Clunk when taking up drive and on/off the throttle.

7th September 2009, 00:48

Ok, I've had a look through the previous threads for this, and it does seem to crop up a fair bit, but no-one ever seems to come back afterwards to say what they did to resolve the problem.

Its a metallic knocking / clunking noise that happens when changing gear and releasing the clutch pedal and taking up drive again. It also knocks when pressing down the accelerator and releasing it again in higher gears, it seems to be related to the engine moving back and forth. It appears be coming from behind the lower bulkhead, and sounds similar ro the noise that knocking the sump with a hammer would make.
I had the car in Kwik Fit today for tyres and asked them to put it on the ramp to look at the bottom rear engine mount and it appeared to look OK. I couldnt see the mounting under the battery tray and am wondering if this may be the culprit. There is no play in the cv joints as I checked this when I was changing the brake discs 2 days ago and the CV boots are fine.
The car is a P reg 1.1 X model and has only covered 58,000 miles.
There is a very slight bit of gearbox whine in third and fourth gear but hardly noticeable and the clunking only seems to happen mainly when changing gear or going on and off the throttle hard, in higher gears.

Surely there must be some members here that have had this problem and resolved it that could post up?

7th September 2009, 00:55

Sounds like exhaust to me mate.

7th September 2009, 00:56

sounds very much like a bottom engine mount loose.... there is a common problem with them, sometimes snap the bolts or loosen the nuts...mine had the nut missing from it. check that tighted up if its loose see if this cure's the problem

7th September 2009, 01:12

Will have another check of that lower mount, but the guys at Kwik Fit and myself had a good prod about with it lol and it seemed OK.
About the exhaust, I changed the backbox last week after I bought the car, I had to cut the CAT pipe in two to use a cat repair pipe as the whole flange from centre pipe to backbox had rotted through and seperated. So I did have to get the whole centre pipe off at the spring loaded flange at the front of the car, to saw the pipe in half after the cat. Could it be that joint knocking on something as the frontpipe looks fairly new as well, not the OE one. Is it common for the front part of the exhaust to knock when the engine moves back and forth?
I know I had this problem on an old 406 I used to have and that was the upper engine mount just behind the drivers side top bulkhead, the rubber had perished and the centre bolt was knocking on the casing when the engine moved back and forth, but on my Saxo, I am wondering how to get to the gearbox mount - does the battery tray remove and is that mounting a more common one to fail to cause knocking.

Sorry for all the questions but this noise is loud and it getting on me tits lol

9th September 2009, 19:20

Took the car up to my local mechanic today, he reckons its either the clutch centre plate springs are knackered, or the gearbox diff is worn. Told me to ignore the problem till it either needs another clutch or gearbox, but I should try to change the gearbox oil in case the level is low or the oil is contaminated. Clutch biting point is high anyway, so he reckons it may last another 6 - 12 months.
Am changing the engine mounts anyhow as he said there was too much engine movement, and am gonna change the gearbox oil.

15th October 2011, 14:29

Did you manage to cure the problem

4th March 2012, 09:49

Ditto - mine does exactly the same as this - noticed a wet patch on the bottom of the gearbox too!