noisy escort "HELP IT'S DRIVING ME CRACKERS"

[Sporty]

ME again ,update i still have this dam noise,i've had 2 new linkage arms fitted aswell now ,,gr, gr, gr,
hi hope someone can giveme someadvice..i have a R reg 1996 escort lx, 1600 zetec engine, the engine runs lovely and quite and it has only done 54,000 miles the problem is that when i'm driving along a smooth road i can't hear a noise..then if i go over a pot hole or some form of uneven road i.e were they've replaced tarmac e.tc i get a clunking type of noise quite loudly it seems to me as if it is coming from the front of the car "MAYBE CENTRAL" ?.
NOW I was told it was the wishbone arm so i had a new one fitted, still i had the noise, then i was told it was the drive shaft cv joint or something like that? so i had a complete passenger side driveshaft fitted and still i have the noise ,now i am on a tight budjet so i can't afford to keep going down the line of trial and error .........can anyone tell me what this problem could be ,,as i have now been told it could be the carrier bearing in the gearbox..if this is so how can you tell if it definatly is this as i don't want to be going to the expense of this to find out i still have the annoying noise!! ..the car starts first time in amorning with no funny noises and there is no screeching coming from the gearbox and i can get my gears like normal with no problems,,hope this info helps with the solving of the problem if someone can hep?
THANKS ANG

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[PowerTool]

Most likely is wear in bottom ball joint or inner joint on bottom wishbone - have you replaced both or just one ?Also could be track rod end - is the steering ok?
CV joints don't normally make noise under the circumstances you describe - when worn,they tend to make a knocking noise when turning,normally when the offending side is on the outside of the turn.
Other possibilities include worn strut tops and worn shock absorbers.

Most of these can be checked by levering the suspect joint with a screwdriver or similar,and seeing if there is noticeable free movement.

 

[Sporty]

I WILL CHECK OUT THE struts on the shock absorbers as this is the cheaper option, do i replace the shock absorber or the whole strut i.e including the spring, as for the noise on a flat road it is quiet as a mouse, on an uneven road it sounds like a Bag of Nuts stuckin a tumble dryer

the reason i thought it could be a carrier bearing is because if you grab hold of the inner cvjoint which i have recently just changed ,,you can move it from top -bottom on the passenger side, but on the drivers side it does not move it has also recently started to leak oil from the passenger side slightly were the cv joint goes into the gearbox..................

i could really do with some good advice!
maybe there is a gearbox specialist out there reading this , "HELP" PLEASE !

 

[PowerTool]

Struts when worn can be "waggled" from side to side - the seal around the piston goes,and then starts to wear.To change them,you do not need to change the spring,but a pair of spring compressors are essential - there is a lot of latent energy in them there coils!
Otherwise,normally held on by two bolts at the bottom,and one big nut at the top.

However,not a job to do if not confident (if you know what you are doing,can be stripped down,swapped and re-installed in about 30 minutes)
and I would not recommend changing parts hoping to cure something that you don't know what it is - can easily spend a lot of money,and still not solve the problem - may be cheaper to get a mechanic to look at it so you only change the bit you need to.

As for the CV joint oil leak,there is an oil seal where the joint goes into the gearbox - it could be worn,or it could have been damaged when replacing the joint - assuming there is no great oil leak,you check the gearbox oil level,and the box doesn't whine,the problem is more inconvenient than serious.

 

[hadit]

don't know if you have cured your noise problem,but i have just joined this site.and thought i might be able to help,you could check your front anti roll bar bushes and retainer brackets...hope this helps...

 

[Sporty]

thanks i will try that as i have not yet cured it yet
thanks Mark