I think the Torx bolt for that strut brace at the cowl is at least T50. I checked both of mine and they seemed pretty tight--I didn't want to risk breaking the bolt.

I have been putting off another visit to the mechanic to try and chase this down as it is only somewhat annoying. But I also need to have someone do an adjustment where the rear quarter window meets the front window on the passenger side. I have tried playing with the front window adjustments since those are easier to get to but am now thinking it is the rear quarter window that needs adjustment and it looks like a PITA to get to those bolts.

So one of these days I will bite the bullet and drop the car at the mechanic to address both the clunk and the window adjustment.


Doug

 

Any chance you could provide a video of your clunk issues? That would make it easier to identify.

 

That's a good idea and something I should have thought to do. Curiously the volume of the clunk seems to come in cycles. It is always somewhat noticeable when I first encounter a speed bump (even if I am driving at a snail's pace) and at times I can even hear it when cruising down boulevards with even small irregularities. But over the last several days I am in a cycle where the clunk has almost gone away (but not quite). I had noticed this waxing and waning of audibility of the clunk at different times and was trying to figure out if it had something to do with the outside temperatures (hot versus cold?) but never could find any pattern.

So right now is one of those "quiet" times so it might be difficult to capture on video, but I am sure it will get louder again. So if I do take a video is it possible to directly post it here or do I need to upload to another site and link it?

Thanks,

Doug

 

I find it easiest to just upload to Youtube and then post the link here.

 

Thanks. Do you need to set up an account for YouTube or can anyone post? Pardon my ignorance but I have only played YouTube videos on occasion--most the ones by RevSam.

Doug

 

i know very well the bad road of south Tuscany... i live in south Tuscany! Grosseto...

 

You'll have to make an account to upload things to Youtube.

 

Yeah, at some places it gets really shaky! Those roads actually caused me to look deeper into the suspension of the Jag.

To update the status of the thread topic, I have now replaced front sway bar links and bushings. The clunk persists, but the handling was improved A LOT! The old links and bushings didn't look too bad, but now the car has a much more solid feel to it.

The links are a breeze to install, but the sway bar bushings are really a pain in the ***. There is no access from the engine compartment in the XKR, so you had to fiddle around from underneath. A pair of ballerina fingers would be more well suited than mine, for sure. I think I dropped the screws about 100 times before finally getting them into place.

I bought a MicroSpeeder especially for this purpose, and I don't know how anyone could do this job without one.

Currently I have the Jag at an Indy garage, where they are replacing the following things in the front suspension:

- Shock absorber bushes
- Lower wishbone bushes and ball joints
- Engine mounts
- Wheel bearings

I leave the upper wishbone bushes as they are, they look to be in great condition, and a Jag mechanic checked them out and told me it doesn't make any sense to replace them in this condition. The other things were worn though, and in need of replacement.

I'm fairly certain that the cause of the clunk is the drivers side engine mount. It has been leaking hydraulic fluid and is probably toast.

 

Got the car back from the garage today. Guess what, the clunk is still there. Work performed on the front suspension was:

- Shock absorber bushes
- Lower wishbone bushes and ball joints
- Engine mounts
- Wheel bearings
- Track rod ends
- Alignment

The mechanic charged me 15 hours for this. Some things had seized, and apparently took forever to get off. He said that the lower control arm bushings were a bitch to get out, even with his massive press and a blow torch. I paid 1400 USD labour, I arranged the parts myself for about 500 usd (including the stabilizer bushings and links that I replaced myself). I think that's pretty fair for the amount of work involved.

Mechanic told me that the left front shock absorber is causing the clunk. It is still intact and looks ok, so is the upper mount, but somehow it makes a clunk every now and then. Next round of maintenance - perhaps next year - I'll replace all shock absorbers and mounts myself. After that I've pretty much rebuilt the whole suspension on this car.

What's cool now though, is that handling is great! I have that new-car feel when turning, doing fast lane changes on the freeway or going over sharp bumps. The throttle response also feels sharper, probably because the left engine mount was completely toast and had fell apart, causing engine to lift on acceleration.

 

Bad luck there with the clunk, very frustrating for you, however great that the car now feels to tight.

Here is what I would do, pull out the two shocks and swap them over to check that the clunk follow the shock.

