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[jibberwobble]

I’ve had my 3.0 MV6 estate for around four months now since deciding to let the 2.5 CDX die gracefully, it had a few too many problems crop up all at once and needed urgent attention. I’m just breaking it now. Found the MV6 just at the right time and although it’s no younger than the other one it seemed to have been quite well loved despite a few cosmetic quibbles.

Needless to say that even with a good maintenance history keeping these things on the straight and narrow so to speak is an ongoing mission!

So I’ve just survived the exhaust manifold gasket change saga without too much trouble to be honest which was a great relief. I had the easy side.

Now I have moved on to the suspension after noticing the tyres weren’t very happy.  I changed both front wishbones, drop links and poly bushed the anti roll bar n front wishbone bushes. I used ebay wishbones and planned to replace the rear bushes with proper ones but ran out of time in the end and just fitted em with the cheapo bushes as I needed to use the car. This may have been a bad idea!

The drop links were cheap ones too but they only had one in stock so sent me a proper VX one as a replacement. After a couple of days of happy motoring I noticed a squeaky ‘old bedstead’ kind of noise when moving slowly over undulations.  Driving beside a wall or hedge it’s very loud and noticeable. Sometimes it creaks when turning the steering when stationary. Sometimes is creaks when bouncing the front of the car by pushing/pulling  the wheel arch, sometimes not. It sounds like a bird chirping in the distance once up to speed driving with the window down. Sometimes no noise at all!

It’s coming from the near side only which incidentally is the side with the better VX drop link. I did notice though the ball joints on that drop link were very tight indeed.

So sorry for the story but has anyone experienced this before? All the bolts are tight and correctly torqued. Poly bushes smeared with copper slip. I just can’t seem to pin point the location.

[feeutfo]

Defo copper slipped both rb bushes?

[jibberwobble]

Yeah, caked it on! I also wetted the surface of the RB with copper slip but may have left a dry bit at the bottom where it was laying on the chassis. Hmm maybe I'll try undoing them again.

[feeutfo]

Should be fine if they are well covered. Although I can't think what else it would be unless sumats loose.

[jibberwobble]

It definately sounds like somethings loose but cant find anything. I'll try laying under it with the misses on the bonnet bouncing and then undo the RB bushes and try again if I'm still none the wiser.

Thanks

[freecall666]

vx drop lincs are rubbish. give the droplincs a tug see if it makes a sound.

[sjc]

Does it still do it in wet weather?  If not then it could be the top mount on the strut that's dry.

[jibberwobble]

Not found it yet but it doesnt seem so frequent in the wet. We couldnt make it do it when stationary on the drive yesterday. The drop link is so tight the you cant move it by tugging on it so I'll get hold of it with some big grips or something and see what it does. Seems way too tight though!

Havent tried undoing RB bushes or droplinks yet as been very busy the last couple of days. will also try replacing the droplink with the old one (that seemed fine by the way) if I think the new one is the sqealer.

Will report back

[feeutfo]

By tight do you mean one of the ball joint being tight before fitting?

If you want to check the roll bar set up on the drive, you'll need to rock the car from side to side. Stand by the side and push the roof, type of thing.

[TheBoy]

vx drop lincs are rubbish. give the droplincs a tug see if it makes a sound.

I disagree. They are very good, just expensive.

[jibberwobble]

This noise eventually went away by its self before I found it, I was very busy and didnt get a window to start undoing stuff to investigate.. Everything still seems tight and nothin fell off so all good there.

Now I need to tackle my wheel bearing

[feeutfo]

Try Fag at allgerman for oe supplied bearings. They also come with the bearing cap.

Found them to be good quality after many months battling with conti direct patern shite.

[jibberwobble]

Cheers and yes I've just been on allgerman and seen the bearing. Got a couple of questions so will start a new thread.