Vibration under engine load

[sycamore]

Hi All,

I've a 04 Roadster Red which I bought not long back and so far its been fantastic, however there are a few little niggles I need to sort.

Clutch linkage squeak - I suspected dry joints, so after taking the battery/injection pipe out, I was able to get in and apply some grease etc which has solved it for now. On the off-chance the squeak from hell returns, is there a better/easier way of sorting it?

Scrunching noise when hitting a speed bump - When the engine is cold, when I hit a speed bump, there's a sort of scrunching/groaning noise coming from the rear of the car somewhere. Once the engine is warm, the noise stops???

Vibration/clacking under load - When in low revs in 2nd & 3rd & accelerating, there's a quick vibration/clacking coming from the rear, which seems to be louder when going uphill (maybe that's me just imagining it, or maybe it's cause the weight is shifted back slightly?) I had a similar issue with my Smart Roadster, which turned out to be an engine mount rubber bush needing replacing.

The car is on ~87k miles.

Ignoring all of the above, the car is awesome and I wish I'd have bought one sooner. Looking forward to doing some mini road trips in the summer.

Thanks all.

[Ardent]

Engine mounts worth a look.
Also the condition of the sub frame

[jonbill]

wrt the scrunching & groaning over speed bumps: I'd think that's suspension bushes - as the engine warms up it dries or softens the rubber.
spraying WD40 on them before you start would probably prove it.

[Carolyn]

All of the above are possibilities.  Time to get her up in the air, take off the nappies (under-car plastics) and have a good look and poke around.  Give everything a tweak with a pry-bar to see what's wobbly.  Check the drive-shafts for play while you're there.  Once she's on jack-stands, you can also put a jack under each wheel and move them up and down and see how it all moves.  Then you'll know.

[sycamore]

Thanks all.

Going to have a good look at the car this weekend.

In terms of replacing engine mounts, is there a most likely culprit mount which would be giving the vibration?
Likewise if there is a guide to replacing them somewhere that'd be most useful. I like to think I'm generally okay with mechanical stuff, however I don't want to accidentally break something!

The car seems to have developed a very faint squeak when idling and when I rev to low revs, and it doesn't always happen. Why do these things always happen during the winter.

[Joesson]

Likely for the same reason as some people are affected by SAD.
Also the effects of SAD would exacerbate the situation!

If your working on the car in the sun
you just want to get the job done
so you can go and have some fun.
If your working on the car in the cold and the rain
It' s just a bl***y pain
and you can' t be asked to do it again.