Clunk or tonk noise on direction change

[glenhendry]

I have a loud 'clunk' (more of a sharpish 'tonk') whenever I am maneuver in a parking situation from forward to reverse or vice versa.

It happens almost every single time I change direction, no matter how slow or gentle I proceed. I have read about clunks being in the gearbox but it is not associated with changing gears, nor steering, it appears to me to be more associated with the direction change.

I recently got four new Cooper Zeons and a wheel alignment and they (a Jeep :| mob at Capalaba, Brisbane) said that the front end components were all fine.

Any similar experiences? Thanks!

[Scouse]

Direction change clicks/knocks are sometimes due to spline wear in axles but I haven't come across this in the P38.

It could also be something simple like brake pad movement.

[RR P38]

I had this with mine 10yrs ago.
Had a service and asked the mechanic what it was he said it was the axles running into the diff.
He used a loctite on the end of the axles i believe havnt heard it since/180km and 10yrs later.

Pretty sure it is nothing to be concerned about even if this is it.

[Hoges]

Yep same here... can also be due to movement in end of the control arms where the ends are rivetted after they wrap around and form the housing for the bush. Search Range Rovers (http://www.Rangerovers.net) there's an account of how the bloke got rid of the noise by having the rivets drilled out and replaced with high tensile bolts. BTW the control arms are a fibre composite material.

Other advice is also correct, can also be due to axle spline lash but I sense mine happens when there's a "mass" shift ...like when I brake in a reverse turn, rather than a takeup of power in the drive line...

[Keithy P38]

I know what your talking about here! I had that exact noise in my Green P38, and my current Blue P38 also has the same noise when changing from drive to reverse and back. I have become quite used to it - freaks out the passengers when you have the windows down on a hill and have to reverse down!!

My thoughts on what it is, I believe that it's worn bushings or play in the driveshafts/uni joints. My green P38 was exceptional in the bushings department, but the current one needs a few and the noise is noticeably louder (but not alarmingly loud).

Cheers
Keithy

[wanglemoose]

its for this reason RR come out with loud stereos

[p38driver]

my 1998 p38 range rover does the same whenever i reverse into a parking spot and i turn the front wheels to half to full lock i get the noise. if i go from forward to reverse without turning front wheels no noise. during driving forward straight or on full lock no noise. had this problem for 4 years now waiting for something to fall off or stop working to find fault.

[p38arover]

Direction change clicks/knocks are sometimes due to spline wear in axles but I haven't come across this in the P38.

There is a TSB for this for early P38A and D2 - see L8431bu

[glenhendry]

my 1998 p38 range rover does the same whenever i reverse into a parking spot and i turn the front wheels to half to full lock i get the noise. if i go from forward to reverse without turning front wheels no noise. during driving forward straight or on full lock no noise. had this problem for 4 years now waiting for something to fall off or stop working to find fault.

You are dead right, it does not happen when I just change direction forwards and backwards, only when turning is involved. In an underground carpark, it echoes and is quite loud (read embarrassing). I have a feeling that it will be shocks (or possibly panhard bushes), as my shocks appear to be stock and Hoges and I surmised that their worn out state may also be the cause of my very unsubtle jolt that is felt after the suspension compresses over a log when in the bush - we think that the shock is not slowing the rate when the spring returns to its relaxed state. If the shocks are indeed very old, then it is likely that the mounting bushes are rubbish too. Alas, it is difficult to test the shocks insitu.

[Pete38]

Yep my '99 clunks when going from reverse to forwards but only while turning with a small delay. It appears to have clunks in the back axle only while turning so assume it's to do with the splines... I would think that suspension bushes would clunk even without turning, except for bushes related to the steering in front which only clunks with steering, and anti-roll bars on cornering.

Nothing looked unusual when I pulled the diff out for the locker. So it doesn't appear to be anything to panic about. Just people look at you and say, oh well another Land Rover ready to break down ha ha.

But it would still be nice to stop it from making that noise to be honest.

Thankfully it doesn't do it during low range, high torque applications off road otherwise I'd be more concerned.

[softdash]

In my experience when i worked at Landrover, just about all the p38s had this issue and it was slack in the rear axle splines....the fix was to use loctite on the splines...hope this helps