Freelander 1 Creak from front end of Td4

Afternoon all,

I've got a mysterious creak I'm trying to trace on the Freelander. It's not road or engine speed related, can't replicate it by bouncing the suspension but it creaks when accelerating and slowing. Doesn't seem to get any worse with cornering and doesn't seem to get worse over any speed bumps.

I've just given the front struts a quick check and the o/s coil spring will twist by hand about 5-10mm. When turning the steering wheel a knock can be felt when the spring jumps round slightly. However that's not the noise I'm getting, hoping it might be related.

Should there be any play to turn the spring by hand with all wheels on the deck? Can't see the full spring where it is, but maybe even broken coil? Can't see that though because it behaves as it should and sits evenly.

I'm not sure whether I caught the same sound just now when turning the engine off, so potentially a mount too?
Drop links were replaced a couple of weeks ago and I'm happy it's not the same noise as they were causing.

Any help is appreciated!

I've had various knocks and bangs on my Freelander, but the nearest I've had to "creaking on acceleration" took me ages to work out, but turned out to be the driver's door. I presume it was actually the door rubbers, but opening the door and pulling away the sound wouldn't occur. Opening the door is obviously not a work around, but it proved it wasn't anything in the suspension or steering that was causing a problem.

There is a bearing at the top of each strut also another likely cause is the sway bar bushes, wishbone bushes or engine lower mount

A bit of digging today reveals it's (hopefully) just my new alu sump guard creaking against the subframe, round the lower arm mountings.

RossRobObey said:

A bit of digging today reveals it's (hopefully) just my new alu sump guard creaking against the subframe, round the lower arm mountings.

Click to expand...

ARB bushes can creak, which is in the same area as the sump guard mounts.

Mine normally from the clutch pedal or my left knee not sure

saxavordian said:

or my left knee not sure

Click to expand...

Both my knees creak, so I drive an auto.

Checked the ARB bushes but they seem fine. Definite resonation (?) from the sump gaurd when the creaking happens.

Take it off to confirm

That's the plan, ran out of time yesterday but will get done this week at some point.

Whipped the belly pan off this afternoon and after a quick drive it proves it was the source of the annoying creak.

However all is well because it's now back on and doesn't creak anymore! (Yet)