Any ideas on what this noise might be please? Vauxhall Corsa

[Clintpistol17]

Hi

My car has been making a strange noise for some time… It tends to happen more on country roads. But then again, I don’t do many miles and most of what I do do is on country roads.

It sounds like it’s coming from behind the front foot-wells, or perhaps a bit higher than that. Really tough to tell. And also tough to tell what side it is on. Sorry to be so vague!

I took it to a couple of garages, both of who put it on the ramp and couldn’t see anything. But they didn’t hear the noise because one didn’t want to drive the car out to have a listen, and the other garage wasn’t near any country roads and it therefore didn’t happen for them. One of the garages said they didn’t think it was suspension related.

Here’s a link to a recording of the sound. It’s more prominent around the middle and in the second half. It’s really tough to describe, so hopefully the recording will be enough, but happy to try to describe it if it would be helpful., or take more recordings. Or for that matter, to answer any other questions to help identify.

Would hugely appreciate any ideas. I need to make a long journey in a few weeks time but am reluctant to take it on the motorway until I know what the problem is.

Cheers

Audio:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Uuzpt2DeCm62APx00...

[LennyM1984]

I'm going to go with... Drop links.

It'll be something suspension related but that sounds quite like knackered drop links to me. The garage should have been able to spot some play in them by moving them about a bit with a bar but it can sometimes be a bit hard to tell when they are on the car and under load.

I don't know what the suspension setup is like on a Corsa but try feeling for play in the different suspension arms.

Edited by LennyM1984 on Wednesday 24th April 10:41

[tux850]

It doss have a metal-on-metal sound to it characteristic of ball joint failure so, yeah, I'd go for either drop links or the ball joint on wishbone.

What car is it?

[E-bmw]

90% plus likely to be suspension related, could be many things but my (s)hit list would be one of:

Drop links
Ball joint
Track rod end
Top mount
Engine/gearbox mount
Generically something loose, possibly calliper/subframe

ETA.

Don't take it back to either of those garages as they should have been able to find that, test drive or not.

[trickywoo]

If it isn’t the obvious suspension stuff it could be brake related.

I had something similar on a new to me car which had badly corroded inner disc faces. What you could see looked fine but it resulted in uneven pad wear and the pads were rattling around in certain circumstances. Sounded very similar to worn drop links.

[Clintpistol17]

Hi

Many thanks for the replies.

I've just been checking out a YT video (about Corsa D and drop links) and it sounds the same as one of our sounds, although I think we may have more than one noise! Also, if I bounce the car I hear a knock, as per 1:01 on the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGXJ73BvIxY


I've also just checked my last MOT certificate, and have these as advisories:

- Suspension arm pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement NSF
- Suspension arm corroded but not seriously weakened NSF

Could something be going on with a combination of all these things? To be honest, I don't now much about cars so don't know how related all these things are, or even if some things are the same but under different names!

Thanks again, any further thoughts much appreciated.

[LennyM1984]

Yup those could definitely be your issue. Nonetheless, you will still need to (or get somebody else to) get under the car and work out which one is the issue. You will have a few different arms under there and any or all of them could be the issue.

[Clintpistol17]

Hi

Back again! To recap the car was making two different noises. We've had some work done and it has cured one of the noises, but not the other.

Here's what happened. I decided in the end to book it in for an early MOT with a different garage, to make sure there was nothing hugely expensive to do on the car, and at the same time to get the noises sorted.

• *Front drop link anti-roll bar*** This is what they diagnosed as making the noise. And it also failed the MOT for this (certificate said "Anti-roll bar linkage ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt NSF Upper"). The work/replacement has been done and has cured one of the noises.

Everything else on the MOT was fine. No advisories. And everything else suspension related looked fine, including:

• *Lower arm bush, passenger front*** The mechanic had a look and said it seems ok and he would not bother doing anything. It's not perfect, but there's not enough play/movement/problem to even be a MOT advisory. He said it might cause a slight noise when turning corners or heavy steering, but it's nothing to worry about.

However, drove it home and one of the noises is still there. It's the main noise you can hear in the above recording. I've done some new recordings and will put a link below. The first one is pretty good but have included the others too in case they are helpful.

It has since been back to the garage. They've had another look and took it for a drive to listen. They say there is nothing obvious, and so they are suspecting the noise is the front shock absorber. They said it is hard to visually tell or to test if this is worn, and seeing as everything else looks fine, all points to this being the problem. Will be around £200 all in.

I wondered what you guys think about it being that please? Does it sound likely? The noise seems to be coming from the area behind the pedals, but tbh it's tough to tell exactly.

Any replies would be a massive help, as the bills are building up which is fine if the issue gets sorted but not if it keeps having to go back for more work.

Huge thanks

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1dpJLchprNW...

Edited by Clintpistol17 on Tuesday 4th June 14:41