Have a muffled knocking/clunky sound coming from the right rear wheel area when going slow over bumps. The slower the speed the more it clunks. Car drives fine, rides fine, no handling problems, etc. Looked underneath while it was on a lift and everything looked ok, tugged at a few suspension components including sway bar, axle and all seemed tight. Any ideas on what it could be?

 

The rear shocks use a spherical bushing rather than a convential rubber one. As it is metal to metal, with age you will get some wear and hence, some light knocking sound over road undulations. These can be replaced on the car without pulling the shocks and Jaguar does sell the parts separately.

 

Thanks XKE, that's a great lead to follow. I'll have it checked out. My first impression when I heard the noise was that it was coming from the shock area.

 

I had a similar noise at about 16,000 miles.

I backed the car up on oil change ramps and got under the car. With a friend shaking the rear of the car up and down, I could "feel" the noise at the top of the left rear shock.

The noise was caused by a internal problem in the Shock.

The dealer replaced both of my CATS Shocks under warranty.

 

Just talked to my indy shop, and the tech said that the rear shocks have the spherical bushing on the bottom and attach with a stud on the top. I suppose it could be either attach point or both.

 

If you don't remember, I also had the RR slow-speed knocking, even made a video of it in one of my threads. It was the lower bushing on mine also, but unlike the other 'on-the-car' replacement option, I went with a new shock instead - normal HD bilstein, it would not be worth it if the shock was adaptive.

 

Same issue on mine. I ordered in lower rear shock bushings (for both sides) - apparently this is a common problem, and am getting ready to change them soon. If you replace the whole shock it comes with new lower bushings already, so this might be economical if you have the standard suspension, but not necessarily if you have CATS where you're looking at ~$700 for the rears vs. ~$35 for the bushing (aftermarket).

Sounds like changing just the bushing isn't too involved, you can leave the strut/spring assembly on the car, just unbolt the bottom, and use a "ball joint press" C-clamp to push the bushing out & press the new one in.

 

Be real careful on pressing the bushings in and out. They are sealed with grease and if you just push on the center or the boots, you will ruin the bushing or tear the grease retainer. I made a sleeve that fits around the boot and inside the shock. Then used a threaded rod and a larger sleeve to remove and install the bushings without any damage. You will see once you have the bushing in hand. Did it all on the car in less than a half hour for both. I did use a lift which made it a lot easier.

 

Thanks for the tip, I think it was XKRacer who posted up about the same technique, and a schematic of the tool he made. How did you make the sleeve, or did you use a socket or something else readily available?

 

I used an old XK valve tappet. Just had to machine the outside a bit to fit in the shock. A socket will most likely be to large in the ID and as such damage the grease boot. The tappet fit great, was made of hard metal and slight machining and it was done. Very similar to the tool XKRacer made. That way you can do it on the car without pulling the shock.

 

Incredible! Once again, this Forum and its members save me hundreds of dollars.

I have been experiencing the same noise. I set an appt. for a repair with a Jag dealer to fix the problem.

What I was most worried about was the "exploratory" time by both the Jag dealer and
an independent shop that said that they will need about four hours to find and isolate the problem. Now, I can buy the bushings and have either shop just do the install,
saving me $200-$300 of "exploratory" investigation. I think we always have a fear
that they will come up with other components that need replacement when they are
perfectly fine. (ie, CATS shocks) I have several friends who are Service Writers at
other brand stores. They say this is pretty much common practice, especially with women and the uninformed.

Even if they find another problem while making the change, I figure I'll break out ahead.

I love you guys! (In a beer commercial way.) .....Ed

 

Now im starting to hear it when i go over speed bumps. i think that with any car you should always replace original parts that came from the factory sooner or later. after about 82000 miles of running and gunning those little sports cars something need to be changed. You see these cars are special type of vehicles. these are not mozaratis or how ever you spell that. so you dont have to worry about not being able to find parts for it. but it is a english made vehicle. so even though a american made car is much less to fix and easier to maintain. our jags will be better in the long run. DONT GIVE UP

 

I had the lower bushing replaced but the noise didn't go away, so we replaced the shock and that turned out to be the problem. Now the other side is popping when going over the larger bumps, so a new shock on that side is probably called for to balance the sides out.

 

Yup. Both my (CATS) Rear Shocks were replaced under the New Car Warranty (8 yr ago w/16,000mi) when I could "Feel" the noise at the Top of the Left Shock. It isn't Always the Lower Bushing that is at fault.