go.

Changing direction would cause it again.

I had it checked at the garage, and the joint failed on the way to have it repaired the next day.

Pete.

Reply to
Pete Smith

CVs can wear in 3 ways.

The input splines on the CV/Driveshaft can wear.

The inner mechanism of the joint can wear

The output splines can wear.

If it's not clicking while going round corners (as mine wasn't, shortly before it went pop and stopped working!), then that just means that the middle bit isn't worn.

Pete.

Reply to
Pete Smith

Saying it is that, can you remember how much you paid for the repair and what it was they replaced?

Reply to
tollermccallum

This was on a 2.0 1998 Ford Mondeo.

The CV joint failing was caused by, or caused damage to the driveshaft.

ISTR it was =A318 for a new driveshaft, =A370 for the CV & kit, and =A370 l= abour.

This joint was the 2nd one. The first one was a replacement part that=20 failed in the traditional way (knocking on full lock). There must have been= =20 a bad batch, because it was replaced by Ford and they threw in the=20 driveshaft, so effectively, I only paid =A370.

HTH

Pete.

--=20 NOTE! Email address is spamtrapped. Any email will be deleted Remove the news and underscore from my address to reply by mail

Reply to
Pete Smith

Couldn't be they have crossthreaded the wheel and its a bit loose?

Reply to
Stuart Gray

Thanks for your help. I'll have a good look under the car tomorrow and if need be whip the driveshafts off for a better look. I'm hoping it's someting simple and cheap although knowing my luck it's not going to be. I can definatley say this car is the last ever high mileage ford i'll be buying.

Reply to
tollermccallum

After spending a good few hours under the car today i finally dound the problem as i was admitting defeat and lowering the car.

It turned out to be a slightly loose nut holding the anti roll link rod onto the strut on the passenger side. It wasn't loose enough for me to be able to move it by hand but was easily able to move under the weight of the car. The link rod drifting around the hole on the strut was causing some knocking but the anti roll bar was also able to twist a lot more due to the increased travel of the link rod and was knocking into the underside of the car causing the rather loud clunking.

I had pretty much admitted defeat with this and was resigned to an expensive garage bill. Just goes to show the most insignificant little things can cause the biggest problems.

kris

Reply to
tollermccallum

Sure, and I'm not sure you're really being fair to Ford to say, as you have in another part of this thread, that this is the last high mileage Ford you'll buy. This sort of problem is, I guess, a possibility in any make of high mileage car.

Rob Graham

Reply to
Rob graham

Nice one.

Reply to
Stuart Gray

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