Irritating "Clank" noise from rear of car

[tgrandahl]

Hi there,
I have been experiencing this clank for quite some while now but it has recently started to get a lot worse and very annoying. Whenever i let off of the clutch from a dead stop especially i will hear a loud metal clank as the car starts to move. It sounds like two hollow steel tubes smacking against each other.

I currently have the car up on jacks so i had a friend work the clutch while i search around under the car what whatever sounds loose. I cant find anything. The noise is surly harder to trigger when there is no load on the rear wheels. If your real rough with the clutch you can make it though. I can see the Mount for the differential shutter slightly when it happens but it doesn't appear to be striking any other part of the sub frame.

trying to find it by ear is proving pretty difficult too, whenever you think you hear it getting louder it jumps back to another side of the car. In short this stupid little clank is driving me and i need to find it. The closest i have come to finding the noise is the exhaust mount that comes off of the rear axle carrier, but it does not seem to be making the noise. Sub frame bushings? any ideas?

[Ferret]

Hi there,
I have been experiencing this clank for quite some while now but it has recently started to get a lot worse and very annoying. Whenever i let off of the clutch from a dead stop especially i will hear a loud metal clank as the car starts to move. It sounds like two hollow steel tubes smacking against each other.

I currently have the car up on jacks so i had a friend work the clutch while i search around under the car what whatever sounds loose. I cant find anything. The noise is surly harder to trigger when there is no load on the rear wheels. If your real rough with the clutch you can make it though. I can see the Mount for the differential shutter slightly when it happens but it doesn't appear to be striking any other part of the sub frame.

trying to find it by ear is proving pretty difficult too, whenever you think you hear it getting louder it jumps back to another side of the car. In short this stupid little clank is driving me and i need to find it. The closest i have come to finding the noise is the exhaust mount that comes off of the rear axle carrier, but it does not seem to be making the noise. Sub frame bushings? any ideas?

Check the centre bearing carrier on the propshaft is still in once piece, then check all the cv joints along the drivetrain by hand, if they're shot at, they'll be obvious when you turn the system over gently by hand as they'll make a rough noise/clicking.

[Tiger]

Center shaft bearing and mount? Kinda hidden.

[Barney Paull-Edwards]

Ferret, dead right.If its metal to metal then forget subframe bushes unless they`re that shot and you would see that.On a rare chance try the rear shock top mount or wheel bearing but go with ferret, easy to check and replace.

[tgrandahl]

thanks for the advice guys, by center shaft bearing you mean the one over the cats and the heat shielding right? Do you think i would be able to jiggle the shaft from back by the transmission or should i dig in? It feels pretty solid to me but i know i cant match the stress thats normally on it, is this a common failure?

[Jon K]

you have to take the heat shield off and look