You would need to split the top arm ball joint from the hub carrier but the shock/spring assembly does come out without disconecting the top suspension arm. I know as I did it.

 

Well, the mechanic said that he could reproduce it by forcing the left wheel up (hard) while the car was up on the lift, so I trust him there. Besides, my shocks are well worn after 102k miles, so I plan on replacing them anyway. Have put about 5000 usd into the car since I bought it though, so I feel like waiting until next year with the shock replacement. Still contemplating whether to go for B4 non-ACD, B4-ACD or the B6.

 

Advice too please, I've got a severe 'clunk' too (suspect the top mounts) so I'm just about to order 2 new front shock absorber mounts for my 2005 XK8...

While I'm having these fitted, is there anything else I need to consider replacing on the suspension / bushings at the same time?

Cheers.....

 

Dude, that mount is seriously shot. Look at how off-center the shock is!

You don't mention if you have CATS or not, but if you don't, it would be a good idea to replace the front shocks as well, since they also include new bushings, and are only around 100 USD each. Cheaper than the top mounts!

Also check out the state of your other bushings, especially the sway bar bushings. Also check the sway bar links.

 

The shocks include bushings? Which ones?

 

The shocks come with the bushing already installed at the bottom, where it bolts to the suspension. Sometimes a bushing can go bad, but the shock itself is fine. If it's an expensive shock and it's still good, it's worthwhile to change the bushings only.

By the way, whenever changing shocks, bushings, springs, whatever, always change that part on both sides of the car.


.

 

Thanks Azeteg.... Good advice, I've ordered the XK8KIT1 XK8 SUSPENSION KIT to replace all the bushings, however I'm just checking the the kit includes the Shock Absorber Mount #MJA2170BD as I don't see it in the kit.....

Any other advice would be much appreciated azeteg.... Cheers

 

Amazing with all that stuff replaced the clunk is still there. The first time I brought it to the local guy and he replaced the lower bushings and sway bushings he was certain it would take care of the problem but it didn't. I've been putting up with this since, as I had mentioned, while it is never entirely gone there are days when the clunks are frequent and louder and other days when not so much. If I didn't know better it seems like it almost seems to have something to do with the weather.

Doug

 

So that day next year has now arrived, when I want to get some more suspension work done. Ever since I bought the car, it has felt sort of "bouncey". The bushing and link work from last year has improved the handling of the car tremendously, especially at high speeds. But the ride is still bad - I feel any minor bump in the road.

I was thinking about replacing all 4 CATS shocks with the standard shock, along with the front upper shock mounts. I believe I'm running on original parts at 105k miles. I'd hate to replace good CATS shocks though, but I have a feeling they are worn out - car feels a bit too soft and bouncy when doing the ol' press-and-bounce test.


Anyone who has had this work done and can tell me anything about what difference it makes?

 

Did some work during the weekend:

- Front upper shock mounts
- Front shock absorbers
- Rear upper spring isolators
- Rear shock absorbers

I used the XK8 standard Bilsteins to replace my CATS shocks, unplugged the ACD box in the trunk. The handling is like new! So much sharper turning, acceleration and braking.

The clunk in the topic is gone - but I think I discovered the cause for it while working on the front; I forgot to torque the upper shock bolts before a test drive, and had exactly the same clunk both on left and right sides. Torquing to spec, and the clunk was gone.

Worth noting is that both shocks and mounts that I replaced looked quite alright. No deterioration of upper mounts really, but I guess the elasticity is gone. I'll shoot some pics of the parts to upload later. Perhaps someone is interested in getting the shocks or mounts for shipping costs?

While having the rear shocks out, I also replaced the fuel filter. It had a stamped manufacturing date of May 2002, so I guess it was the original? Perhaps previous service mechanics (dealer stamped) also thought it was a bitch to replace (there is NO space!), left it in and just stamped the servicebook.

 

Sway bar bushes and links are not really hard to do. The lower shock mounts cost about half as much as new shock dampers, themselves - except you've got adaptive shocks, so that might make it worth replacing the lower mounts.

Your mechanic's hourly table of estimates sounds a bit on the conservative (more time than I'd expect) side, but not excessively so.

Let us know.