clanking/clunking help/advice

Hi everyone its me again lol i no i only post if my dads freelander is having problems well managed to sort the coolant leak and seized clutch arm any way to the point my dads freelander has clunked a little when reversing and has done this for a while but seems to have gotten worse and is clunking/clanking when pulling off in 1st gear or going round corners i no that it could be the prop shaft well the VCU and also have read it could be the rear diff bearing any way how would we tell if it was the rear diff bearing ? as don't really want to be removing the prop shaft if it isn't that altho we do have a blanking plate to go on the IRD unit

any help would be spot on as want to keep the car going for as long as we can after my dad has spent a small fortune on it over the past year lol if anyone needs to no more about the car its a 1999 k series freelander on about 110,000miles whichi have also read that the VCU only lasts for about 60,000miles give or take a few

cheers
saul

wollee18 said:

whichi have also read that the VCU only lasts for about 60,000miles give or take a few

cheers
saul

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don't belive everything you read, mines over 100k and still going strong, and it gets used every week on a very muddy track

Try the rear diff bushes.....usually the nose one that goes first.......or have you checked all the exhaust hangers for the back box are in place.

essexpestcontrol said:

don't belive everything you read, mines over 100k and still going strong, and it gets used every week on a very muddy track

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thats very true as far as i no the one on the car is the original as wasn't anything in the history of it ever been changed

mjrimmer said:

Try the rear diff bushes.....usually the nose one that goes first.......or have you checked all the exhaust hangers for the back box are in place.

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okey dokey might be a silly question but how do i do this ? and yeh all hangers are fine mate has been clunking for a long time but was only doing it in reverse but over the last month has started doing it when seting off and cornering

While you're under the car checking the rear diff bushes/brackets - if they look OK, you could remove the props/VCU and see if the sounds change noticably. If the sounds don't change - I think you can be pretty confident its not the drive train and maybe look to the suspension.

Do you know for sure that the clunks are coming from the back of the car? You don't actually say.

If they're at the front, this is a recent 'clunking' thread with a positive outcome...

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f9/please-gentle-238273.html

GrumpyGel said:

While you're under the car checking the rear diff bushes/brackets - if they look OK, you could remove the props/VCU and see if the sounds change noticably. If the sounds don't change - I think you can be pretty confident its not the drive train and maybe look to the suspension.

Do you know for sure that the clunks are coming from the back of the car? You don't actually say.

If they're at the front, this is a recent 'clunking' thread with a positive outcome...

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f9/please-gentle-238273.html

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not sure what bushs am supose to be looking at if am honest but not had chance to have a good look due to weather but its deffantly coming from the rear and sometimes under the back of the front seats which is why i think its something with the propshaft at fault such as the VCU but suspension is all ok

check the engine mounts by letting someone drive it with the bonnet up and stand at the side (obviously) looking to see if the engine tilts when taking up drive

Sounds like prop shaft bearings either side of the vcu a possibility, have you tried just giving the prop shaft a good shake? I wouldnt expect vcu to be the direct source of a clunk but would look at the bearings and the universal joints. As already mentioned, taking the prop shaft off would ge a positive starting point.

Sounds like a stiff VCU has damaged the IRD or diff to me. A pre 2000 VCU will not last over 100K miles!!

musky81 said:

Sounds like prop shaft bearings either side of the vcu a possibility, have you tried just giving the prop shaft a good shake? I wouldnt expect vcu to be the direct source of a clunk but would look at the bearings and the universal joints. As already mentioned, taking the prop shaft off would ge a positive starting point.

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sounds like it's this ?but also check rear diff bushes.get under the car(using safe practice) and physically check the bushes buy grabbing hold of the prop and giving it a heffty shake, at the same time visually check the rubber bearings for splits/cracks.have a look for prop bearings and diff bearings on the net so you know what your looking for.