[First post (I think, at least under this ID) so please redirect me if in wrong location.]
Just finished redoing a lot of exhaust work and took my ZJ out out for a test spin. Sadly, he's not happy. (My kid's said he's male because he has a brush guard.) At first I thought it was the issue I used to have of the exhaust bouncing on the frame cross bar but then I realized it sounded worse than that.
Symptoms:
- sporadic (non-periodic) but consistent "clunking" that sounds like it's behind me and to my right while driving.
- it goes away when I'm in neutral -- only does it with transmission engaged.
First thought, as above, was it was the exhaust bouncing on the frame cross bar (or other) but, after testing with coasting in Neutral and the sound going away, that doesn't make sense. Second thought was u-joints but that doesn't make sense either, given it's doing it with normal driving and not under any stress -- doesn't correlate with acceleration, deceleration, gear changes, etc. -- nor changing from R to D, etc. I'm at a loss.
Just in case it's relevant: While working on the exhaust, I had jacked up the rear of the car by the differential - which I've done on many previous vehicles, so I wondered about that being a possible cause. After some web searching - with many hits on here - I see some differing opinions but nothing about it actually causing issues. But I'd been driving for a while with a leak in front of the cat and an effectively non-existent tailpipe so I suspect it might have started earlier but I just couldn't hear it.
Thoughts?
Thanks,
_R_
P.S. '96 ZJ Ltd, 5.2L, approx 190K miles
Just finished redoing a lot of exhaust work and took my ZJ out out for a test spin. Sadly, he's not happy. (My kid's said he's male because he has a brush guard.) At first I thought it was the issue I used to have of the exhaust bouncing on the frame cross bar but then I realized it sounded worse than that.
Symptoms:
- sporadic (non-periodic) but consistent "clunking" that sounds like it's behind me and to my right while driving.
- it goes away when I'm in neutral -- only does it with transmission engaged.
First thought, as above, was it was the exhaust bouncing on the frame cross bar (or other) but, after testing with coasting in Neutral and the sound going away, that doesn't make sense. Second thought was u-joints but that doesn't make sense either, given it's doing it with normal driving and not under any stress -- doesn't correlate with acceleration, deceleration, gear changes, etc. -- nor changing from R to D, etc. I'm at a loss.
Just in case it's relevant: While working on the exhaust, I had jacked up the rear of the car by the differential - which I've done on many previous vehicles, so I wondered about that being a possible cause. After some web searching - with many hits on here - I see some differing opinions but nothing about it actually causing issues. But I'd been driving for a while with a leak in front of the cat and an effectively non-existent tailpipe so I suspect it might have started earlier but I just couldn't hear it.
Thoughts?
Thanks,
_R_
P.S. '96 ZJ Ltd, 5.2L, approx 190K miles