Hello again. I now recount my experience removing and replacing my inner lower front control arm bushings, or in British, my wishbone bushes , using information I found in these forums combined with my penchant for online research and product sourcing.

I had the front end aligned last October at 65K miles and was told then that my bushings were wearing out and would need replacing. I began doing the research then. When my car started bucking and kicking over even minor road imperfections, I knew it was time for the job. I looked and looked and waited and looked for inexpensive bushings and finally found a pair for $62.99, with free shipping on eBay. Yes a PAIR for $62.99!

I removed the arms and took them to one of the few local mechanics I feel I can trust AND who knows more about cars than I do (a rare combination unfortunately) who won't come near my Jag with a 10 foot pole no matter what I say to him, but he agreed to press my bushings in and out. I told him what I read about pouring boiling water over the arms before pressing in and out, and apparently that helped him. He appreciated the pointer and said he'd be using that trick on other jobs/vehicles as well. He charged me $20. Total cost of repairs: $82.99

When I road tested the car after replacing the lower arms, everything seemed well, although I thought I could hear some rattling in the front end. But ride harshness all but disappeared. I thought I was going to be able to avoid having the alignment reset, but I was wrong.

Over the next day or two, the ride harshness degraded to be even worse than before the bushings were replaced. So I took it to an alignment shop. A fresh alignment did the trick. Now my car has that magic silky smooth ride once again. It's fully dialed in.

One caveat: When I go over lane markers, or rather significant road imperfections, it still sounds like something is loose in the driver's side front suspension. Or, something like an inner fender skirt is loose, but it seems structural in the seat of the pants. Any guesses as to what I might look for? Travis out.

 

Nice to read that you sorted the job out at reasonable cost.
The boiling water trick is a very useful thing to know for these aluminium parts, because the coefficient of expansion of aluminium is about double that of steel, so this process relieves the interference fit of the bush or ball joint very much and prevents damage when refitting. I was told this trick at my local Jaguar main agent, even though Jaguar won't supply the separate bushes or ball joints !! Clearly this dealer was helping out customers in secret !! BTW it won't help with steel forgings much.

 

I bake the arms and freeze the bushings if needed. But then again i have apress. You talking the curve front lower arms or the rear front lower arms
you left something loose. Probobly not but thats what we hear all the time. Along with "that dent/scratch/burn in my headliner wasnt there before i brought the car in" I swear dealers get blame so much like that youde think we play bumper cars, smoke and eat in cars, are knuckle dragging grease monkeys. I dont know about anyone else but I dont like to get dirty, nor do I feel its required when doing this job either. Not to mention I wear latex gloves and take them off before i get in a car as do most of us here

 

Well done SuperTrav.

People have reported noise from the front ARB (sway bar) due to worn bushes.

Not easy to get to apparently. Search this forum for more info

 

Fraser, I learned this trick from one of your posts. Thanks for that. Yes I understand that this only helps with aluminium parts. (see, I even got the spelling "correct". ).

 

I put the car up on stands again today and tugged on every suspension component. AND, I moved the inner fender lingers around, too, as that is what it sounds like to me. One of the liners is loose. There's a bolt that holds it directly behind the shock on the engine side of the inner fender area, and I tried to tighten it with a 10mm wrench, and it was loose. The only problem was that it would tighten no more, and I couldn't find the nut on the other side. It does seem as though the loose piece is in fact that fender liner. Next I plan on wedging something in between the liner and the car to keep it from moving that will stay put.

 

Friday afternoon, all hell broke loose in the driver's front of the suspension. It seems that my initial hunch was correct and that the noise I was hearing was structural after all and not a loose fender liner or somesuch.

Of a sudden, the car started wandering and drifting all over the place, the suspension makes a loud knocking noise when even slight bumps are traveled over and the steering wheel pulls hard left and is off-center to the left.

The air suspension functions as normal with no "too low" messages. The car's ride height is normal front to back and side to side.

I would highly appreciate suggestions on where to look first. I went under the car after this happened, with the driver's side supported by a jack stand. I grabbed and shook all of the components of the suspension and they all seemed solidly connected. My guesses as to possible areas of trouble are: ball joint, bad shock. But then I say maybe not to both because it seemed that something was loose for quite awhile and then finally gave out.

 

well since you removed the control arms I would look at the eccentric bolts and the ball joint bolts for looseness. What you may not be able to move by hand a 4500# car will move with ease

 

The car is up on a jack stand now. I have thoroughly inspected all components visually and by tugging/pulling on components. Everything seems fine. I am well read and have been reviewing the suspension diagram from the shop manual, and all of the symptoms described there. The symptoms I have been noticing is best described by this, found in the manual:

"Clonk is a structure-borne noise heard as a loose-sounding rattle or vibration coming from the
steering column. Clonk can be identified by driving and turning over cobblestones, rough roads, or
high frequency bumps such as 25-50 mm tall tar strips. Clonk requires a tie-rod load impact".

So, I went to the tie rod ends. They seem to have the normal travel they are supposed to have when I swivel them back and forth. But, the boot on the outer end is ruptured. I understand this doesn't mean necessarily that the end is bad, and I don't believe this is the problem, but it could be. Please find attached a photo of the tie rod end boot where it's ruptured.

