Knocking rear suspension, I have the answer!

[bygumlad]

I have a 54 plate 1.9cdti with a pronounced knocking rear suspension noise that appeared to be random and not necessarily in tune with bumpy roads. Been under the back of the car today and identified and fixed the problem for nowt. I you are experiencing the same problem I can advise. Takes about an hour to sort.

[Caterman]

.........erm..........come on then..........advise........

[glenboy]

The suspense is killing me.........

[John C S]

He's making us sweat for it................................................ .................................................. .................................................. ...............

[bibster]

the suspension is killin me....pardon the pun

[Gsi3.2]

it had better be good after all this time..

[bygumlad]

Blimey, didn't think I'd get such a response, anyhow back end of car needs to go on ramps for access. The knocking noise comes from the 2 bushes that hold the rear anti roll bar in place.The ones that are bolted to the rear sub frame. The bushes wear slightly and the bar also wears slightly so replacement bushes won't necessarily fix the problem as the bar is slightly undersize. If you grab hold of the bar while under the car and waggle it about you can feel the bar has radial play in the bushes. The bushes are held on by a 'c' type bracket and 1 torx bolt, access is good. To rectify mine all I did was wrap the anti roll bar shaft with some thin rubber matting I have got in the garage approx 3mm thick, fit the bush back over that then fitted the clip to hold it all in place.Yes use old bushes, a bit of a git getting the bracket back on and vaseline is handy to allow it to slip over the bush without grabbing it but worth struggling as the knocking completely cured!

[Gsi3.2]

ahh.. i becomes clear now..

I beleive folks were waiting for the 5 min cure for the upper arm bush failing.. which is far more common...

even so, top job for having a go yourself and not handing to a dealer..

[m0cea]

The Vectra B suffered from exactly the same fault.

[bygumlad]

I've worked on cars alot over the years, my first car being a viva SL with a ford 1300cc X flow engine and gearbox!. Anyhow looking at the suspension arrangment on these cars, they look good and the only fault I could find are these bushes and what a difference it makes. I can try and get some pictures of what I did to sort the problem. The knocking noise you here sounds major but in actual fact is only a minor fault of the car