Challenge: Solve the mystery of my front end knock.

[shwak23]

Normally I wouldn't ask but these forums have been dull lately so I thought i'd post my current problem. My car has a weird knocking noise coming from the front. It happens on take off *knock*. It happens while driving *knock*. But.sometimes seemingly randomly it will go *knock knock knock knock knock* It happens whether I have the clutch in or out. My front motor mount is wasted. My rear might be good... It's to dark to see. lol. Its such an odd noise though. It happens so intermittently. It seems to be getting worse.....


Car is a MKII Golf TD, it's blue with a blue interior. hint: the color probably has nothing to do with the problem....


edit: 101st post.... Neatos.

[RadoTD]

Sway bar bushings, control arm bushings (rear against subframe), ball joints, tie rods, motor mounts, subframe bolts, loose steering rack. Off the top of my head, those are sort of in order of likelyhood from what I've seen

Jack the car up and start tugging on things. Things on the car, that is.

[theman53]

If your front mount is wasted that is probably it. I had mine rip the steel backing out so that it didn't push against the rubber. It was then a straight piece like a bolt that was just going up and down inside the rubber. It made noise similar to what you are describing, especially when accel and decel.

Or it could be because it is blue...same color as my car.

[Turftech]

Is the rad fan housing dented at the bottom?  That will be from the top of the front mount smacking it when you add power.  I wound up with some serious damage from driving with bad mounts.  It put excessive stress on the final drive bearings and also wore the CV joints rather badly.  Eventually the right rear mount bracket broke away from the engine taking 2 threaded mounting points on the block with it.  I ended up having to replace the transaxle and repair the broken mounting points.  While these cars are amazingly tough, some things must be tended to.  Mounts are high on that list.  Still, you should look into repainting your ride.  Blue is just asking for it.

[shwak23]

I knew Blue was a bad idea.

I just ordered a replacement front motor mount from Proethe. $11  I was going to run hockey pucks but when I saw ol' proethy had mounts for the cost of 3 hockey pucks it didn't make sense.

I should have probably ordered a rear mount too... I hung the engine of it a couple of times when doing my tranny. So it's probably trashed. Ol' Proethy is where i'll be buying mounts from now on but I hate that unlike GAP it takes longer than over night to receive my stuff. 

I might be able to jack the car up today and shake some stuff but if not I'll keep everyone posted. Hopefully that mounts shows up soon. 

 

[bajacalal]

I need to replace one of those clips that hole the brake calipers.

They are rattling and causing what you describe.

[shwak23]

I need to replace one of those clips that hole the brake calipers.

They are rattling and causing what you describe.

By the Brake Calipers do you mean the clips that hold the pads? The Anti Rattle clips? Because I think you may be on to something.

I replaced my front motor mount and tightened my Driver's side CV axle which had come a little lose. The noise remains. The more I hear it the more I think it's something coming from the wheel area.  I'll investigate.

[burn_your_money]

If it only does it going over bumps then put your foot lightly on the brakes while going over a bump. No noise, it's probably the calipers/pads.

[bajacalal]

By the Brake Calipers do you mean the clips that hold the pads? The Anti Rattle clips? Because I think you may be on to something.

Yes, those. I can't remember if they press the pads against the caliper of the caliper body against its mount.

And holding your foot on the brake would apply pressure would keep them from moving, so you would know if this is your problem, if it goes away when you press the brake.

[belchfire]

If you replace the rear mount (the one that gets all of the oil drips) don't use a urethane one. While it may seem to be the trick set up, the noise will be unbearable. My daughter's toyota had a horrible clunking sound that new axles didn't solve. It turned out that the motor mount bolts had no nuts. The engine torqued and bound up the CV joints. It looked perfect in the shop but it wasn't until the bracket jumped out of the frame that I saw what it was.

[shwak23]

I wanted to order all new Engine mounts but Proethe was out of stock on both rear mounts.  I checked the brakes today. They seemed ok. Kinda seems like my inner pad is wearing too quickly but I think I've known for quite some time that I need new calipers. (My bleeder screws broke off months ago. ) I was missing the set screw on the Rotor... I'm not sure if that would cause rattling. I think i'm going to try and snag the 2 rear motor mounts ASAP and at the same time rebuild my outer CV joint.

BTW Any idea if I can use a MKI drivers side cv shaft in a MKII? Are they the same length? (Currently running 90mm axles.)

[damac]

Are we talking about a shifting clunk like the tranny/engine shifting on every sudden hit of the gas, bump and braking?

My jetta was doing that when I brought it home.  I found most of the bushings/mounts were very worn compared to new.  With the rear beam bushings practically useless and ready to rip apart.  And the major one was the front arms main bushing that internally was collapsed.  I replaced everything for the hell of it so its hard to say if it was mostly one thing over the other but I saw in an improvement at every stage with the last being motor mounts.

My right front wheel bearing also had noticeable play once I got it off the car.

The motor mount replacement at the end of my project really helped with the shifting of the tranny and finally allowed me to adjust the shifter correctly with all new linkages/bushings.

If its not obvious by sight, jack the front on each side and start playing with a crowbar.

[shwak23]

Well I have a new theory. I had to pull my tranny about 5 times in the last 5 months. (Don't even ask, I seriously don't own any clothes anymore that aren't covered in tranny fluid.  )

Anyway by the time the 5th pull came along rage and impatience may have led to me being rather aggressive with my Drivers Side CV axle. The outer joint saw some pretty extreme angles. The noise has progressed to a rotational clunk or thud and is getting pretty loud. I'm guessing my CV is ***ed. I'll probably rebuild the outer joint and see what happens.

In the mean time I broke my dog bone plastic thing on my shift linkage so I bought all new bushings and new shifter hardware.... Apparently I didn't just need a new plastic ball thing. I also needed a new plastic ball cup...Mine has a hole in it. blahhh....

[theman53]

I was going to say check the CV's as I have the 80% peliquin kit in mine. The bolt came out and the inner CV ate it. Then it would clunk and actually vibrate after a while.

[shwak23]

Ok so I haven't checked my CV yet. I haven't had the time to take my car off the road for the few hours it would take for me to stand around, stare at it blankly, smoke a thousand cigs, stare at it some more, and then actually do whatever it was I was talking about at the beginning of this sentence. 

I did however take my brakes apart the other day and found my set screw on the rotor is totally gonzo. Is there any chance that could cause any noise?

God i'm lazy... I'll try and find some anti rattle spring/wire/wtfever tomorrow and get an EZ out to get the snapped set screw out... Gah....

Is there any chance this could be a wheel bearing type noise? I know mine aren't the prettiest.

-L