Knocking noises whilst cornering

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jgjones095
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Knocking noises whilst cornering

Post by jgjones095 »

<font face="Andale Mono"></font id="Andale Mono">I have a problem with my AX Cascade - and want to sort it out. When i go around Right Hand Bends, and accelerate (a little), there is a constant knocking noice coming from the front. The harder i accelerate, the louder the noise is. Its been like this for over 20,000 miles, but im fed up with it now as it is starting to worry me a bit while cornering.
From my knowledge of cars I guessed that there's a problem with the
drieshaft and according to the Haynes manual - and loads of friends
advice - they say that it is the CV joint. though thinking about it, it could be a wheel bearing, but im not sure.
When i took it to a garage he checked it over (took it on a test drive and could not hear the noise) and said that there was nothing wrong with the drive shaft and suggested it could be the suspension bushes - can this be true, can they cause this type of noise?
When a friend looked at it with me we jacked the car up, so the RH wheel was off the floor, started the engine, so the RH wheels was spinning, and turned the wheel from lock to lock to see if we could hear and noises. We also did the same for the LH wheel, but failed to hear any noise, so he thought it might not be the CV joint.
I still feel that it the noise is from the cv joint(and driveshaft),
however I need help as I'm not sure which cv joint it is that need replacing. Is it the Drivers side cv joint, or the passengers side cv joint that is causing this noise around RH bends?
Anyone suffered from this noice around Right Hand bends before and
know which drive shaft is causing it, or anything else that could be causing such a noise?
edd001
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Post by edd001 »

could be several things but for the cv joint, have you looked to see if you have a split gator causing the grease to come out and drying up the joint as this could well be it.
have you tryed jaking up the car and having a good pull on the drive shaft.
i do not think it is wheel bearing as normaly it would wwwrrr! and not knock.
it could also be suspenshion bushes, antiroll bar bushes or links.
my advise would be to jack up the car get a pry bar or something simmaller and have a good lever on all the bushes you can see and look closely to see if any of them are split.
one way to check if you are leaking cv grease will be a splatter of grease all round where the joint is.
good luck.
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Post by RichardW »

A CV joint makes a very distinct noise when it needs replacing. It's a very regular loud click click click, which generally only occurs (to start with anyway!) with the wheels on hard lock and the power on. Once you have heard one and recognised the noise you will have no difficulty in identifying it instantly again. If it occurs on RH bends it is more likely to be the LH one as this will be under load in RH bends. You will need to sit in both seats whilst giving it some abuse round a roundabout to see which side seems louder.
From your description, I would definitely be thinking about a CV joint.
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JamesQB
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Post by JamesQB »

Hi, you're describing a similar trouble that I've had with a couple of cars, although with one car it was more a high-pitch squeal when cornering from the right-side front wheel and it was because of the gaiter over the CV joint being torn open and having lost its grease and being left that way for weeks.
The other car had clunking noises from the right-side front wheel area when braking or cornering at low speed. It turned out to be worn bushes on the lower suspension arm. The arms were replaced on both sides as the bushes were an integral part and the car was perfect after that. The mechanic showed me the old troublesome one and then locked it in a vice, put a huge screwdriver through the center hole of the bush and moved the screwdriver about, showing how soft the bush had become and how easily manipulated it was to its extremes.
Just food for thought, hope it helps.
James
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Post by JimW »

Well, I've no knowledge of AXs, but....
From your description it doesn't sound like a CV joint or a drive shaft is the problem here.
Rather, I'd vote for a suspension component.
I'm not sure whether the AX has an anti-roll bar (looking at my GSF catalogue I suspect not), but if it does a good possibility is the bar-to-strut link (aka drop link), these have ball joints on either end, which can go quite frequently.
Other potential suspects are the strut top mount, bottom ball joint, wishbone bushes and the strut itself. Some of these might be possible to diagnose without dismantling, but if I were you I'd get the suspension apart - on the side that is knocking - and try to see what's wrong. If you've got the right tools - probably including a coil spring compressor (I borrowed a set) - this shouldn't take too long.
Jim.
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Post by Dave Burns »

Cv joints will knock worst when on most load and when wheels are at greatest angle, so setting off with the wheels on lock should cause a worn cv joint to give its self away.

