Clunk Clunk Clunk

**cheesy** · 01-22-2017, 02:13 PM

Had a clunking noise in Mrs. C's Audi over the past few weeks that was driving me nuts. Sounded like it was coming from the left rear. As it only happened on rough roads, I went over the rear suspension with a fine toothed comb. Nothing amiss there. Still had the noise. I noticed that the exhaust system moved around a bit and that my McGyvered snubbers had rusted away, so I made a new set. Actually, just multiple strands of Mechanics wire wrapped tight. That helped a bit.

Yesterday, I pulled the spare, jack, and tool kit out and put them back in. Still had the noise. In fact, it had gotten worse.

This morning, for grins, I flipped the rear seats over and ran my hand along back of the seat bottoms. I found a small, but heavy, pewter picture frame that had fallen out of a donation bag and ended up under the rear seat, bouncing to it's hearts content.

Noise is gone and I threw the frame away.

2LZ · 01-22-2017, 03:58 PM

Nice fix, cheesy! I had a very similar situation happen way back when I was wrenching for a living. We did a simple tune and alignment on a 5.0 Mustang for a lady. No big deal. Two days later she brought it back complaining of a "clunk".....and obviouosly, it was our fault and we did something to her beloved Mustang. The odd thing was, it would only do it once when she stopped and once when she accelerated.

I got in and drove, she rode shotgun. She told me to hit the brakes kind of hard at the stop light, sure as heck, "clunk"...but if I hit the brakes again, nothing. I nailed it on take off...."clunk". Nailed it again, nothing.

Then I reached behind her seat, grabbed a coffee cup rolling around on the floor and handed it to her. Clunk vanished.

BlackBike · 01-22-2017, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheesy

Had a clunking noise in Mrs. C's Audi over the past few weeks that was driving me nuts. Sounded like it was coming from the left rear. As it only happened on rough roads, I went over the rear suspension with a fine toothed comb. Nothing amiss there. Still had the noise. I noticed that the exhaust system moved around a bit and that my McGyvered snubbers had rusted away, so I made a new set. Actually, just multiple strands of Mechanics wire wrapped tight. That helped a bit.

Yesterday, I pulled the spare, jack, and tool kit out and put them back in. Still had the noise. In fact, it had gotten worse.

This morning, for grins, I flipped the rear seats over and ran my hand along back of the seat bottoms. I found a small, but heavy, pewter picture frame that had fallen out of a donation bag and ended up under the rear seat, bouncing to it's hearts content.

Noise is gone and I threw the frame away.

Vs , took it too the dealer and "we couldn't hear or find a thing".

Lucky you

Weldangrind · 01-22-2017, 08:22 PM

I once heard a potential urban myth about a guy who bought a new car that had an occasional noise, particularly on rough roads. On smooth roads, the car was silent. After several visits to the dealer and many replacement parts, the noise wouldn't disappear. The guy eventually got into an accident that required a quarter-panel replacement, whereupon the body man found a liquor bottle inside. The story goes that someone was drinking on the assembly line, and stashing empties inside quarter-panels before welding them up.

**JerryHawk250** · 01-23-2017, 07:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Weldangrind

I once heard a potential urban myth about a guy who bought a new car that had an occasional noise, particularly on rough roads. On smooth roads, the car was silent. After several visits to the dealer and many replacement parts, the noise wouldn't disappear. The guy eventually got into an accident that required a quarter-panel replacement, whereupon the body man found a liquor bottle inside. The story goes that someone was drinking on the assembly line, and stashing empties inside quarter-panels before welding them up.

That's no myth. That's actually happened. Many many years ago my dad own a full service gas station / mechanic shop. I can remember him telling us they had a customer that complain of a noise in there car they could not figure out for days. It turned out to be a whiskey bottle in the door. GAs was 15 cent a gallon back then.

Krasi_BG · 01-23-2017, 07:57 AM

Around here we get to hear this myth , or "myth", for cars made in Russia

There's one more version: after the owner went nuts with the clunking, he started diassamebling the door, and found inside a piece of wire with a nut hanging and bouncing of the sides of the door. There was also a small note on the wire which said, "Молодец! Нашел.", which means something like "Good boy! You found it.".

'16 TT250 · 01-24-2017, 01:29 PM

Here are just a few noise diagnostics I've had.

I had a customer bring me her car to check the brakes. On the test drive I noticed a loud thump from the back when I made the first turn, I actually felt it like something in the suspension shifted. I looked at her like WTF was that? She said "ignore that, I've had it in the dealership and two independent shops and nobody can figure it out". "If you can that would be great but they say they can't find anything wrong with the car so I've decided to just live with it". I pulled over and popped the trunk, put her bowling ball back in the bag & zipped it up.

Flatbed work truck that suddenly started making a 'clank' noise when shifting. I asked how long it had been making the noise and how long he'd been hanging his crowbar on the headache rack....Ummmm, 2 days. I'll put it back in the tool bin, thanks.

Pickup that makes a clunk noise from underneath when making turns so we went for a test drive. First turn I made I asked him how long his mag light had been missing. "How the hell do you know it vanished"? I pulled over and retrieved it from under the back seat.

