Project 1994 Rover 414SLi - Fin.

[vulgalour]

So at 107,000ish, which is when I got it, the car hadn't really had anything so we gave it:

New radiator and temp sender

New front discs and pads

New clutch

New lower arms (because knackered lower ball joints)

New CV boots

New coolant (and flush out of the K-Seal)

 

It rewarded me with no real problems until recently at nearly 109,000 when it needed the inlet manifold gasket just mentioned.

 

For a car that is 21 years old and was bought in the dark and rain from Gumtree for a measly £275 I think that's totally acceptable.

[Pillock]

I had a off-the-power clonk from my Leon, just needed to nip an engine mount bolt up. Well, I say nip.... It was finger tight. Still took months of worrying about the clutch falling out or something every time I drove it before investigating.

[KruJoe]

Yo Angyl, did you get your second mini-Rover badge (for your wheels) yet? I sent it your way in secreted Chompy's special pocket.

[vulgalour]

Yes I did!  Thankfully I did not need to retrieve it from the special pocket.  I'll make use of it once I figure out what size the new tyres ought to be.

[Noel Tidybeard]

iirc an rovoid 400 should be sat on something like 175-65-14 they always had slightly skinnier tyres than a montego (185-65-14)

[Sigmund Fraud]

iirc an rovoid 400 should be sat on something like 175-65-14 they always had slightly skinnier tyres than a montego (185-65-14)

 

Correct, early 214s and 414s sit on 175/65R14.

[Noel Tidybeard]

Correct, early 214s and 414s sit on 175/65R14.

god i worry myself at the crap i remember sometimes

[vulgalour]

Blimey, no updates at all for nearly a month on this one.  That's because it's wanted for nothing bar a bit of coolant now and then because of the leaking water pump.  The water pump is also starting to make scooshy bearing noises so that, the belt and tensioners are next on my list for replacement.

 

Over the last month I've also had no time and less motivation to clean the car.  Thankfully, red cars rarely look really dirty even when they are.  But a month of use with the car sat out in all weathers on a busy street, trekking up and down the country and doing its part for house move duties had given the Rover a distinctive tidemark of filth.  The windows were also getting really difficult to see out of unless it was raining.  The headlights weren't performing terribly well either, for the same reason.

 

Gave the car a reasonable wash.  Didn't have enough time to do more than a proper wash, double-hose-down and door shuts today so the glass, trim and a polish haven't been done yet.  Still, yet again the boon of a red car is that it looks fabulous just for having water thrown at it, they don't call it Resale Red for nothing.

 

 

What I really love just lately though is how well it fits with the new house, they must have been built at about the same time.  And yes, the Rover *just* squeaks into the garage but that space is reserved for a more different red car.

[vulgalour]

I have a mystery clonk.

 

We did think it might be engine mount or gearbox mount related but they all look in good health and are tightened up.  Same goes for the suspension components, that's all as it ought to be and nice and tight.  The only other place I can think it might be coming from is the exhaust.

 

Clonk happens sometimes when you're parking, usually under heavy braking and firm acceleration.  It seems to come from the centre of the car around the gear lever area but not one specific spot.

 

It's a perplexing one, any ideas?

[KruJoe]

Just one clonk per braking/acceleration? Is a front disk shifting slightly on the hub? (Solved* by re-torquing the wheel nuts.)

[vulgalour]

Just the one distinct clonk.  If you set off forwards or backwards it sometimes does it but not always.  If you have to be heavy on the brakes it'll do it once when the front end dives but not again.  It's not entirely predictable either, if I set off briskly on purpose it won't always clonk, likewise with braking.

 

Lower ball joints, hub nuts, suspension leg top nuts, engine mount nuts and wheel nuts all checked and found to be secure.  Nothing is obviously amiss and nothing seems to shift.  There's a very quiet squeak from the driver's side front spring we found when looking for things causing the clonk but nothing else.

[KruJoe]

Is there a little counter-sunk screw missing from holding a disk in place?

[vulgalour]

Yup, all present and correct.  No movement in the wheel bearings either, everything hub related was nicely snug and attached as it should be.

[Parky]

Perplexing things these. I once had a clonk under braking which drove me mad. Nothing was loose, I even thought it might be something moving about in the door so had that part. Nothing.

 

Eventually I noticed that when closing the door slowly the clonk manifested itself - the door hinge was dry as a bone and under braking the dry metals were rubbing against each other. Quick squirt of spray grease and all was well again.

