Knocking on turning

[Coulsdon Eagle]

i have a vito 110cdi, it's covered over 250,000 miles, for the past 50,000+ miles, it has knocked when turning, and only when turning, there's no problem at all at any other time, it's 9 times out of 10 when turning right, but only about 3 times out of 10 when turning left, every now and again when pulling away, it makes a really heavy clunk, and you can feel it shake the van, like something has come out of place and has dropped back into place, it started just after i had given the van a good 200,000 mile going over, i replaced the front suspension legs, drive shafts, wishbones, anti-roll bar bushes, both drop links, i didn't do the wheel bearings at the time, i've put up with it for ages now, even to the point of changing the drive-shafts again, but it still kept knocking, i took it to my local MB dealer for them to change one of the engine mounts and asked them to have a look to see what was knocking, but they couldn't find what it was either. For this past week, i've done the anti-roll bar bushes and wishbones again, and this time i had the wheel bearings changed, i put it all back together, took it for a spin - yep, it still knocked on turning, absolutely no difference at all, even the heavy clunk is still there, i cant think of anything i could have missed, it's beaten me and MB, would any of you have any suggestions as to what i'm missing? i'm now wondering if it could be gearbox related, but cant see how turning would affect the gearbox.

what am i looking for? any ideas?

 

[whitenemesis]

I had a clunk, groan on turning, turned out to be the joint between the crush box and cross member. A liberal coating of Waxoil sorted it....

 

[Coulsdon Eagle]

what/where is the crush box? i've not heard of that before

 

[Quick Silver]

i have a vito 110cdi, it's covered over 250,000 miles, for the past 50,000+ miles, it has knocked when turning, and only when turning, there's no problem at all at any other time, it's 9 times out of 10 when turning right, but only about 3 times out of 10 when turning left, every now and again when pulling away, it makes a really heavy clunk, and you can feel it shake the van, like something has come out of place and has dropped back into place, it started just after i had given the van a good 200,000 mile going over, i replaced the front suspension legs, drive shafts, wishbones, anti-roll bar bushes, both drop links, i didn't do the wheel bearings at the time, i've put up with it for ages now, even to the point of changing the drive-shafts again, but it still kept knocking, i took it to my local MB dealer for them to change one of the engine mounts and asked them to have a look to see what was knocking, but they couldn't find what it was either. For this past week, i've done the anti-roll bar bushes and wishbones again, and this time i had the wheel bearings changed, i put it all back together, took it for a spin - yep, it still knocked on turning, absolutely no difference at all, even the heavy clunk is still there, i cant think of anything i could have missed, it's beaten me and MB, would any of you have any suggestions as to what i'm missing? i'm now wondering if it could be gearbox related, but cant see how turning would affect the gearbox.

what am i looking for? any ideas?

Sub frame mounting bushes ,every body misses them including MOT STATIONS AND MB Dealers. The heavy clunk is the subframe moving up and down when you pull away from stationery and moving from side to side when you change direction . Driveshafts rumble usually on full lock .

 

[Coulsdon Eagle]

Thanks Quicksilver, i'll have a check on those, i've never even looked at them before

 

[BlackC55]

has the gearbox mount been changed?

 

[Coulsdon Eagle]

no, i had the engine mount replaced about a year ago, but i've not touched the gearbox mounting, thanks to Quick Silvers suggestion, i'll be having a look at all of the mounting bushes later today, i'm not sure where the subframe bushes are, i've never paid any attention to them

 

[Coulsdon Eagle]

i popped into my local MB dealer earlier to get some sub-frame bushes, but there weren't any listed on the MB computer system, does the Vito actually have any sub-frame bushes? or is it just the engine mounting bushes? TBH i've not taken much notice when i've been underneath the van, so i'm not even sure where or what i'm looking for