fieldy

hello and can anybody help with a knocking coming from the fron of my car. ther are another 2 SNers who have the same problem. (geesta, harty2000) for me and geesta it seems to be coming from one of the front legs. bt when its raining or has justed rained , it stops. this is true for all 3 of us. can anyone please enlighten us on this problem?

thedeester1

Brakes maybe. A lot of brake noise goes away when they are wet.
Otherwise bushing. If they are cold they are hard as they warm they soften and have more play.
More info on the knocking please. Is it always there or just on bumps?
Year of car too please

fieldy

cant speak for the others but , mine makes a slight knocking/tapping noise that seems to come from the o/s front leg. ive sprayed wd40 on all bushes and joints at the bottom of leg. i get a little bit of knocking at low speed but mainly when im turning a corner or parking. all of the knocking stops if its rained /raining. seems to make the noise more at the top of leg than the bottom.

fieldy

sorry mate. mine is a 1997 turbo 2000 wagon

Harty2000

My knockin seems to be coming from the front drivers side wheel, it isnt constant but can happen when im going straight or around corners at slowish speed.
I was worried at first about wether the knocking was coming from engine but it only does it when car is moving, and not revving the engine when car is stationry. Im 99% sure it is coming from the wheel area.
The rain must be acting as some sort of lubrication

Harty2000

1996 UK turbo btw

fieldy

harty2000. we just need geesta now , mate.

Harty2000

As you two have 1997 cars and I have a very late 96 car, maybe its a common fault on these particular years. I did try putting more copper grease on the back of the brake pad a couple of months back to solve problem but obviously didnt work

fieldy

i didnt do anything to the brakes but wd40 every joint and bush on bottom of the leg . still knocks. doh hopefully "thedeerster1" can help. otherwise we will just have to pray for rain when wanting to have a drive. agree with you mate, must be something week or prone to problems with around that year of car.

scooby-woo

Drive shaft

fieldy

hmmm not sure mate. on mine , the knocking seems like its coming from top of o/s front leg. had a mate to listen by the wheel and he recond it was coming from top of leg area aswell

David_Harden

And can I be added to this list too? (see my earlier post about a clonking sound)

Your descriptions are similar to mine. I'm gonna get the WD40 out. Thanks.

I have aftermarket anti-roll bars with poly bushes. I've heard these can get sticky and need greasing with molybdenum grease. I'm going to try that too.

fieldy

hope you have more luck with the wd40 than i did mate

David_Harden

It's worth a go. Can you tell me exactly what to spray?

David

fieldy

i sprayed all fixing points to the bottom of the leg (nuts,bolts and bushes) hope it helps you mate. i didnt help me but then a friend of mine said the knocking was coming from the top of the leg. im none the wiser good luck mate. hope it works

David_Harden

And by "leg", you mean the suspension unit?

fieldy

sorry mate. yes i do mean susspension unit

fieldy

can anyone please give me advice on what is causing the knocking on my impreza( turbo 2000 r-reg) seems to be coming from top of the suspension leg

Harty2000

Think Ill probably have a look at my car tomorrow to see if I can get to the bottom of the mysterious knocking.
Im sure we'll get to the bottom of it soon fieldy

David_Harden

One thing that cause a knocking sound on my previous scooby was loose front brake calipers. The 2 big nuts that hold the caliper were not done up tightly, thus allowing the caliper to twist a bit. This forced the pads onto the disk a little bit, causing a knocking sound.

Everyone check their brake calipers are done up real tight.

thedeester1

This is a real toughy. The fact that several of you have the same problem is a teaser for me. brakes, wheel bearings and driveshafts will knock more the faster the car is moving (as a rule). Suspension will knock in relation to the road surface. Hovever beacuse of loading taking up the play it will tend to knock less at higher speeds, there is also the factor that at higher speeds it will ride the bumps better rather than follow ever contor of the road. Where things get tricky is steering. The track rod ends can knock if they are worn. people say you can tell if one is worn cause the car feels like its "skating". What i have found though if you drive the car every day you dont notice the difference until one is changed (you dont notice the gradual loss but you notice the sudden gain). The other time you can tell is if someone drives the car and tells you it doesnt feel right. All i can say on track rod ends is take the car to a motorway and do 70mph. Feel for slack in the steering and wondering of the car. If your doing 70 and having to correct the car in a straight line then something is wrong. If this is the case there could be a lot worse wrong but more often than not its a track rod end.
Do not panic no matter whats wrong its easy to fix once you find it!

