Clunking noise on full-right lock.

Conscript

Conscript

Conscript

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2004
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Location
Kent
I was pulling into a parking space at Bluewater just now and as I rolled into place on full lock there was a rythmic clunk coming from the front of the car and I felt it gently through the steering wheel as well. When I was stopped in the space, I moved the wheel lock to lock a couple of times but it was fine, so obviously only an issue when moving.

When I left I felt it again while reversing out of the space on full right lock. I found a quiet area of the car park and tried turning on full left lock, but couldn't feel it then. The car feels absolutely fine to drive, no play in the steering normally and no unneccesary noises. I'll be able to jack the car up in the air tomorrow to have a look, but any ideas what this could be? Im guessing a CV joint or similar?

Car is a 99/V reg Ford Focus 1.6 with about 83K on the clock.
 
I was getting something similar to that on my 53 plate, after a couple of checks from different garages i ended up paying £400 for new front arms and drop links and a resetting of the tracking.
 
Funny, I have something like that on my focus at the moment, I've been told the same, along the lines of, tracking rod, steering rack and arms. Mines coming from the front right, get a nice "Clonk" when turning at times. It's not the drop links on mine though.
 
yeah, want some good news? It might just be the tyre weights. They stick them on the inside of wheels nowadays and often don't pay too much attention to where they're fitting them. They can foul the track rod ends.

But if you've tried to replicate and its not done it again, then i wouldn't worry too much. Take it to open space and do some low speed full lock turns.
 
Tyre weights are all on the outside oy my wheels. And besides, they haven't been balanced since the tyres were fitted, which is over a year ago.
 
If it's a periodic clicking noise when on full lock then it's almost certainly a CV joint. A single clunk when releasing the clutch would point to something worn in the suspension.
 
I had the same on my corsa and it was the track rod ends, wasnt too expensive to replace to be fair. Not as expensive as what else it could have been!
 
If it's a cv joint, then it will probably be the opposite side, e.g. full right lock knocking will mean left cv joint. I learned this the expensive way in my old Scenic when the garage I took it initially replaced the wrong side cv joint! I think I was ~£80 for a drive shaft for the scenic, not sure if Ford focuses have replaceable cv joints or if its a full drive shaft.
 
greengiant said:
If it's a cv joint, then it will probably be the opposite side, e.g. full right lock knocking will mean left cv joint. I learned this the expensive way in my old Scenic when the garage I took it initially replaced the wrong side cv joint! I think I was ~£80 for a drive shaft for the scenic, not sure if Ford focuses have replaceable cv joints or if its a full drive shaft.
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When I told my dad (Who is older and more experienced in car mechanics than I) he said the same thing, that if it knocked on full right lock it was probably the left hand CV joint. I had a look on a website that sells car parts that I check sometimes just to get an idea for prices; CV joints for a Focus were listed as £24.00 so that's not too bad.
 
Going by your symptoms, it's almost certainly a CV joint on the way out.

Conscript said:
How much should I be bending over to have a CV joint replaced?
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Well, it might be fine for months yet - but, when it does go you'll lose all drive (even to the CV joint and wheel that's still working), so you'll be stranded.

Rough guess at about £100ish, maybe £120 depending on your car and the cost of an exchange driveshaft for it.
 
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