Knocking from front.

[chips]

Hi all

As per the title, I have a knocking from the front of my 1999 110 TDI Alhambra. Its a solid knocking and only happens over small bumps and uneven ground / potholes, not speed bumps, you can sort of feel it through the floor / steering, and as I said it is a solid knocking.
I have changed, bottom ball joints, track rod ends, drop links, wishbones, and strut top mounts, I am at a bit of a lose now as to what else it could be, the only other thing, well the only thing left is the anti rollbar bushes, I'm not sure that would make such a knock, tho I very well may be wrong.
Does anyone have any ideas as to what it may be, I hate to think that the car is beating itself everytime I go over bumpy/uneven roads.
On the upside the handling and steering of the car has improved ten fold, as you would expect.
Any help, advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks


Chips

[escobar.0797]

Go for the anti-roll bar bushes.I would blame them!Regards!

[chips]

Yeah, I'll change them when the weather picks up a bit, let you know how it goes.

Thanks



Chips

[chips]

It was the anti-rollbar bushes, changed them today and no more knocking.
Now I just have to fix my reverse lights, gear linkage and the vibration.
I think the reverse lights problem is with the switch on the gear selector, and the vibration is with an engine mount, but I'm not so sure whats up with the gear linkage. It seems to be when going across the gate, it gets very sticky, and I have to give the gear stick a good hard wobble to try and free it up a bit, but it always goes into gear. Can anyone give me any ideas why this happens or what I should be looking to do to try and fix the problem, any help is appreaciated.



Thanks

Chips

[zollaf]

the gear stick fault lies with a little roller bearing in the selector. as you go left to right across the gate, a rod in the selector housing on top of the box goes up and down in this bearing. it gets water in it and rusts, thus the sticking. you can unbolt the selector and replace the bearing which is 20 quid or so from a dealer. you may have to remove or move the engine mount, but its a fairly simple job to do. theres a turret thingy sticking up on the selector with a cap on the top and the bearing is inside here.

[chips]

Thanks a lot Zollaf, thats a great help, I know the engine mount you mean. I'll try and get a look at it in the next couple of days and let you know how I get on. You don't by any chance know which engine mount is the most likely to need changed. The whole car vibrates, not a lot, but then I don't really want it getting worse, its a very tight vibration, not a shaking but a tight short vibration.


Thanks again


Chips

[zollaf]

there are 2 large mounts, one at each end of the engine / gearbox. these take the weight. then under neath there is one at the back and possibly one at the front that stop it rocking. possibly these are worn.

[chips]

Just to let you know, I fixed the linkage sticking. I went to have another look at it before I attempted to change it, and I could see what you mean't about the water, but I wasn't rusted, so in the mean time, I hit it with some WD40, dried it off, sprayed some PTFE coating and greased it up as a make do until I replaced it, and as of yet, it is still fine.

Thanks again for the advice Zollaf :biggthump



Chips