Cv joints are either under no load (freewheeling), driving load or overun load (engine braking), cornering forces don't have any affect on them so turning either way doesn't give any extra clue as to the defective one.
If the noise only occurs at higher speed then I would rule out the cv joints and concentrate on other components, wheel bearings will fit in exactly with what you describe, but doing it for 20k miles would likely as not have seen them off by now, or at best in a state where I think they would be very noisey during any rotation of the wheel, not just while going round righthanders.
Could be worn dampers causing oscilation of the suspension strut, does it happen while going round any right hand bend wether sharp or not, do you have to be doing a certain speed or any speed.
Is the noise road speed related, doest the frequency increase directly with higher speed.
Dave
jgjones095
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Post by jgjones095 »

Hi guys thanks for the replies. I checked the gator and they both seem to be fine, with no slits in. Im therefore guesing that it must be part of the suspention setup, and perhaps the bushes!
Though the noise only occurs on acceleration, and not braking.
In reply to you, Dave Burns, it does happens while going round any right hand bend wether sharp or not, and i do not have to be doing any speed (I only need to touch the accelerator.)
The noice does also increase as I accelerate, the harder i do the louder it gets.
What does this all mean it is, and what is causing it?
Please help!
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Post by Sl4yer »

I had the driveshafts on my ZX done last year. They had been knocking for years, but the loud grinding noise that appeared on the motorway one day really put me off!
One other thing...check the exhaust system isn't tapping the underside of the car anywhere.
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Post by JamesQB »

Good point, I had the gear linkage directly beneath the gear stick rhythmically tapping against the exhaust pipe in my Clio. I'd fiddled with the exhaust days before and must have changed its position slightly. Easy to put right again.
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Post by davek-uk »

CV joint clicks are very sharp and solid. I'd think that the slightly hollow sound of the exhaust hitting would be easily different.
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">it does happens while going round any right hand bend wether sharp or not, and i do not have to be doing any speed (I only need to touch the accelerator.) <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
From this I would suspect CV joint problems. Put the car on full lock and drive slowly - a worn CV joint will be easily heard. Other worn components can be checked by jacking up the car and wheel waggling and trying to trace where any play is.
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JamesQB
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Post by JamesQB »

Hmm, just had a thought... right hand bends you say?
Do you have passengers in the back seat of the car sitting on the left at the times this occurs? I had intermittent knocking in my car under these circumstances and finally discovered it was people's heads hitting the back side window as I cornered a little too eagerly... [:D]
jgjones095
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Post by jgjones095 »

No. It occurs when I am on my own, driving, and also when there are people in the passengers seat, and in the back.
When I jacked the car up to have a look, the driveshart diid tooked as if it was bent though - could this cause some noise?
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Post by Pug106Dave »

I have a similar noise (amongst others) on my 106, I'm guessing they're pretty similar underneath. Have narrowed it down to top strut mount or lower ball joint. I've replaced the driveshaft and the wishbone bushes, although there was no movement in the ball joint when I did the bushes, this is where my main suspicions lie.
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Post by AndersDK »

Looked like the driveshaft was bend ?
Did you notice how it looked with engine & driveaxles running ?
If the axle was wobbling - then the axle is in fact damaged. May happen if you hit a curb, stone or other obstacles - or if car has been towed using the axle as towpoint.
It's very common you only hear the knocking from a faulty CV or axle - during load - i.e. weight on wheels and engine pulling.
Usually it's the side under load on turns that emits the noise - i.e. the left side will be under load when turning right.
Since yu're having trouble in pinpointing the source of the knocking sound - I think it's worth giving the rear wheels a good look after as well.
Surprisingly the rear suspension/wheel details may be the culpritt as you think it's the front.
This could be one of the rear wheel bolts loose - or a worn rear wheel bearing - even a faulty brake drum.
The rear wheel bearing is very easy to check :
lift wheels off ground - then turn the wheel calmly by hand. Any - I mean ANY - tiny roughness felt thru the wheel/tyre to your hand while turning the wheel - will emit either knocking or rumbling on load.
The rear brakes should not bind or drag either.
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Post by Dave Burns »

Difficult to say its one thing or the other, have a good feel at the bearings through the wheel, rotate the drivers side wheel back and forth while pushing hard on it at the top untill you have been all round it, if you can't feel anything out of the ordinary go to the other side and do the same, but this time pull on the top as you rotate it because this is the way the wheel is loaded going round right handers.
Drive shafts don't necessarily run true, especially where the bloody awfull triax type c/v joints are concerned, it doesn't mean the shafts are bent but that they are not bang on centre at the joints, its poor machining as far as I'm concerned and the sods should never reach the market place in this state, but they do, I had a 205 GLD new in 88, you should have seen the shafts wobble on that, took it back and complained but was told merely that "it was the nature of the joint", in other words we've got your money, you've got the car, now F*****F.
Dave
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