I am having problems with knocking and wheel alignment.

To recap all my problems .

Took car to garage and asked them to replace driver side wishbone as I was getting a knock sound.

They by accident put it on the passenger side.

They then took it back off and put it on the right side of the car.

Car drove wonky. Steering wheel not straight and car would try to fight against a right turn.

Then started getting knock sound from the left passenger side. This knock occurs straight-line when releasing clutch in 1st gear and setting off. A one off knock.

I got a spanner and noticed the bolt in the passenger side wishbone could turn. So I tightened it as hard as I could without over tightening it.

Loud Knock sound gone about 95%. Only a slight tug. So I believe the noise is something to do with this bolt or the alignment that's gone wrong.

Anyway I took the car back to the garage with a new driver side steering control arm with rod end as my one was all seized.

They replaced it and said "you won't be able to track it as the thread on the driver side is fully in and the passenger side is fully out"

Please see picture. How can I fix this please?

You need to find a new garage.

Been ages since I've worked on a 6n but aren't the front wishbones sided?

Anyway regarding the tracking, if one side is fully in and one side is fully out then it should be a simple case of move them both over say 3 or 4 turns and start again. Your wheel would then be off-centre but that is easily sorted.

what do you mean 'sided'.

On mine it said R for right on the damn ball joint so there was no excuse really for them to put it on the left side.

Anyway they said to me that the whole steering wheel must be adjusted towards the right that is why the threads on the right rod end are fully in.

Now that I have the new control arm with new rod end on I might take it to quick fit.

But I don't know if quick fit can take the steering wheel off and re adjust that.

By sided I mean the wishbone for the drivers side will only fit the drivers side.

The steering wheel is easily moved over. I don't see why the garage are making a meal out of this job.

You are joking. They had it in the passenger side and were using a hammer to knock it out.

The car was not driven so I hope that is okay.

The wishbones are not handed, you just fit the bottom ball joints in different directions according to side & wheel size

You fit them with the arrow facing forward and then 3 or 4 for 13" or 14" wheels

What does the above do?

Is this what the mechanics were on about. turning this would centre the steering?

That's for taking up any play inside the rack, not for the tracking, I would check those bottom ball joints are fitted the correct way around

Thanks.

It's making knock noises what appears is coming from the left wheel , right wheel and now under the seat towards the back.

I seem to have lost some performance too.

I think the ball joints can only go in one way on the wish bone unless you put the upside down.

The knock mostly is just when taking off. and in straight lines so I hope i can rule out cv joints.

Edited 13 May, 201511 yr by damunk

Here's some dimension checks you could try ? 6N Servicing mechanical steering box.docThis is for a non PAS system

I think i know what the problem is.

The passenger side wishbone main nut gets every so slightly loose resulting in the CLUNK , KNOCK noises. I tightened it to 50nm this time.

But I am sure I tightened it before quite tough (Did not have torque wrench then)

Is it possible that the tracking is so bad that the pull on the wishbone loosens the nut.

It drives like a dog. When I turn right it does not want to yet the car travels in a straight line.

But for now I did 5 miles and no knocking noise.

Thanks for the diagrams. Need to get tracking done now.

I can't see the tracking being out making the wishbone bolts to come loose?? but stranger things do happen !!

When you get it tracked make sure they also check the camber, as the bottom ball joint will affect this

Right I might do this my self.

So bottom ball joint which connects to wish bone and onto the wheel affects camber?

