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05 VZ clunk from rear left. Annoying as all hell.

DeadlySphinx

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Hey guys,

(Please excuse the long post, tried to include as much information as I could think of).

Have had my 05 VZ Exec for a little over 2 weeks, and about a week ago it developed a clunking sound from the rear left when going over ANY bumps, at any speed up to about 90kms (any faster and I can only hear it over the bigger bumps in the road).

It doesn't do it more when turning in a particular direction, left, right or straight, it just clunks over bumps no matter which way I'm going.
It sometimes makes a slight clunk when going slow, such as reversing out of the driveway (going slow over speed-bumps does NOT cause it), so usually only during speeds fast enough to make whatever is loose rattle/clunk.

Attempts to fix:
Found the rear crossmember mounts were shagged, replaced with new.
Found the 4 exhaust mounts to be very soft, replaced with new.

Had a good look underneath just before when I replaced the exhaust mounts. Every other mount I can see looks pretty good. Tried shaking/moving things around while under to hear any noises. Rattled the shock a bit, no noises. Gave the exhaust a decent push around, it DID seem to be very close to the heat shielding between the middle muffler and the rear passenger foot-well, and it sounded like the clunk, so I pushed the heat shielding up a little, no longer touching and no longer made that noise, however after a test drive it sounds like the clunk is even louder and brought on by even smaller bumps now.

I had a good look at the IRS arms, no cracks.
Sway bar looks good, as do the links and appropriate bushes.

No idea how to check the diff mounts, could be that I suppose, however if it was I would assume the noise would be caused by the rear right wheel going over bumps also, however its only caused by the rear left wheel.
The sound is so prominent, that it seriously sounds like something is completely lose and rattling around (Due to the crappy roads around here, bumps and shoddy road repair is common, going over these patches makes it rattle/clunk very much).

I don't have much cash to go replacing things just to see if it fixes it, my next idea was to swap the left and right rear shocks over and see if the sound is now caused by the right side wheel. (They seem fine however, pushing down on the rear left of the car bounces it a couple times and settles, so I'm again assuming it isn't the shocky...I'll also have to find the appropriate socket for the bottom nut on the shocky).

I've no idea what else it could be, and it's the only thing that is wrong with the car. If anyone has any ideas that I can easily check, that would be great because it's really starting to s**t me off.

Cheers,
DeadlySphinx
 

ashbox

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Maybe take it to Pedders for their 14 buck check..... I've done that with all my cars..
 

GRPABT1

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Checked your spare tyre and jack?
 

DeadlySphinx

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Maybe take it to Pedders for their 14 buck check..... I've done that with all my cars..

Unfortunately I live in a fairly small town in QLD and we don't have a Pedders, or any other "suspension/under-car" focused franchise.

Checked your spare tyre and jack?

Yep, I've removed the spare tire, jack and even left the carpet/wheel-well cover out and went for a drive, still does it. So it's definitely something under the car.


Sounds like mind did when the bushes at the top of the left shockie chewed out.

Oh okay, I'll look up how to check it, as I've never done it before myself. Hopefully it's just that.
Thanks a lot mate, I'll take a look either tonight or tomorrow and see what happens, cheers.
 

smidey

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my oldmans does that, i narrowed it down to the towbar. your's got one of those removable tongue towbars?
 

Surfwagon

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[/QUOTE] Oh okay, I'll look up how to check it, as I've never done it before myself. Hopefully it's just that.
Thanks a lot mate, I'll take a look either tonight or tomorrow and see what happens, cheers.[/QUOTE]

Open your boot and you will see rubber covers where the shocks come through.
The rubber covers are quite tough to remove as they clip under the main washer but just rock and twist it and should come off then check the mount while bouncing the car (get some one to help bounce).
Watch out for the bootlid come down on your head.
 

DeadlySphinx

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Open your boot and you will see rubber covers where the shocks come through.
The rubber covers are quite tough to remove as they clip under the main washer but just rock and twist it and should come off then check the mount while bouncing the car (get some one to help bounce).
Watch out for the bootlid come down on your head.

Yeah I've removed the rubber covers already, but I just gave that a try now anyway Surfwagon, and there's a bit of squeaking from the right shock but definitely no clunking or any other sounds coming from the left one. It bounces nicely and seems to be perfectly fine.

I even gave it a 1/5th of a turn to see if it's tight, and it's all snug.

Any other ideas? It's got me stumped :unsure:

Cheers.

Edit: Anyone know exactly what size the Torx nut is on the lower shock absorber joint is? Will have to buy the appropriate size Torx socket in order to remove it as I don't have any.
 
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Surfwagon

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The lower shock bolt on my senator is only a normal bolt head, I think 3/4"-19mm from memory.
 
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