Rear shocks knocking

[psychobob]

*Update* Car in yesterday/today and entire shock assembly taken from good donar car and fitted to mine. Knocking still present. Next step is testing the car with Chassis Ears to establish the area and then pinpoint the knocking. However, there is a 3~4 week lead time for the equipment to arrive and be calibrated

 

[abulafia]

Check if there is any (lateral) play between the spring and the spring seat. When you are turning the wheel lock to lock, do you hear any sound (you have to put your ear inside the wheel arch to check)?

When I changed the OEM springs with B6 Bilsteins (after 40k km the OEM were knackered...) it developed a strange knocking sound at the front. The Bilsteins are reverse dampers with embedded bump stops (at the front), which means I had to take out the existing bump stops to fit them. As a result, the car stood about 1-2mm higher than previously - this height difference was enough to cause the spring's first coil winding to slightly end outside the spring seat, causing a tiny bit of lateral play. I wish I could explain it better - apologies for my English.

You can also easily test that by grabbing the spring and pushing it back / forward hard. This is a noise that typically gets worse the more you drive...

Other than that, I can't really think of something else and what I wrote above is a really long shot... When you changed top mounts you said that the problem was 100% solved, but then it reappeared. To me this indicates that there is some give / looseness in the system. Once everything is tightened up all is OK, but then over time it starts to become loose again.

I have the ElsaWin package, so if you want pm me and I will send you pdf extracts of the suspension parts and layout in 3D (unfortunately not enough posts yet so I can't upload a picture).

 

[JayMay]

Knocking too

I have some knocking coming from what sounds like the rear passenger side and could be related to this. I'm worried it's going to be the same situation as yourself where youve taken it in FIVE times!

Did you get a final resolution in the end?

 

[psychobob]

Hi JayMay, no, still waiting for the chassis ears to turn up. Not been contacted yet

 

[JayMay]

I've decided to book mine into a SEAT dealership for next Thursday given its still under warranty. Hopefully they can shed some light on it and make the repairs under that warranty.

Only had the car 6 days and already going back to the dealership is rather frustrating!

 

[JayMay]

Update.
Car went into SEAT. they used the 2 hour allowed time the car gets and swapped the shocks. Checked all the underside and said they couldn't find out what was causing it.

It's been rebooked for Wednesday when they said they will tackle it from the interior by Stripping it all out.

They can hear the knocking and don't know where it's coming from.

 

[Dt-spd]

Have you tried removing the boot floor/cover ??

I get a very annoying knocking sound from my car over rough ground and small bumps. Seems to be the boot floor board knocking against the plastic ledges it sits on. I put some foam strip around the edges and knocking gone. Although the foam has since compressed and the knocking returned, so looking into a more robust fix.

 

[R22 JGB]

Have you tried removing the boot floor/cover ??

I get a very annoying knocking sound from my car over rough ground and small bumps. Seems to be the boot floor board knocking against the plastic ledges it sits on. I put some foam strip around the edges and knocking gone. Although the foam has since compressed and the knocking returned, so looking into a more robust fix.

I think I'll have to try that.

 

[psychobob]

*Update*

Chassis Ears have arrived and car is now booked in on the 20th for diagnosis

 

[JayMay]

Good news.
I got my car back from SEAT yesterday, and they have fixed the issue. They said they had a service manager and a technician in the back if the car after stripping out all the rear interior trying to locate the issue.
They discovered it was, what I'm told, the crash bar situated inside the rear bumper. The bolt connecting it on the right hand side was not completely tightening. They said it took two minutes with torque gun to tighten both sides. They said they had never seen this issue before which is why it took them so long to identify.
The knocking is completely gone. I'm over the moon.
I hope the chassis ears work for you, and maybe this discovery can help you with your knocking.

 

[psychobob]

Good news JayMay - just hope mines as simple

 

[dannyshep]

Mine now sounds like an old rusty pogo stick when going over speed humps at low speeds. Time to get mine booked in to the stealers. Under warranty so not my problem.

 

[psychobob]

**Update** Cars been in since 20th September - still not repaired. They have tried the chassis ears and they are still transmitting the knocking sound. They have replaced various parts but still the same. They now tell me both shocks will be changed at the same time from a known good donar car Pretty fed up now

 

[R22 JGB]

My car is booked in next week for the noise. See how they get on with it.

 

[R22 JGB]

Just got a call from the dealer, we can't hear any noise. Will you come & go out with the technician?

 

[adsnew]

Had a similar problem as you guys with my Leon FR 184. Only had it a day and realized the knocking coming from the rear of the passenger side. If i was to describe it, it sounded like a fuel cap was loose, plastic on plastic kinda knocking. However as we all know the fuel cap is on the drivers side. Anyways after taking it to SEAT in Hull (very good might i add) they came out for a test drive with me to hear it. Booked the car in for a day, went to pick it up and they said it was fixed.. drive down the road for 2 mins and it clearly wasnt. Unfortunately a different mechanic to the one the heard the knocking on the test drive tried to fix the issue. He believed a loose rear seat was the cause so just tightened that.

Anyways, once booked in again they decided to strip all the plastics and near on full back end. Had microphones on the suspension or something whilst driving and they decided the rear passenger shock absorber was the culpirate. Next day new one fitted and the noise has reduced significantly. I say reduced as im sure i can still hear some sort of knocking....10x better than it was though.

As you guys have mentioned its at its worst when slowly going over bumps etc.

 

[psychobob]

They had mine for 2 weeks and still it knocks They changed the rear shocks, the top mounts, stripped out the entire rear interior and used chassis ears. This resulted in the knocking being reduced but its still noticeable

 

[Drewbot]

My 184 had exactly this issue. Took it to Seat Northampton who were great. Had it for a day to check some simple stuff and couldn't cure it, so booked back in for 4 days. 2 new shocks and top mounts later and the knocking has gone completely. I'm so relieved.
Plus spending the time in a fiat Tipo ciurtesy car made me really appreciate getting back to my Leon!

 

[R22 JGB]

Just got a call from the dealer, we can't hear any noise. Will you come & go out with the technician?

Update. Went back to the dealers and had a drive out with the Technician, initially the noise was not there, found a rougher bit of road where the knocking was audible and the technician agreed he could hear it. I was told to leave the car so went home.
Around 16:30 rang to see what was happening, the car was ready, but they had been unable to locate the source of the noise.
I have been asked to wait until the noise gets worse as this may help locate the noise! This was not the outcome I'd been expecting.
Even with the noise the Leon is much quieter than the Ka courtesy car.

 

[Drewbot]

My knocking noise was much clearer with the back seats down. Is that the same with you guys?