Crashy Noise From Front Of Car When Going Over Bumps

[zoom jones]

Hi there, we have an oldish 4.2 Rav with coming up to 99k miles on it. It's an X'plate so aging gracefully.

It passed it MOT last summer with flying colours, no advisories, no work needed. Happy days.

Yet, shortly after we noticed a harsh, choppy, noise coming from up front when going over a bump, man hole cover etc.

The best way I can describe it, is that the front seems quite crashy.

I've had engine mounts go on cars before and my immediate thought was this what it was.

We took it back our friend of the family mechanic who we do our servicing and MOT through for a look see. He couldn't really find anything wrong, replaced the anti-roll bar and said it was a lot better. It wasn't.

A few weeks ago we took it to our local garage for a look and with it up on the ramp, they couldn't find anything wrong. No ball joint play etc, all ok.

I have a pit in the garage and did some work on the running boards recently so had a good look round while I was under there. I couldn't see anything obvious either.

So what could it be? Clearly it's only obvious when moving but wearing ball joints and engine mounts would surely have been picked up by the 2 x visits to the garages. They also all looked ok when I was under it in the pit.

Anybody any other ideas?

Cheers

[bigend]

Check the anti roll bar drop links, sometimes look ok but when off you'll see how loose they are.

Keith

[anchorman]

...aye and the front coil springs - especially right at the top under the turret.

[Tech01]

Agree...

- Front springs (there should be an intact rubber cushion at the top end of the spring).

- ARB drop links . . . remove (easy) to inspect.

- ARB bushes . . . Centre hole can enlarge. Aftermarket polyurethane better than OEM 'rubber'.

- Also shock-absorber/macpherson fixings at top and bottom end.

ARB sloppiness (bushes or links) shows up thus:

- Going over a ridge/bump at right angles to the direction of travel of the car lifts both ends of the ARB equally, and should produce no noise, since ARB is doing "nothing" (ie no torsional twist). ["Two-axle bump"]

- Going over a diagonal/slanting bump, if there is then noise, it's down to the ARB components, which are working hard. ["Four-wheel bump"]

Chris

[ScottyBlue]

Sounds similar to mine.

My ARB drop links need to be replaced, identified by getting under the car, grasping the ends of the ARB and attempting to move. There was obvious movement at both sides caused by worn ball joints in both drop links.

My problem is that I can't remove the nuts on the old drop links. They are seriously corroded and rounded and won't move with a mole wrench.

Is cutting the nuts off the only option or does anybody know any tricks of the trade to remove them?

Cheers,

Colin

[zoom jones]

Mmm, just checked the car again and the receipt from the garage and it looks like the drop links were replaced.

However, the ARB mounting busges appear to be split and presumably perished. Could that be the cause?

[Tech01]

Quite likely. Cheap and easy to replace.

C.