 

Not saying it is your issue but it could be something like this

[beko1987]

The zx had a loud rear clonk for ages. Replaced all the bushed at the rear end, and the lower balljoints and track rod ends before working out it was the drop links by replacing the drop links... Is fucking silent now though.

 

The meriva clunks the driveshafts if doing lots of small manouvers, so parking, theres a clunk as you stop, then a clunk as you reverse, clunk as you go forward to straighten up, clunk to go back in reverse etc. It sounds like a bastard of a job to fix so it can fro until it gets worse...

[vulgalour]

Parky, your door suggestion could be it as my driver's door hinges are a bit clunky.  I'll get them greased and see if it helps, certainly won't hurt.

 

Do R8s have droplinks?  If so I'll check those too.

[Noel Tidybeard]

I have a mystery clonk.

 

We did think it might be engine mount or gearbox mount related but they all look in good health and are tightened up.  Same goes for the suspension components, that's all as it ought to be and nice and tight.  The only other place I can think it might be coming from is the exhaust.

 

Clonk happens sometimes when you're parking, usually under heavy braking and firm acceleration.  It seems to come from the centre of the car around the gear lever area but not one specific spot.

 

It's a perplexing one, any ideas?

its the giffer spec walking stick rolling round in the footwell

[Lacquer Peel]

Parky, your door suggestion could be it as my driver's door hinges are a bit clunky.  I'll get them greased and see if it helps, certainly won't hurt.

 

Do R8s have droplinks?  If so I'll check those too.

 

Yeah every car I've seen with anti-roll bars has drop links. They can clonk without appearing worn, the easiest way to tell is if suspension movement on the opposite side causes a clunk.

[Ghosty]

Folding seat moving about/not properly secured? The A4 does that sometimes.

[twosmoke300]

Not all cars with a roll bars have drop links . Saxos don't and not do some clios 😄

[twosmoke300]

On the rover it could be the link rod that runs from the gearbox to the base of the lever . That's if they use the same set up as the honda versions

[vulgalour]

The rear trailing arms used to creak, now they don't unless you've jacked the car up and then they creak as the car settles to normal height again.  I doubt it's those anyway, the noise doesn't seem to be from the back (rules out the giffer stick too as that lives in the boot).

 

At the front there are these sort of bars that I suspect are the link rods you mention, twosmoke300.  There's nothing obviously amiss with them and I can't get the car to clonk when it's sat no matter how I jiggle, bounce or wiggle it.  I suppose they could be just starting to go, the car has nearly 110,000 on it and I'm pretty sure they're original.

 

I just wish I could reliably replicate the clonk so I could eliminate things easier, it doesn't always clonk when you expect it to.

[Lacquer Peel]

Not all cars with a roll bars have drop links . Saxos don't and not do some clios

 

Does the ARB connect directly to the strut?

[vulgalour]

The clonk only manifests with pitch rather than roll.  Go around a corner at any speed and it's not there, but set off or stop in a straight line and that's when it appears.  My assumption is something is lifting/dropping a little further than it should which would, I expect, usually point to things like engine mounts.

 

Since Mike went around and checked everything was tightened up properly the clonk is a little bit quieter but no less frequent.  Nothing looks particularly worn and apart from a little squeak on the driver's front corner when you bounce the car and the creak from the rear trailing arms when you let it down off the jack there's no noises at all when wiggling components.  This clonk only manifests while driving.

[KruJoe]

Does the ARB connect directly to the strut?

No, there's a little three inch drop link to the lower arm. Failure (ime) is a rattle over bad surfaces. The Chompy_Rover donated a pair to my 216, a five minute job.

[twosmoke300]

Some Saxos just put the end of the anti roll bar into a bush/ sleeve on the lower arm . Clios have a stack of bushes on a long bolt .

[Pillock]

My Leon did an accelerate/brake clonk which turned out to be a loose engine mount. Nothing when cornering, nothing when rocking the car. Took ages to track down and 20 seconds to fix.

[twosmoke300]

If it clunks under accelerate and brake I would check hub nut torques , wheel nut torques and that the pads aren't too loose in the carriers .

[sierraman]

Focus has a clonk coming from either the steering rack or the column uj. There's no play in the rack or the joint or any tight spots on the steering. Just decided to live with it.

[vulgalour]

hub nuts, wheel nuts, engine mounts and pads all checked to no avail, everything is as it should be.

 

@Sierraman:  I was pondering it being steering rack/column related today.  Likewise there's no play or issues with it so since nothing seems to be wrong or misbehaving it's just an old car noise so far as I can tell.  That and the vibrating dash binnacle trim at precisely 50mph which is quite annoying but also very Montego.