Rear End Creaking And No Suspension Travel.

[Guest damian almond]

hi everyone,

ive recentley purchased a 1.9 205,its a 1988/89 on an f plate. the car is squeaky and creaky on the rear end....i think someone has been arsing about with it in an attempt to lower it,

your advice/help is much apreciated.

[Tom Fenton 1,541]

Sounds like a knackered rear beam, unfortunately its a very common occurance on 205 GTI's now. From your comment about no suspension travel it is likely that the trailing arms have seized in the cross tube- this is more common than you'd think! If you are a confident DIY mechanic you could tackle it yourself, otherwise there are plenty of people on here (me included) that can build you a beam.

If you are lucky the main cross tube will have survived and you will need new bearings and seals and new trailing arm pivot shafts to make your beam good as new. If you are not lucky then the cross tube can wear out meaning you will need to find a replacement.

[Guest damian almond]

Sounds like a knackered rear beam, unfortunately its a very common occurance on 205 GTI's now. From your comment about no suspension travel it is likely that the trailing arms have seized in the cross tube- this is more common than you'd think! If you are a confident DIY mechanic you could tackle it yourself, otherwise there are plenty of people on here (me included) that can build you a beam.

If you are lucky the main cross tube will have survived and you will need new bearings and seals and new trailing arm pivot shafts to make your beam good as new. If you are not lucky then the cross tube can wear out meaning you will need to find a replacement.

is there anyway i can check it?

[Guest damian almond]

is there anyway i can check it?

i forgot to mention,i had the rear end of the car jacked up last night and on axle stands,when i took the car off the jack the suspension stayed in the high position,but as soon as i pushed it down it then sat and stayed"on its arse" hope this makes sense.

[Tom Fenton 1,541]

You could jack the car up- as the jack lifts the car up the gap between the rear wheelarch and the tyre SHOULD increase, but if the beam is seized then the gap will not increase, e.g. the tyre will move up off the ground as soon as you lift the car up. With the car jacked up and supported on stands (NOT under the trailing arms- so leaving the trailing arms free to move) you should be able to move the trailing arm up and down in its arc of movement by hand- if you cannot then it is seized.

[Tom Fenton 1,541]

i forgot to mention,i had the rear end of the car jacked up last night and on axle stands,when i took the car off the jack the suspension stayed in the high position,but as soon as i pushed it down it then sat and stayed"on its arse" hope this makes sense.

 

From that comment it sounds like you have some movement, I'd be tempted to get the car up in the air on stands and then remove the rear dampers. With this done you should be able to smoothly move the arms up and down against the spring pressure of the torsion bar. Also pull/push from the wheel to check for play.

Aside from all this though, if it is creaking then something is amiss and it needs to come apart.

[Guest damian almond]

ok tom,

nice one,this cars been bought as a project for me and my 15 year old son.(keeps him off the streets)

ill let him loose on it in the next few hours and come back to you.

[Guest damian almond]

ive just jacked the car up at the rear end;

the body of the car lifts first before the wheels (as i belive it should)

with everything still in situ,there is no play in the wheels left to right.....when you put a bar under the wheels and lift them up the rear arms seem to move up and down as they should,

should i still remove the rear shockers??

[Tom Fenton 1,541]

Sounds like it is still moving, however it is the creaking that is giving the game away, if it is in good order it should not creak.

[welshpug 1,657]

does it creak whilst moving along or only when you bounce on the rear?

 

could be the rear brakes making the noise

[Guest damian almond]

does it creak whilst moving along or only when you bounce on the rear?

 

could be the rear brakes making the noise

the car is creaking all the time (whilst driving etc) ive just found some play in the rear suspension bushes at the end closest to the beam.

what do you reckon??

[johnnyboy666 195 1 Cars]

well if the mounts need changing, you might aswell have the whole beam off- its easier to dismantle that way imo, or you could just swap it for a good beam whilst you take the old one apart, refurb the old one if its not too far gone, then stick the old one back on all fresh and shiny and sell the spare on ebay??

[Guest damian almond]

well if the mounts need changing, you might aswell have the whole beam off- its easier to dismantle that way imo, or you could just swap it for a good beam whilst you take the old one apart, refurb the old one if its not too far gone, then stick the old one back on all fresh and shiny and sell the spare on ebay??

i reckon its the bushes on the actual shockers,so is it not just a case of replacing the rear shockers?

ive been offered a complete rear beam with discs etc etc for £100. its on a scrap car at the moment but do i really need it and how do i know its any good? the beam on my car appears to be ok,its not seized and the trailing arms are moving up and down,are there any members close to blackburn that i could take the car to?

