Hi all,
On my last couple of trips out I’ve noticed a knocking from the rear end, passenger side, I think.
The first time it happened I hit quite a big dip in the road and I thought it had just bottomed out, no biggie.
However its done it again twice today over roads that while aren’t great, aren’t as bad as the first time around.
I’m also not sure if it’s the soft top roof that’s folded down in the back (I’ve had the hard top on, on both occasions).
A quick visual check reveals nothing at all. I’m now wondering if one of my shocks has bitten the dust - I’ll be really peeved if it has because they’re only a year old, have only done about 5.5k and are only a couple of months out of warranty (MeisterR’s).
So, I fear the answer to this question is no, however, is there any concise way to check if it has failed without spending an afternoon stripping it?
- no sign of fluid/seepage.
- I’ve bounced the rear, not sure… Does feel a little bit soft I guess but I can’t be sure.
- there’s no sign of damage underneath (doesn’t look like the underside has struck the road.
Do Meister offer a rebuild/repair service? I’ll be considering my options if it’s gone bad so quickly.
Thanks!
Pretty sure it’ll be something else, not the MeisterR’s. I’ve been over some pretty bad surfaces with mine over the years, always a first though re damage.
You need to do a proper check on the units on the rear and check the drop links, even the back exhaust box rubber hangers etc.
I had the same on my NC a few months back. The dealer who I bought it from replaced one of the shocks and the knocking went away. However, as I’m sure others will tell you, there can be other causes. But in my case, after exploring the others, it did turn out to be one shock.
If it is one of your shocks, lots of folks will tell you to have them both replaced. I’m sure that is good advice, but in my case the dealer only had one done, since he footed the bill.
I really hope it is something else.
I’m going to give it a proper once over later on, what do you mean by rear units?
If I really (REALLY) shake the backbox from side to side it will touch the bottom of the diff… But that’s a totally different noise to what I’m hearing, and I really don’t think there’s a connection between bottoming out and this.
I’ll have a proper look this afternoon and report back.
It’s definitely not the drop links.
I’ve had a good poke around and I’ve so far found 2 problems.
The first being the bump stop on the N/S coil… Its trashed… Not good after only a year.
Also, the item pictured below… The bushing is shot and while this is almost definitely not the true source of the noise, its definitely past it.
I’m pretty sure it’s a rear trailing link arm, however I can’t seem to find anywhere that online that sells the OEM bushes, and 86.44 + p&p from mx5 parts for a new pair seems ridiculous.
Any advice?