If knocking is comming from the top of a leg it is suspension.. Why rain would quiet it is a mystery to me. the shock bolts to the wing and the spring is mounted on a cup just below. For 4 of you to have a faulty shocker or broken spring though is about as likely as me having a threesome with kelly brook and Elvis.

David_Harden

I like what you have to say mate. You sound like you might know what you're talking about!

Unlike me...

My question is, surely if the car is wondering around, that could be just the tracking is out??

For my car, I am reasonably sure mine makes the knocking sound more when there is significant steering angle - in other words, low speed manoeuvring.

These track rod ends, is that a bearing that can be replaced? Expensive or cheap to fix?

Thanks

David

fieldy

"thedeester1" thanks for the help mate. very much appreciated. will get up on the m23 and have a good drive to see if car is wondering. if anything to see if that would rule out the track rod end. im planing soon to uprate my suspension all round so if i do have a moody front shock that would sort it. again, thanks for your help and advice. i will see what i can do about kelly brook for you. but i think elvis might be a bit stinky by now (pmsl. ) mark

fieldy

im sure we will mate.

terryb

It could be a sticking suspension strut. When it's not raining, try lifting the front wheel arch up and see if it drops back down or sticks up. Or try compressing the strut to see if it returns.

If this happens then you need a new strut.

This happened to me on the rear of my old P1.

Cheers

Terry

Oh and the knocking stopped on mine too when it rained

thedeester1

the track rod ends are what connects the steering arms to the front hub...well kinda they dont turn with the hub. The hub turns on the wheel bearing and the driveshaft is connected into the back of the hub. The hub however is connected to a metal casting through the wheel bearing. This casting is connected to the suspension leg, the anti roll bar. the front wishbone (through the lower suspension ball joint). And the steering arm through the track rod end. Some people call it the steering arm coupling.
If tracking is out the car may wonder but it wont knock. get it checked to illiminate something. Its gonna cost a bit i know but i would do the same before changing a track rod end for no reason.

Is it a bearing? Ill try to describe a track rod end. Its like a ball and socket joint (like your shoulder) one end (arm) is fitted to the steering arm the other (part of the arm) is fitted to where the hub fits in. Its easy to replace but they tend to be tight through rust. get the stillsons on them and count the number of turns they take to get off. When you fit the new one count the number of turns it takes to get on. They will have a locknut behind them but you cant use this as a guage since you will probably have to move it to get the trackrod end off. As always you might get close with the fitting but you should get the tracking laser set afterwards.
A sticking strut is a new one on me the spring should aways return the strut to the bottom even if the shock is done for?

David_Harden

Thanks to all the helpers. I now have plenty to look at on Friday (er, I hope the weather will be friendly).

Chad!

Hmm, this sounds like a good one. A couple of points that may be of some use. Are your tyres wearing just as they always have? A knackered ball joint would most likely give you the impression that your tracking is out. You can check for play in a ball joint so replacing it isn't essential to eliminate it. And my next point is: If your suspension leg is knackered, to test it, bounce the car by pushing down real hard above the suspension leg. I find lifting the bonet and bouncing it that way is easiest. But anyway, if the suspension leg is ok, the car should steady itself almost immediately. If it bounces a bit when you have stopped bouncing it then I would suggest that the leg is knackered. If it's possible to swap the near side for the off side leg, try it. If the knocking swaps sides, you've sussed it. Other than that, well, bit stumped.

Wheel bearing, nah.
Ball joint (track rod end), possible.
Suspension leg, possible.

Hope this makes sense, I've had no sleep. Hope it helps too. Good luck.

Chad.

thedeester1

If the car knocks in low speed corners id go for a wheel bearing or anti roll bar joint.

thedeester1

A wheel bearing would give you the knock when cornering at low speed. When your moving faster it becomes more of a growl. With the sound inside my car from the engine and powerflow exhaust a growl is hard to recognise.