Hello all,

My trusty X type developed a slight knocking noise from the rear a couple of months ago. As it was only slight I thought I'd leave it until it inevitably got worse to make it easier to pin point where the problem lay.

Fast forward to today, it indeed has got progressively worse. The knocking appears to be coming from the right rear, but is quite audible inside the car, almost as if something in the boot is loose. This isn't the case as I removed everything including the spare wheel and jack from the boot and the noise is still there.

I removed the road wheels today and inspected the various rubber mounts between each suspension component and all looked well. All rubber bushes are present and nothing obvious jumped out at me. As the noise appears to be coming from the boot area, I was quietly confident that it was the right rear shock absorber top mount. This also looks and feels in good condition.

My thoughts are now leading me to think that something is loose around or on top of the fuel tank which is hitting the body of the car. As I only had the car on axle stands it was very difficult to see anything from my position. I guess it's time to get it on a car lift for a better examination, but in the meantime, I thought I'd ask if anyone had had a similar issue with an elusive knocking on the rear of their X type that wasn't suspension related!

Thanks for reading..

 

2 things most often cause this on a xtype, the shocks and the short camber links where they bolt to the lower control arm and do forward to the frame. The bushings fails and contacts the arms. Lots at those points if theyre touching or signs of rust replace them. My car i would replace the shocks and both these links. Especially if you have mileage on car

 

Hi Brutal, thanks for your input. It is tempting to change the shocks anyway as they are original and have covered 96,000 miles. However, the bushes look and feel in good shape so am reluctant to do this in case it doesn't cure the knocking. It is quite audible over bumps so was expecting the problem to be obvious on examination. Nothing's easy it seems!

 

Could be rear front lower control arms. If replaced, remember to not torque them fully until sitting with full car weight on the ground.

 

Thanks for the info Dell. If I do change those I'll follow your advise.
My rear passenger today seems to think the noise is coming from the centre of the car under the seat. I'm hoping it's not the prop shaft or axle that is loose.

 

at 100k i would replace the shocks. Theyre cheap, easy to replace and you will be rewarded with a better ride, and shocks do knock internally.
What dell is referring to is the same arm i am talking about too

 

Just to complete this thread and for anyone who might have a similar problem in the future, it turned out to be the rear anti roll bar drop links that were the culprits on this occasion. I couldn't detect any movement in them when they were attached to the car but once removed they were very loose. Unfortunately, they were both seized solid and required drilling out from underneath before the replacements could be installed, but the car is now knock free once more.

Thanks to all that offered assistance and advise on my annoying knocking problem.