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Post by dave1800 on Feb 22, 2017 0:53:55 GMT
And check the tie rod. However, if it sounds like a metallic squeak I agree with Steve's suggestion. One of my crabs experienced this and it drove me mad trying to isolate the noise. As Steve indicated the nylon wears through, a horrible sound a mixture of a creak and a squeak.
David
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Post by andrewa on Feb 22, 2017 5:41:16 GMT
Thanks gents - appreciate it. Will check it all. The creak/squeak describes it perfectly. Thinking back it's always done it as far as I can remember but only on odd occasions - most notably when reversing out of my drive which is short with steep angle and some serious camber on the road so rear wheels are on the flat and front of car is two feet higher with a bit of a twist on - if that makes sense.
Always assumed it was the seat.
It's now doing it over every little bump and getting worse rapidly so no more motoring for me in the crab until all resolved.
Cheers
Andrew
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Post by snoopy11 on Feb 23, 2017 19:25:38 GMT
Have you got anywhere with this.
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Post by andrewa on Feb 23, 2017 20:52:08 GMT
Well the Seven Seas worked wonders on me - so thanks for that - and the knuckle joint is the culprit - everything else seems tip top.
Replacement on its way from Tony Wood as well as a small parcel of bits and bobs to attend to the other minor things I've been putting off - snapped window winders, and screws for holding the seat down which have been rendered caput (they weren't great to start off with).
Thanks to all for pointing out the solution.
Now it'll be really quiet so can listen for more noises.
Am almost tempted to ditch the Maniflow exhaust, put the airbox back on and get it even quieter!
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Post by andrewa on Feb 28, 2017 17:39:16 GMT
All done - went for a quick drive and noise is still there.
Consensus is it's the displacer - replaced a couple of years ago.
Two quick questions - what happens when one of these lets go and where's the best place to get another - they seem to either last for a long time or not long at all!
Am assuming it's not a good idea to drive it around...
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Post by steve4487 on Feb 28, 2017 18:22:38 GMT
Hi Andrew
When a displacer lets go it will result in a sudden deflation of the suspension on the side where the failure occurred and the car will drop onto the bump stops. If your car has standard bump stops you can still drive it very slowly and if you have competition bump stops you could drive slightly quicker but still not very quick at all.
Really you would be best advised to have the car recovered home as driving with a failed displacer may well draw the attention of Mr plod. I had my right rear displacer fail and it gave the following car a nice shower of hydrolastic fluid. I was only a short distance from home so drove back slowly. My car has completion bump stops and it wasn't nice to drive or to look at.
Best place to source another displacer is from Tony Wood, I think mine was £100 though it had failed completely. It might be worth a good look underneath to see if there are any witness marks such as fine rust deposits that might give a clue as to the source of your noise. If I remember rightly your front wings are now bolt on so it might be worth a look to see if there are any fret marks around the wing retaining bolts, also it may well be worth taking the tie bar mountings off to see if the metal washer at the front is touching the tie bar housing.
Steve
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Post by snoopy11 on Feb 28, 2017 18:40:21 GMT
Hi Andrew.
Unless there are some tell tale signs that the displacer is about to go (eg swelling / worn or rubbed pipe work) I don't think there is a way to tell if one is about to go.
If the noise is from the displacer area it could be the ball joint/ Bar that sits between the housing and displacer. (Mr P. A technical picture here would be useful. )
They are a bit of a pain to get located properly and the only way to tell would be to pull the suspension apart.
I would look at the tie bar first.
As a another idea. From memory (and being lazy not wanting to look through all the pages of this thread ) haven't you had some substantial welding done to the front of your car. Is there any possibility that a weld could have let go somewhere and the creak is from the body flexing.
