Anxious for help noticed very slight noise from front suspension car taken in for first service purchased new in 2013 and was told vehicle was dangerous to drive as the fluid in the suspension system compromised and car could roll! The bill for the replacement of the entire system was £10,000. Dealership was helpful but we still had to pay! We love the car and wonder how many other owners have had this problem? Before collecting the car a member of staff told us that they had had at least four other vehicles that year within the dealership with the same problem. Another member also said that it was possible that the fluid in the system was already contaminated. Anideas

You bought it new? In 2013? Then it's a manufacturer's warranty issue and you should be telling the garage to go and whistle.

I'd take it somewhere else first and see what they diagnose the noise to be. Don't mention what the first garage has said.

All sounds a bit fishy to me...

Either way, it's a warranty issue. 2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

Tisha wrote:

Anxious for help noticed very slight noise from front suspension car taken in for first service purchased new in 2013 and was told vehicle was dangerous to drive as the fluid in the suspension system compromised and car could roll! The bill for the replacement of the entire system was £10,000. Dealership was helpful but we still had to pay! We love the car and wonder how many other owners have had this problem? Before collecting the car a member of staff told us that they had had at least four other vehicles that year within the dealership with the same problem. Another member also said that it was possible that the fluid in the system was already contaminated. Anideas

Thanks for your responses we have contacted Land Rover customer care with very little success. We feel that this is a safety issue. There were no warning lights at all - the only reason the dealership checked it out was because on delivering the vehicle for its first service I mentioned the slight noise on the nearside suspension. They then came back and said that the car was dangerous to drive because the dynamic stability control was compromised and they would have to replace to whole suspension system because the fluid in the system which is pumped around the suspension under pressure at all times had emulsified! This would cause corrosion and they could not flush the system. So the whole lot was replaced. We tried the safety route to ask for the work to be done under warranty and Land Rover refused even though the dealership were very sympathetic. I am not technical, my husband was utterly wiped out by it particularly as the elephant in the room is that he had tried to pour water into the fluid. When we collected the car I spoke to the chief mechanic about the possibility of this happening again - he said no but did not rule out the fact that the fluid itself could have been contaminated before it left the factory. Sorry I am not a technical person we feel we are up against a large company and at the moment being fobbed off! We love the car. Any help would be appreciated.

Quote:

I am not technical, my husband was utterly wiped out by it particularly as the elephant in the room is that he had tried to pour water into the fluid.

When you say 'TRIED to pour water into the fluid' Can we assume that he succeeded?

Pouring water into a safety-critical hydraulic system that should contain only a very specific mineral - based fluid is definitely a seriously bad thing to have done.

Without wishing to sound unsympathetic I don't think it is reasonable to expect Land Rover to pay for damage to the vehicle which you have caused yourself. 2008 MY Java Black TDV8 HSE

I absolutely agree with you Paddi that is why I said the elephant in the room was the implication that my husband poured water into the system. We are not complete muppets and as you said if this liquid was so critical not to be contaminated ,the removal of the filler cap should not have been possible without some sort of special tool. Since we have had the vehicle back I checked and I could not remove the cap. I have a friend in the business selling top end vehicles and their cars cannot have that cap removed without a special implement. This is a safety issue, we were driving around in the vehicle with a dangerous suspension and there was not a single warning light or indication that anything was wrong. As I said earlier - four other vehicles in this one dealership have had a similar problem - we have had three other Land Rover vehicles so are not entirely unfamiliar with where the filler cap for water is. Your understandable reaction is as from the manufacturer - and they will never admit they have, or did have, a problem. Something so safety critical one would have assumed would have been tamper proof - we are not the only people who have had access under the bonnet. Sorry don't mean to rant!

Guys with out looking back here how much should it cost to have the knocking fixed? Its just started now worse when cold.
Thanks. SVR 2018 in Santorini Black.

....well I just had my ARB bushes done and that solved it.
I also carried the TSB myself that involved removing the body mount damping struts and adding the mass dampers.
Easy peasy....just nuts and bolts.

The bush replacements front and back cost me £200 at my garage but I understand it was a bit of a pig!
My mechanic snapped his SnapOn tool in the process!

 I was born with a photographic memory. Shame it didn't develop!

".....do you boys know what the word Nemesis means?...."

2007 2.7 TDV6 in Stornaway Grey.
EGR Blanked.
Re-mapped by Alive Tuning.

Two new front bushes and car is all quiet and smooth again 200 euros. SVR 2018 in Santorini Black.

X2 front arb bushes and drives like a different car! 2010 TDV8...

Do we know for certain that the knocking is restricted to SC models and 2007 onwards TDV6 and TDV8 HSE with Dynamic Response. I have a 2008 TDV6 SE which presumably does not have Dynamc Response but has a knocking noise from the front suspension when driving straight ahead on uneven road surfaces at around 20 to 35 mph. The sound and feel is like a shock absorber gone on an ordinary car. Anyone else have this on a similar model?

Non-dynamic response vehicles still ruin anti-roll bars bushes. They're easier to replace too so it's not all bad.  2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

Following some much-needed advice from this forum, I got the bushes changed.

I had the issue where you'd hear a big 'clonk' is you drove at walking speed and touched the break. Also, it was terrible going over minor bumps, like the entrance into my local supermarket. It was much better after that, but very soon after I got a different knocking noise. When I get about 30%-40% turn on the wheel, I get a clonk noise, and the same when I turn it back. It seems to happen at low and high speeds.

Could this be connected to the previous job on the bushes? It seems a huge coincidence, to be honest.

Thanks in advance for any help..........

Hi Nick,

Is your steering lumpy? Mine was - it was the lower steering column. Replaced and that issue went away

Does the steering feel "lose" more noticeable when you are going faster.
The car looks like an old movie car where they are driving along wobbling the wheel left to right to keep it in a straight line.

I'm replacing the track rod ends to hopefully fix that.
I've replaced front upper & lower arms (and hence the bushes) already. Current car - 2016 MY17 L494 in black - sometimes towing a Buccaneer Cruiser.
Sadly gone - 2013 L320 3.0 TD in grey! sometimes towing a Buccaneer Cruiser.

Hi Cassman,

The steering feels great, apart from this 'crack' or 'thud' noise when I turn the wheel.

It's quite noticeable too...