'97 discovery, automatic bought last year.
I'm looking for suggestions before I just start taking things apart one at a time.
Yesterday backing out of my drive, which has a slope, as I had the wheels turned hard left to back in to the road, there was a loud clunk and a jerk. It only did it once, sort of a clu-clunk.
I couldn't get it to do it on the flat so I thought maybe something was hitting while off camber, but I drove to the store and while pulling in to a parking spot, again a hard left, it did it again, clu-clunk.
So this is what I've done to isolate the problem.
Two things out of the ordinary:
The previous owner apparently punctured the rear diff cover as I can see where it's been welded and there's a very slow leak. But I haven't seen any nasty bits when changing the gear lube which I've done twice since last year, the last time this past spring. Yes, I'm going to fix it.
The other thing, and much more worrisome, is that several months ago the ignition key broke off at a no parking kerb while I was help my disabled mother out to go in a store.
I had to have it towed home and all they had was a rollback. Since it's an auto I couldn't put it in neutral so they dragged it on in Park, which they assured me would be no issue (yeah, I knew better but was in a rush because of my elderly mother being in the heat).
Anyway, there was a loud clunk about 1/2 on.
When I got back to the house and got the ignition fixed, I checked everything out driving it in all gears and also with CDL engaged and couldn't find any issues.
I'm stumped, though I'm inclined start with inspecting the rear diff since that's the least work and it's had at least some damage in the past.
I'm open to other/better suggestions.
Oh, all suspension bushings except the A-arm (which are on my to-do list along with the ball joint) are new. The ball joint looks ok visually, FWIW.
I'm looking for suggestions before I just start taking things apart one at a time.
Yesterday backing out of my drive, which has a slope, as I had the wheels turned hard left to back in to the road, there was a loud clunk and a jerk. It only did it once, sort of a clu-clunk.
I couldn't get it to do it on the flat so I thought maybe something was hitting while off camber, but I drove to the store and while pulling in to a parking spot, again a hard left, it did it again, clu-clunk.
So this is what I've done to isolate the problem.
- Turned the wheels both right and left and checked for anything hitting. Nothing.
- Checked rear wheels for hitting anything. Nothing.
- Put the front end on jack stands and turned the wheels all the way to the left. Rotated the wheels forwards and backwards 10-20 revolutions (of course the other wheel rotates the opposite direction while doing this). Nothing.
- Then put the rear axle on jack stands also. Started the engine, put it in drive and foot off the brake and let it spin the wheels while turning lock to lock. Nothing.
- Repeated the above with CDL engaged. Nothing.
- Put it in reverse and repeated lock to lock. Nothing.
- All 4 wheels were turning for the above.
- Took it off the jack stands and backed out of the drive again, wheels turned hard left. Clu-clunk.
- Backed out of the drive, wheels turned hard right. Nothing.
- Rolled down the drive in neutral, hard left. Nothing.
- Rolled down the drive in neutral, hard right. Nothing.
- On the road in front of the house (flat), backed up hard right. Nothing.
- Backed up hard left. Nothing.
- Pulled forward hard left, then hard right. Nothing.
- Drove down the road about 400 metres, turned around, came back, hard right and left forwards and back. Nothing.
- Applied the brakes to varying degrees, lightly to hard, driving forwards and back (in case I had a loose caliper or pads). Nothing.
- As a final test I backed out of the drive again with a hard left and got no noise.
Two things out of the ordinary:
The previous owner apparently punctured the rear diff cover as I can see where it's been welded and there's a very slow leak. But I haven't seen any nasty bits when changing the gear lube which I've done twice since last year, the last time this past spring. Yes, I'm going to fix it.
The other thing, and much more worrisome, is that several months ago the ignition key broke off at a no parking kerb while I was help my disabled mother out to go in a store.
I had to have it towed home and all they had was a rollback. Since it's an auto I couldn't put it in neutral so they dragged it on in Park, which they assured me would be no issue (yeah, I knew better but was in a rush because of my elderly mother being in the heat).
Anyway, there was a loud clunk about 1/2 on.
When I got back to the house and got the ignition fixed, I checked everything out driving it in all gears and also with CDL engaged and couldn't find any issues.
I'm stumped, though I'm inclined start with inspecting the rear diff since that's the least work and it's had at least some damage in the past.
I'm open to other/better suggestions.
Oh, all suspension bushings except the A-arm (which are on my to-do list along with the ball joint) are new. The ball joint looks ok visually, FWIW.