[jimistdt 1]

ive been offered a complete rear beam with discs etc etc for £100. its on a scrap car at the moment but do i really need it and how do i know its any good?

 

£100 is not much money for a scrap 1.9 (?) beam. Although it would be wise to rebuild it before putting it on your car. If the beam is still on the donor car then have a look directly from behind to see if there is any camber in the wheels, then look for the things that Tom Fenton mentioned.

 

PS You might not need it, but I would get yours stripped to see what you're dealing with.

Edited December 18, 2008 by jimistdt

[Guest damian almond]

ok then,

whos the best/cheapest for rear beams in this area.

[jimistdt 1]

I don't know your neck of the woods too well, but as said there are people on here that will do it for you, Sheffield ain't that far really is it?

[Guest damian almond]

I don't know your neck of the woods too well, but as said there are people on here that will do it for you, Sheffield ain't that far really is it?

sheffield,aint too bad...the home of gatecrasher!

[pug_ham 244 3 Cars]

I've done a few beam rebuilds for people on here & I'm possibly the closest of the people I know of on here that do them. Unfortunatley though I don't have a 1.9 GTi beam to refurbish but if you buy that one for £100 (after checking it over) I can do a refurb in a couple of days.

 

A simple way to check if the beam is seized & making the squeaking is to remove the shocks & then lower the car back onto the ground & bounce on the boot sill.

 

It should move smooth & freely with no noise, moving the trailing arm with the car on axle stands will show if they are seized or not but might not highlight any noises due to having no weight on them.

 

The squeaking could be a couple of other things but the lack of suspension travel very few.

 

Has the car been lowered & if it has by approximately how much? It might be sat on the bumpstops which would mean there is no travel when you bounce the back end. TBH if this is the case it'll drive pretty horrendously on anything but a glass smooth road.

 

The rear hatch can move around causing an annoying squeak if the stops are badly adjusted as can an acoustic parcel shelf but that shouldn't be very loud imo.

 

The worst squeak I've heard in a 205 recently was when I did some work on one recently for a friend & the inner forward mount for the drivers seat has snapped so the torn metal was grating against the rest of the mounting point when driving.

 

Graham.

[Guest damian almond]

this car imo has been lowered as much as is probably possible its sat very low down,i personally think this is the main cause of the problem,im going to get one of the lads to take it back up to standard ride height and then take it from there.

[Daz_C 8 1 Cars]

this car imo has been lowered as much as is probably possible its sat very low down,i personally think this is the main cause of the problem,im going to get one of the lads to take it back up to standard ride height and then take it from there.

 

If your going to do that then its hardly any bother to inspect the condition of the beam/shafts/bearings whilst your at it !

Would be pointless to just raise it back up to standard to see if its still creaking only to find you've got to take it apart again.

Also even if the beam is o.k the bearings may have had better days and you may benefit from replacing them whilst its apart. A small investment of new bearings and seals at this point (if the shafts etc are o.k) will most definatly save you a huge expense in the long term.

[welshpug 1,657]

£100 is a bit strong for an unknown beam, though worth it if the brake calipers are known to be good.

[DM88PUG 0]

Rear subframe "sandwitch" bushes, there quiye hard to see ns is behind the back box, pry the rear beem with a bar and see if there nackered

[pug_ham 244 3 Cars]

A small investment of new bearings and seals at this point (if the shafts etc are o.k) will most definatly save you a huge expense in the long term.

I whole heartedly agree with this statement, prevention now is better than having to find a complete rear beam in years to come.

 

Rear subframe "sandwitch" bushes, there quiye hard to see ns is behind the back box, pry the rear beem with a bar and see if there nackered

I don't believe these would make any noise even if they were failed & had split.

 

One MOT tester said they were only an advisory point for the test & not a fail because whenthe car is sat on its wheels they are still doing the job they are designed to do just t a lesser extent.

 

You don't need to pry anything, just jack the back of the car up & they will seperate letting the beam arm drop slightly if they have failed.

 

Graham.

[Tesstuff 222]

I have had my car 18 months, done 7,000 miles and it has creaked since day one.

 

No camber of any sort, i even had my little accident and gave the rear beam a massive smack in March and it still carries on fine.

 

I dont always think the creaking is 'rear beam doom'. My mechanic said 18 months ago that it wont last long creaking like that but it has.

 

Obviously i would prefer it not to creak, always have to tell passengers what the noise is when they get out of the car and it creaks loudly, but it drives fine.

 

Might put it on my list of jobs to get done for 2009