Irish Mini Owners Club

Hey all, just joined up and looking for advice to the source of my mpis clunking.
The clunk occurs when i accelerate and lift off and I can feel the clunk through the brake pedal when braking and changing down a gear. I have had the car over a pit and a mechanic checked both engine steadies, engine mounts, subframe mounts, balljoints, track rod ends, cv and inner cv joints and the steering rack all to no avail. The clunking seems to be getting worse over time and i was wondering if there any part, which has been overlooked. It feels like a bolt is moving back and forth when drive is engaged and disengaged.
Thanks,
coop

Sounds very much like the top engine steady.

To check, with the bonnet open, get a trusted buddy to start the car, handbrake on full, foot hard on the foot brake, clutch in and engage 3rd gear, as you stand to the side of the front wing (out of the path of the car obviously ), have trusted buddy slowly let the clutch out, still with foot brake on, as the clutch bites, observe any rocking motion in the engine and pay particular attention to the engine steadys and engine mounts, any excessive movement should become clear. Don't take too long though, prolonged attempts are not the best for the clutch.

Hope this helps.

Oh, welcome to the forum by the way.

If its not external,which it usually is, it may be the diff pin.

Check the floor were the rear mounts of the front subframe connect they are known to crack in that area also rust there aswell

Hey, thanks to everyone for their suggestions but it is still clunking.

Here is a list of what I have had checked and replaced:
Upper stabiliser bar bushes replaced and bulkhead bracket ok
Tie rod bushes replaced
All balljoints ok (replaced in end of 2007)
Upper suspension arms removed and found to be in perfect condition
Lower suspension arm bush ok
Knuckle joints replaced
Pot joint replaced and no movement found coming from diff
Gearbox to subframe steady bar bushes replaced
Front Subframe rear bushes ok
Both engine mounts ok
Exhaust to gearbox bracket ok
What could it be, since I cant think of what else I can check, the clunk is still on the drivers side and also now happens with one clunk when engine is being turned over providing it was driven recently (within 30 mins).

Also the suspension has been replaced with minitastic fast road springs, which has made it way more comfortable but it was an absolute nightmare of a job to do as on of the front cones was full of water and rust and the threads were gone , as shown in the pics.



And some compressed cones


Also I installed the springs with lowered Gaz dampers but I retained the standard ride height of 45mm on the front and 50mm on the rear. Would this be ok with these dampers since the lowered dampers are 15mm shorter than standard ones? I went with the lowered dampers to prevent the springs from becoming loose when the car is jacked up.

Front


Rear

Have someone stand at the side of the car with the engine running and slowly release the clutch without too much revs and see if the wheel shudders,there are many causes of this one of which is the diff.
Or check the tie rods and play in the steering rack this can cause juddering if there is to much play in the rack.

sprintmini wrote:Have someone stand at the side of the car with the engine running and slowly release the clutch without too much revs and see if the wheel shudders,there are many causes of this one of which is the diff.
Or check the tie rods and play in the steering rack this can cause juddering if there is to much play in the rack.

Hey thanks for your reply, I just tried that and there is no shuddering happening at the wheel. The tie rods are fine with good bushes and I also pulled up the carpets and checked the rack u-bolts and the column pinch bolt but they were already at the correct torque.
I have also noticed that when the car is left overnight and I drive it in the morning there is no clunking for a mile or so and then it starts to clunk and I can feel the clunk in the pedals, mostly the clutch.

i had something similar on an old mini of mine, turned out that the engine steadies/mountings were just a little bit worn and it was the exhaust moving that was causing the clunk (it was a close fit to the underbody),
might be that?

Check the bottem pully on the end of the crank, if the bolt is nt tightened properly, the tap washer comes loose, which leads to the pully come loose which damages the woodruf key keepin it in place. had a clunkin in a GT clubman i had, we though it might be shell bearins, but as it only started after the car was runnin for a few minutes it turned out to be that.

hope it helps

joebe1 wrote:Check the bottem pully on the end of the crank, if the bolt is nt tightened properly, the tap washer comes loose, which leads to the pully come loose which damages the woodruf key keepin it in place. had a clunkin in a GT clubman i had, we though it might be shell bearins, but as it only started after the car was runnin for a few minutes it turned out to be that.

hope it helps

I checked this out today and when I start the car from cold, it revs up to 1500 rpm and I could hear a faint rattle when inside the car. When I walked around the car, the noise was most apparent when kneeling down at the passenger side front wheel, where the crank pulley is. After a few minutes the engine was hot and the revs decreased to 900rpm and the rattle was very faint. Also when I started the car I put on the handbrake and let up the clutch to go forward and backwards and there was no clunk but it did clunk a few minutes later. So to fix this can I just tighten the bolt or would I need to renew the lock washer?

Anyway thanks everyone for your input, it will be great to have a mini with no knocks or rattles

coop wrote:it will be great to have a mini with no knocks or rattles

ahh the holy grail of minis!

i thought that was just a myth

If it has no knocks or rattles it is not a mini..................

There are plenty of minis with no knocks or rattles. There called long term projects and generaly sit quietly in the corner waiting for the day they can knock and rattle again.

well its the kind of job that does nt sound so bad when u say it quick. there a small bit to, Rad off, engind mount etc. Take a long screw driver and see if u can see any movement in the pully. Theres no point takin the whole thing apart to find its not the problem, but it sounds very like the prob.

sorry for the late reply, sher if it Does nt work give me a shout no is on the home page

joe

[quote="THOMAS"]If it has no knocks or rattles it is not a mini..................[/quote]

Just laughing at the sheer variety of noises Minis make: In only the last few threads, we've had one "Clunking" and another "Clicking". One of my Minis is definitely clunking and whirring at the moment, and I could swear I heard a fluttering noise yesterday!!!

Julie

I have now repaired the bottom pulley, just needed tightening and a new washer, thanks joe

coop wrote:it will be great to have a mini with no knocks or rattles

I obviously spoke too soon there is now a squeak coming from inside the car by the pedals. The clutch pedal now squeaks when I press it and when I am driving along there is a squeak that sounds like two things rubbing together (Very high pitched) and it occurs when I am maintaining a constant speed. So the only way to stop it squeaking is to keep changing my speed and dont use the clutch, which is difficult Its not the knuckle joint since I rebuilt the suspension last week with all new bits.

How hard can it be to be a knock and rattle free mini

coop wrote:How hard can it be to be a knock and rattle free mini

i find that normally when a noise disappears, something has fallen off

my best advice............................










Turn up the radio!!