And the best one. Car makes a click noise from underneath when making turns and rattles on bumpy roads. When I heard it I started by looking under the seats. "I'll bet this sounds much better when you're using it than when it's rolling around under your seat". I was hoping to get to watch her use her vibrator, but no.

01-22-2017, 02:13 PM	#1
cheesy Moderator Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Elburn, IL Posts: 5,847	Clunk Clunk Clunk Had a clunking noise in Mrs. C's Audi over the past few weeks that was driving me nuts. Sounded like it was coming from the left rear. As it only happened on rough roads, I went over the rear suspension with a fine toothed comb. Nothing amiss there. Still had the noise. I noticed that the exhaust system moved around a bit and that my McGyvered snubbers had rusted away, so I made a new set. Actually, just multiple strands of Mechanics wire wrapped tight. That helped a bit. Yesterday, I pulled the spare, jack, and tool kit out and put them back in. Still had the noise. In fact, it had gotten worse. This morning, for grins, I flipped the rear seats over and ran my hand along back of the seat bottoms. I found a small, but heavy, pewter picture frame that had fallen out of a donation bag and ended up under the rear seat, bouncing to it's hearts content. Noise is gone and I threw the frame away. __________________ Cheesy ______________________________________ 07 Hi Bird Enduro-Flown the Coop 07 Ural Gear Up 79 Honda CX500 77 VeloSolex 4600 V3 73 VeloSolex 3800 I'm making this up as I go.-Indiana Jones Telling me something 'is for my own good', is a fast way to a fat lip.-Me I don't even care about my own problems, why should I care about yours?-Quote on one of my favorite t-shirts
	4

01-22-2017, 03:58 PM	#2
2LZ Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Volcano, Ca Posts: 7,105	Nice fix, cheesy! I had a very similar situation happen way back when I was wrenching for a living. We did a simple tune and alignment on a 5.0 Mustang for a lady. No big deal. Two days later she brought it back complaining of a "clunk".....and obviouosly, it was our fault and we did something to her beloved Mustang. The odd thing was, it would only do it once when she stopped and once when she accelerated. I got in and drove, she rode shotgun. She told me to hit the brakes kind of hard at the stop light, sure as heck, "clunk"...but if I hit the brakes again, nothing. I nailed it on take off...."clunk". Nailed it again, nothing. Then I reached behind her seat, grabbed a coffee cup rolling around on the floor and handed it to her. Clunk vanished. __________________ "Light a fire for a man, and you heat him for a day. Light a man on fire, and you heat him for the rest of his life." 2007 Suzuki DRZ400S (SM convert) 2009 Q Link XP 200 1967 BSA B25 250cc Starfire 2022 Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 2023 Royal Enfield Scram 411 1948 Royal Enfield Model G 350
	1

01-22-2017, 08:22 PM	#4
Weldangrind Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Sardis, BC, Canada Posts: 25,977	I once heard a potential urban myth about a guy who bought a new car that had an occasional noise, particularly on rough roads. On smooth roads, the car was silent. After several visits to the dealer and many replacement parts, the noise wouldn't disappear. The guy eventually got into an accident that required a quarter-panel replacement, whereupon the body man found a liquor bottle inside. The story goes that someone was drinking on the assembly line, and stashing empties inside quarter-panels before welding them up. __________________ Weldangrind "I figure I'm well-prepared for coping with a bike that comes from the factory with unresolved issues and that rewards the self-reliant owner." - Buccaneer
	0

01-23-2017, 07:57 AM	#6
Krasi_BG Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Sofia, Bulgaria Posts: 436	Around here we get to hear this myth , or "myth", for cars made in Russia There's one more version: after the owner went nuts with the clunking, he started diassamebling the door, and found inside a piece of wire with a nut hanging and bouncing of the sides of the door. There was also a small note on the wire which said, "Молодец! Нашел.", which means something like "Good boy! You found it.".
	1

01-24-2017, 01:29 PM	#7
'16 TT250 Join Date: May 2016 Location: Hacienda Heights, Ca Posts: 281	Here are just a few noise diagnostics I've had. I had a customer bring me her car to check the brakes. On the test drive I noticed a loud thump from the back when I made the first turn, I actually felt it like something in the suspension shifted. I looked at her like WTF was that? She said "ignore that, I've had it in the dealership and two independent shops and nobody can figure it out". "If you can that would be great but they say they can't find anything wrong with the car so I've decided to just live with it". I pulled over and popped the trunk, put her bowling ball back in the bag & zipped it up. Flatbed work truck that suddenly started making a 'clank' noise when shifting. I asked how long it had been making the noise and how long he'd been hanging his crowbar on the headache rack....Ummmm, 2 days. I'll put it back in the tool bin, thanks. Pickup that makes a clunk noise from underneath when making turns so we went for a test drive. First turn I made I asked him how long his mag light had been missing. "How the hell do you know it vanished"? I pulled over and retrieved it from under the back seat. And the best one. Car makes a click noise from underneath when making turns and rattles on bumpy roads. When I heard it I started by looking under the seats. "I'll bet this sounds much better when you're using it than when it's rolling around under your seat". I was hoping to get to watch her use her vibrator, but no.
	0