New bags ( new gen vs old) brake caliper clips, end links. What could be it be? Wheels doesn't move when you try and move the wheel from side to side or up and down. Bushings all look good. Upper ball joint, possibly? It clunks over slight bumps and when entering where there are raised in pavement but noise isn't present at any other time. Tires wear perfectly, steering is perfect, alignment is perfect. Driving me crazy! Help

 

My money is on a bad shock.

 

replaced the shocks I think possible a bad ball joint maybe the upper one

 

My 04 XK8 did this and it was the sway bar links. Replaced and noise was gone.

 

I put a bit of money in my 98 XJ8 with that exact same dreadful front end clunking noise. The first mechanic put in new struts, but clunking still present. Recently went to another mechanic closer to me who found that I had a bad upper control arm. I did replace that and still the car clunked. He told me the shocks could be bad and I was frustrated enough that I told him to do it. That totally solved the clunking noise! Car rides like a dream now. I'm with a few other saying new shocks.
(I even had upper bushings replaced too)

 

Its either bad shocks, bad sway bar end links, or bad sway bar bushings, or a combination of all three.

 

I don't know if you read the first statement I made but these are new struts, new end link bushings. All that has been replaced. So, from there what?

 

My 05 XJ8 used to absolutely drive me nuts clunking over every expansion joint in parking lots, and driveways. It stopped the clunking when I put in new upper control arms. I bought mine from an Ebay seller "autopropartner" from Taiwan. $130 for the L&R pair including shipping. Fit perfectly and seem to be holding up OK. If you search the forum you can find a Lincoln cross reference part number, too. If I had seen the Lincoln p/n cross reference first I probably would have bought those. It only takes a few hours to put the arms in, so it's not a major issue if the Taiwan parts need to be replaced.

When I had the car jacked up to R&R the air shocks it was readily and obviously apparent that the control arm bushings were shot. I don't understand why the shop did not see this when they did an alignment, but they didn't. Easy to verify the parts were shot and easy to replace; one of the very few 'easy' repairs on the XJ8.

 

to eliminate the say bar links, disconnect and suspend them, then drive a few blocks and if the noise disappears, your problem is the links. Also, while they]y're disconnected from the links push and pull them fore and aft. They shouldn't move other than to swivel in place.

So not the sway bar? My money is on the upper control arms and they are cheap enough to replace as prescottaz notes.

Also, is the clunking on both sides or does it favor one side?

 

I think the upper control arms need to be replaced, I think Prescottaz is right the upper ball joints must be bad.

 

Please do update us on the final resolution of your problem. I have this identical problem currently on my '04XJR and had it since I bought the car 2 years ago. Everything looks perfect on the suspension. Air shocks were one year old when I got the car (Arnotts), bushings look good, upper/lower control arms look good, steering and ride on highway is perfect, tire wear is perfect, no movement on tires, was able to get it aligned correctly with no issues. It is an absolute mystery to me.

 

Will do. I think I am going to have him check the rack and pinion. I know I had a Lincoln Continental that clunked ( 1982 Givenchy) and I did everything and still the clunk was there. Everything looked perfect. Finally I said what the hell, replace the rack and when I did. The noise was gone. Apparently the bushing that hold it in place looked good but weren't. It was the cause of many years of anger.

 

I had some of my British car club friends help diagnose my "Clunk" last saturday and aside from a separated left engine mount and worn control arm bushings, the main clunk suspect is a worn out transmission mount that lets the tranny bang the support bracket and feel like it is getting a kick in the pan from underneath. Happens on railroad tracks and shallow pot holes.

 

Got the same problem with mine noticed that it's got worse now it's getting colder in the uk I have checked everything and the cars been for mot really annoying don't mind spending the money if I could find the problem

 

Do a visual. I have had mine on the lift many a times and did a visual more than once. That mount is rock solid. I would be surprised if that is the case. If that is the case, assuming you can secure the car under jack stands, you should be able to crawl under and push the tranny end (where the mount is) up with both hands. If it is loose, you would know immediately. Let us know.

 

The tranny mount sounds maybe what it is.

 

XJ8JR replaced his transmission mount:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...0/#post1313798


Also, Chuck Schexnayder suspected his transmission mount, but I don't know what he figured out.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-mount-154444/


You might drop a private message to each of those guys to see what they think of your symptoms.

Cheers,

Don

 

I have the same clunking issue on a 2005 XJ8L with 146,000 miles. I was going to replace the struts, but will check the upper control arm ball joints. I will update what I find when I put it on the lift.

 

When we had it up on the car club's lift one of the more knowledgable fellows pried on various mounts and bushings and the tranny moved easily. I didn't actually try to lift it by hand, but the play was obvious. I'll be ordering a new left motor mount and a tranny mount from merriam after the holidays.


Thanks for the links, Don,
The symptoms he lists are very similar to mine, and the eBay link is still good. Too bad that supplier doesn't also list the left engine mount, but given the free shipping I'll recheck the Merriam shipping if I buy the engine mount alone from them. Oh what the heck; it said one left so I ordered the tranny mount from eBay and included a message to ask if they also had the C2C31128 left engine mount. Strike while the iron is hot and all that.

Thanks again for the info; what would I do without the knowledge and experience of this forum?

Edit 1: I need to change the left engine mount which involves lifting the engine from above and taking the steering rack part way off. Would it be better to do this before the Tranny mount or would it make no difference? Right now the engine can lift up pretty far on the left side, which may have contributed to the demise of the tranny mount and I don't want to hurt the new one.

Edit 2: Did a search for engine mount C2C31128 and found this listing on ebay, also with free shipping.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JAGUAR-OEM-X...gAAOSwU~FWEXWu

Guess I'll order it also and do both at the same time using the club's lift.

 

Reporting back on the clunking noise in the front end:


I put my 2005 XJ8L on the lift and disconnected both sway bar end links from the lower control arm, then wrapped one end of the sway bar in a cloth and rested it on the control arm. When I took it out for a drive, the vast majority if not all of the clunking disappeared when a bump was hit. When I raised the car on the lift to attach the link ends, I pushed and pulled the sway bar and it did have some play in it.


I believe this is the least expensive item to go bad in the front end, but I think my knuckles are going to make up the difference by paying the bill.