Help with clunking noise

[wwc512l]

I have a 1.3 J reg Clubman with a 4 speed box. The car drives lovely apart from a horrible clunking noise which is only apparant if you engage first or second gear normally. If you engage these gears whilst slowly letting go of the clutch, or if you are going down the gears there is no noise. The gearbox feels nice and smooth and the engine pulls nicely in all four gears with no apparant loss of power.

The engine and box are the originals, the clutch was replaced in 2000 at approximately 55,000 and the car currently has 76,000 miles on the clock

Can anyone shed any light on this? Any help would be appreciated.

James.

[Dave]

In likelyhood order:

Check out the ball joint in the exhaust pipe - wait for the pipe to be cold, get underneath and tug on it... I bet it moves a fair bit.

Check out your engine mounts.

Check the driveshafts / cv joints.

Dave.

[E_T_V]

Does this clunking take place when the car is stationary? i.e. if you just engage first and second gear whilst stationary and keep the clutch depressed. If so then it is most likely a clutch or adjustment fault. If it only happens when you are releasing the clutch i.e. taking up drive, then I'd go with what dave says. (inner CV joints have been known to loosen their bolts so check they are tight too).

[wwc512l]

Thanks for your speedy response fellas. There is no clunking atall when stationery, just when moving. I forgot to mention that even though I have had the centre section of my exhaust replaced for the MOT the car sounds a bit like something is blowing when accelerating, which possibly suggests another section of exhaust is on it's last legs and would fit in with your theory. Does that sound about right?

James.

[E_T_V]

Where the centre exhaust section meets the front pipe there is very little clearance and so it is prone to knocking on the chassis when you are driving. I'm guessing it wasn't fitted quite right and is now giving that clunking noise you are experienceing. take it back to where it was fitted and get them to fix the problem as they didn't fit it right the first time.

[wwc512l]

Thanks for that. I have just popped into kwik fit and the front downpipe is badly corroded at the balljoint and also the rear pipe is leaking. In fairness to the guy he showed me the areas that needed attention then smothered them in putty and let me go for nothing. He did say however that he can no longer get a front downpipe section as they have been discontinued.

Do you have any suggestions where I go from here as I was intending to get the work done and hopefully have a nice little driver. It would be gutting if what he has said about the pipe is true.

The concern I also have is that there appeared to be very little play in the ball joint, but there was a bit of blowing which was somewhat masked by the putty. I'm worried that the knocking noise might be something more sinster after all.

:-(

[E_T_V]

Right as I have exactly the same car (well almost) What he has said about the front pipe is indeed true for some exhaust manufacturers. I'm positive someone will still make them though, it just wasn't shown in his book. Before everyone shouts me down saying I'm wrong, I'll point out that the car in question is a 1.3 with a catalytic converter and so has a different downpipe to all other 1.3's. My advice is simple, remove the catalytic converter and have a whole new non-cat exhaust fitted (as you said the back is blowing too). If you don't want to do that a non-cat front pipe can be converted to a cat one by cutting it down to size and welding a flange on (which can be recovered from the old pipe)

I'd go for the non cat route as you'll get more power and miles per gallon too, although the car may want tuning after the new exhaust is fitted.

Hope that helps

Dan

[E_T_V]

Oh yes and the knocking noise is still likely to be a badly fitted pipe. What happens is on acceleration the engine leans and this in turn moves the exhaust pipe. This pipe is very close to the chassis of the car and so can be heard banging against it. It is a common problem as they have to be really careful when fitting it to get it all aligned right. It often looks ok on the ram[ but then driven the banging starts

[wwc512l]

Thanks Guys for all your help. I have taken the car to an independent exhaust place that has confirmed the downpipe is still available!

Happy days

[Dave]

Its impossible for a 1300 to have anything "sinister"... complete new engines are only £100 !!! You really cant go wrong.

Dave