I also performed the test as outlined in the manual for ball joints:

Position a safety stand beneath the front suspension lower arm or rear suspension lower arm to be
tested.

4 . While an assistant pulls and pushes the top and bottom of the tire, observe the relative
movement between the ball joint and the front suspension lower arm. Any movement at or
exceeding the specification indicates a worn or damaged ball joint. Install a new wheel knuckle as
necessary.
Wheel Knuckle (60.25.23)
5 . While an assistant pulls and pushes the top and bottom of the tire, observe the relative
movement between the ball joint and the front suspension upper arm or rear suspension upper arm.
Any movement at or exceeding the specification indicates a worn or damaged ball joint. Install a new
upper arm as necessary. Refer to
Upper Arm LH (60.35.41)
Upper Arm RH (60.35.42) or
Upper Arm (64.25.31) .
6 . Remove the safety stand.

The wheel exhibits no wobbling or play.

I'm becoming increasingly suspicious of the shock itself, or the upper shock mount. I may take it to a local indy for diagnosis tomorrow morning. I'll keep you posted. Additional thoughts welcome.

I verified proper torque on the LCA's and all bolts in the suspension assembly are tight.

P.S., Brutal. I saw your LCA's on ebay last night. Nice units.

 

Maybe the eye of the LCA was damaged during pressing as the indy may be knowledgable and trustworthy, but not familiar with Jaguar.

Umm... that tie rod end looks pretty sad.

 

It is not always easy to find worn joints,bushes etc in the suspension.

Mechanics do it all the time and are familiar with with it.I have seen them using a lever eg a wrecking bar to gently separate joints and look for play.

Let us know how you get on.

 

plums, that is a possibility I hadn't thought of. If the LCA's were the source of the issue, however, I believe they would give off signs of breakage or malfunction, something that would appear different than before Friday. Everything appears ship-shape down there.

I'm not very happy with the folks that aligned my car a couple weeks ago. The alignment itself seemed well-done. The car rode and handled much better after the alignment, and the steering wheel was perfectly centered. But they surely saw the ruptured boot and must have noted the deteriorating condition of the tie rod ends, and if they didn't, then either way, it seems pretty **** poor.

I'm now weighing whether to order tie rod ends and install them, waiting for them to come and changing them, hoping that fixes the problem, or driving it the 1.5 miles to the Indy Jag specialist and paying them an hour of labor to diagnose the problem.

 

meiron, thanks for that comment. That pretty much cements my inclination to let the pros in on it. If I had a lift and could stand under it with a long lever, I would keep at it. But lying on the ground, with my arthritic knuckle to boot, fumbling around, well, you get the picture. I'll let you guys know what they found.

 

good decision ...

now, from JTIS (1998 XJ, but very similar):

Are those nuts still holding? Especially if they are nylock nuts and the alignment shop heated them up to get them loose.

Come to think of it, are they supposed to be slackened for an adjustment? Did they slacken and not tighten? Did they not slacken, and have snapped the bolt shank inside?

The manual assumes familiarity with basic procedures, and so, will not detail those basics.

The torque spec for those nuts is 113-153 NM (again, 1998 XJ spec), so it would be likely that they need to be slackened before adjustment, and tightened after adjustment.

If Brutal comes by, he might have something to say as he does lots of alignments.

++

 

What was the resolution on the clonking noise? I have the same noise issue described above on a 04 XJR. I am about to replace the upper control arm bushings since they seem perished but would love to know if there is anything else that need to replaced while in there. Also, did you have to remove the air spring in order to get to the A-arm bolts out? What's the best way to depressurize?
THX
Franck

 

replace the uppers, and yes you have to remove the springs to get them out. Just take off the 12mm air line nut ontop of each shock to depressurise. And get the car aligned afterwards.

Trav. Bad boots do not meen bad ball joints or tie rods. Only if theres play. You can go years with bad boots before you feel play, and by then if you had replace the parts years earlier due to bad boots but no play. Those boots would then be bad and need to be replaced for bad boots again.
See that tail youre chasing? Its yours

 

Thanks, I also ordered tie rod ends for good measure!

 

sway bar bushes, worth a look. They are cheap, but a bugger( American translation "jolly difficult") to get at.

 

I have become convinced that the clunk in my car is the sway bar bushings. I will be learning how to self-perform that repair next.

 

I just read through this thread and it mirrors the issue I had earlier this year to the tee.

Last winter heard a clunk going around corner, only with three others in the car.
Me alone no cluck.

Then as time went by the clunk got more pronounced. At each turn, like you had to "load" the suspension. But only on turns, then after some time, anytime suspension was loaded.
Anyways, replaced sway bar bushings - Yes quite a bugger to do...
Then the cluck comes to both sides... previously only the right.

Then the lower wishbones, both sides - no help.

Find the lower rear bushings online and prepare to do them. The local mechanic whom I also had look at the suspension suspected them after test drive and pry-bar.
He offered to do the job for $200. I says OK.

He finds it wasn't the bushings - (I have a set if anybody needs them)

It was a loose bolt that holds the sub-frame assembly to the body - CHECK THAT FIRST
SIMPLE, EASY, CHEAP...

charged me 1/2 hr labor...

Tom