One of those "Concerning" noise's...

CheyneX5 · Postby **CheyneX5** » Mon Jun 27, 2011 12:39 am

Hi All,

Since i have had my car back from the motor transplant, it has developed a strange clunking noise from the passenger side rear. At first, it started as something very quiet as i would roll to a stand still, making a "knock" noise, but muffled, it would go away when the handbrake was applied. Over the past few weeks it has gotten progressively louder, it's only ever obvious between 0-50km/ph. It's an intermittent knocking/clunking noise. I gets loud enough for passengers to notice and ask what the noise is...

I rotated the tyres the other day and noticed the i had to nudge the passenger side rear wheel off with a little effort once the nuts were off. This is the side that the noise has been coming from. After i changed the wheels around, the noise was gone for a good 5km's then back again. This makes be think that it is the rear brakes, they were also bled while the motor was being done. This was the first time that the rear brakes had undergone any maintenance.

One thing that makes me think otherwise about it being the brakes is that i can replicate the noise by rocking the car from side to side with me in it. The noise is not as prominent this way but it sounds the same.

If anyone can shed some light on this, i would greatly appreciate it.

Cheyne

BadBong · Postby **BadBong** » Mon Jun 27, 2011 12:56 am

I had a similar noise coming from the brakes of a SP/NB8B. I've described it as more like a nut coming loose from a screw and you can only hear it at low speed and it'll go away if you drive with a little of your hand brake on.

It ended up being the brake pads touching the brake discs intermittently. For some reason in the NB8B they forego the spring that holds the pads and discs apart.

I'm not sure whether this is the same case for your NA6 though.

CheyneX5 · Postby **CheyneX5** » Mon Jun 27, 2011 9:25 am

It sounded similar to start with, but now it is a little more severe. I'm hoping it is not something like a CV joint, driveshaft or diff...

JBT · Postby **JBT** » Mon Jun 27, 2011 9:38 am

You need to get the car up on a hoist or stands and thoroughly inspect the area looking at brakes, suspension, drive shaft etc.

CheyneX5 · Postby **CheyneX5** » Mon Jun 27, 2011 10:02 am

That's planned for this thursday, was just curious to see if any other members had experienced anything like this before...

Postby **NitroDann** » Mon Jun 27, 2011 10:05 am

Im surprised no one has mentioned the exhaust. You obviously have to disturb it a lot when changing a motor and thats the common spot for it to bang on an mx5.

Dann

CheyneX5 · Postby **CheyneX5** » Mon Jun 27, 2011 10:53 am

Thanks Dann,

The exhaust does have alot of play in it but it's definitely not the problem. This will happen even on the smoothest of surfaces at any speed up to 50kmph, car on or off.

yoda7356 · Postby **yoda7356** » Mon Jun 27, 2011 11:38 am

When you have the car on a hoist check the swaybar links. I have had these make a horrible noise at low speeds.
Just a thought in case you have not thought of these.

John.

CheyneX5 · Postby **CheyneX5** » Mon Jun 27, 2011 12:46 pm

yoda7356 wrote:When you have the car on a hoist check the swaybar links. I have had these make a horrible noise at low speeds.
Just a thought in case you have not thought of these.

John.

Thanks John, I had a look at these yesterday, they looked like they had some clearance but not heaps. They are aftermarket jobs, whiteline to be precise. You can see the fitment below:

slug_dub · Postby **slug_dub** » Mon Jun 27, 2011 12:54 pm

My money is on it being something in the brakes.
Cheyne I still think it might be the same problem as I described to you on my car, and we're convinced its the brakes but we haven't tried to fix it yet. I've been listening to the clunk for 2 years... just one of those jobs I've been slack about making time for

edit: just looking back through the other posts... I still had the noise after running without a rear sway for a while and with an exhaust change.

CheyneX5 · Postby **CheyneX5** » Mon Jun 27, 2011 2:35 pm

Hopefully it's the brakes, I could not see it being anything else, especially seeing as it has only started happening since the rear brakes were serviced... I'll report back on Thursday.

Out of curiosity, what are the symptoms of a dead CV joint?

JBT · Postby **JBT** » Mon Jun 27, 2011 9:58 pm

Clicking and grinding noises mostly.

CheyneX5 · Postby **CheyneX5** » Mon Jun 27, 2011 10:10 pm

JBT wrote:Clicking and grinding noises mostly.

Sounds like i am safe from that then :mrgreen:

Steampunk · Postby **Steampunk** » Mon Jun 27, 2011 11:23 pm

CheyneX5 wrote:I rotated the tyres the other day and noticed the i had to nudge the passenger side rear wheel off with a little effort once the nuts were off. This is the side that the noise has been coming from. After i changed the wheels around, the noise was gone for a good 5km's then back again.

This is strange.
So you couldn't just slide the wheel off the bolts? Was it like they were stuck or jammed against something?
Maybe one, or more, of the wheel bolts have sheared off the mount and are bent somehow?
Is the hub tight? brake disc doesn't wobble or anything?
Strange

CheyneX5 · Postby **CheyneX5** » Mon Jun 27, 2011 11:38 pm

Thats what i thought... 2 of the nuts (opposing sides) were really tight, i had to put my whole body weight on the wheel brace to get them off. Once they were off, the wheel did not slouch like the others would when there were not any nuts to hold them in place. It was like the wheel was stuck in the centre, almost like it had a hub ring and it was a little was stuck. A few hits to the tyre with my fist and it wobbled off. I will try taking that same wheel off tomorrow and see is the same problem occurs. It's also funny that it's the side the noise is coming from.