Rod ends adjustments affects Toe in/out

What does the end adjustment of the control arm affect (under the rubber housing)? Does that affect camber toe in/out

Edited 15 May, 201511 yr by damunk

What does the end adjustment of the control arm affect (under the rubber housing)? Does that affect camber toe in/out

You mean the rods that come out of the end of the rack ?? they will affect the toe in/out only

The two bolts that hold the strut to the wheel bearing assembly also affect/adjust the camber

i had major issues that sound similar to yours, i ate through at least 3 sets of expensive front tyres because i kept taking short cuts.

i originally got that clunk when moving off and it would wonder dangerously. the bolts at the front would work themselves loose. i sued loc tite and that hasn't happened again.

in your position i would take everything apart and start again. start with the steering wheel. its 1 and a half turns either way, so there is 3 turns in total. count one and a half turns from full lock and that is center regardless of what way the wheel is pointing. lock it or have someone hold it. i used a bar against the seat and moved it forward to hold it.

release the lock nuts on the tie rod bar, if its seized then heat it up and take the nut all the way back and use plenty of oil to clean the threads.i used a small butane blow torch to heat it up.

now wind the tie rod until the wheel points in a generally straight direction then put the wheels on and put it on the ground then do smaller adjustments to get it closer. you put the wheels on the ground because this is where they would normally be.

when your close enough tighten the bolts back up.

slacken all 4 wishbone bolts and put the car on the ground and let the suspension settle then tighten them while its on the ground, same reason as above, if you tighten them in the air the bushes could hold in that position and when its on the ground they are being stressed. thread locking compound (loc tite) is highly recommend on the wishbone bolts.

i would also recommend replacing the anti roll bar bushes if they haven't been changed in a while as they make a massive difference and will effect the tracking so do these before doing any alignment.

i would go to a different alignment place, the ones you went to don't seem to know what they are doing, if the wheel isn't centered they should have done it anyway and said either you take the wheel off and straighten it or they can do it at a small extra cost if any.

On ebay the anti roll bar bush for 16v says 18mm. There is also another one there for the 16v saying 20mm.

I get the 20mm one ?

Thanks for your help guys. Turned out nothing to do with wishbone or tracking.

Got tracking done at kwik fit. Drives alot better.

But still get the "clunk" noise. This definitely feels like play. And to make things worse I feel it's related to clutch/gearbox.

It basically happens when you let go of clutch at the biting point in 1st gear and there is a shift of momentum from the vehicles weight going backwards.

Happens every time when shifting from 0mph.

Occasionally happens when slowing down to a halt again when the vehicle weight is going forward.

Also the clutch feels absolutely fine in neutral.

But when in gear the clutch is stiff just at that biting point ONLY when releasing. Then when the car gets going "clunk".

:( All that wishbone changing and tracking for nothing. £100 but at least I'm not driving an expensive car. That would be a very expensive diagnosis.

Edited 24 May, 201511 yr by damunk

Took it to a local tyre and exhaust fitting garage in the morning 1st off and the guy was very helpful there.

He check all wheels for movement. He got a crow bar and was checking for any movements including dogbone mount.

He got in the car and was able replicate the knock noise at all times. (from zero to a sudden start)

He said it's coming from the passenger side. The wishbones are fine.

He said it's the driveshaft? The bearing.

Does the above sound feasible and Is this a expensive job?

You need to find if it's the wheel bearing or the driveshaft cv joint, Jack it up, axle stands for safety! with the steering straight ahead, grab the wheel top & bottom and try rocking it, and do the same @ 3 & 9oclock if there is no noticeable play/knocking the wheel bearing is OK, then put the steering on full lock (either way) then rotate the wheel and listen for clonking/knocking and repeat on the opposite steering lock if there is a sound then it's the outer cv.

The wheel bearings are quite cheap, but you need a 30 ton hydraulic press to push the old bearing out & new one in. The CV joint, have a look on the ECP site for a price guide, it's a lot easier (DIY) replacement :)

There is no play in the wheels. While car switched on and jacked up, Wheels were forced by hand - full left, full right. back and forth. zero noise, Just noise to show power steering pump working.

Engine mount on driver size was checked, Looks all in good nick.

The noise is getting worse :( Must be this warm weather!

When car is under load , if I let go off accelerator you hear it now. CLUNK. then press accelerator CLUNK.

It feels like engine is moving! But the guys at the garage took one look at the mount and thought that was okay.

They checked if dogbone mount was loose but it was not.

Can dogbone mount be destroyed from within so can't be seen from the outside?