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Post by dave1800 on Mar 1, 2017 0:27:14 GMT
If you can get the car to make the noise by bouncing it when stationary then I think you need to get it up on garage rsmps to isolate it. As Steve mentioned it's possible there is a flexing around a poorly welded joint. Displacers can be noisy, there were problems with new ones detailed in Service Bulletins. I imagine you replaced the bump stops as part of your rally / track day preparations, but if not these need to be changed as you never want a displacer failure without them. David All done - went for a quick drive and noise is still there. Consensus is it's the displacer - replaced a couple of years ago. Two quick questions - what happens when one of these lets go and where's the best place to get another - they seem to either last for a long time or not long at all! Am assuming it's not a good idea to drive it around... |
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Post by andrewa on Mar 1, 2017 6:11:46 GMT
Thanks for the checklist.
As per Davids suggestion have also looked at Service Bulletins - I hadn't realised quite how reliant BL were on their customers to do their testing and development work! Bit like Lotus and TVR in that respect.
So - tie Rod, previous welding, bolt on bits, thorough visual check, double check bump stops.
More later.
Thanks,
Andrew
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Post by andrewa on Mar 3, 2017 9:03:13 GMT
All checked thoroughly and neither me nor garage can find any of the above issues - it really does sound like it's from inside the displacer and or the tube it sits in - so am not ruling out welding!
New displacer on its way - once it's here and suspension all apart again will have a look inside the tube as it were.
Whilst driving it back noise seemed to have diminished but not gone.
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Post by dave1800 on Mar 3, 2017 10:07:23 GMT
I would be surprised if the tube requires welding, but you can never be 100% certain. I have seen the sleeve and seating for the displacer corrode but not sure if that would cause anything other than a rattle? (Items on page M02 items 3 and 4 of the parts fiche listng.)
Thanks for the update
David
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Post by andrewa on Mar 3, 2017 12:01:35 GMT
Thanks Dave - it really isn't helped by the fact I can hear the fuel pump ticking and the radiator fan whirring now - genuinely suspect it's been doing it for ages it's just I can hear it now.
Given the car does get driven hard at times I don't want to just ignore it though.
Will keep you posted but nothings happening on it for a week now.
Regards
Andrew
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Post by dave1800 on Mar 4, 2017 3:27:39 GMT
Hi Andrew The fuel pump you are using is notorious for being noise. Chris, I believe, has his mounted on rubber insulation blocks. They introduced a 12 blade fan to reduce noise but I think this reverted to the 4 bade across the range as it was more effective. An Oz road test complanied about the noise from the 12 blade plastic fan so no idea where to go with that unless it is the water pump bearing that's noisy? I've sent you a PM about your distributor regards David Thanks Dave - it really isn't helped by the fact I can hear the fuel pump ticking and the radiator fan whirring now - genuinely suspect it's been doing it for ages it's just I can hear it now. Andrew |
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Post by andrewa on Mar 14, 2017 20:51:56 GMT
Well displacer changed and old one was pretty scabby - it's quietened other things down a lot but main squeak still present..
So have spent a few hours pinpointing precisely the source of the noise and it does appear to be welding related. If you're under the car on the right hand side there's a hole for want of of a better word above which is a panel which has been plated over from the other side but there is a gap between the two. This is where the squeak is from. Copious quantities of WD40 in the gap have reduced the squeak to a level where it only murmurs occasionally. Obviously not a permanent fix - so it'll be out with the torch I presume to create a more robust solution.
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Post by steve4487 on Mar 15, 2017 18:47:15 GMT
Hi Andrew
The source of you noise, if welding related, could well be to do with the quality of the welding itself if the welding on your car is like some of the other welding I have seen on these cars. If there is a bad weld then it could easily be the cause of the noise. Also having your front wings bolted on is not a good idea when you consider that they are designed not only to be welded on but with a lot of welds at that. The best way to try and trace the cause of the noise is to see if you can locate any "witness" marks that might give an indication as to the location of the noise, the best indication would be a clean contact patch between to surfaces or a rusty stain indicating movement between 2 repaired areas.
Steve
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