Loud Knocking Noise

Hi all,

I have a 2001 New Beetle and every time I drive over a slight bump on the road (and I mean very slight) I hear a very loud knocking noise coming from the front. It sounds like its coming from inside the dashboard right in front of the driver but I have had the dashboard pulled apart and nothing loose was found so its 100% confirmed it’s not inside the car.


My mechanic now seems to think it may be the engine mounts and I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this kind of problem? Also when changing from drive to reverse the engine moves back and forth about an inch...does that back up the engine mount noise over every bump?


The knock noise sounds very solid and knocks about 3 or 4 consecutive times over every slight bump and the bigger the bump the more prominent the knock.


If anyone can help I would be much appreciative as this problem adds to the now fixed list of car getting stuck in park, window regulator broken and battery died.


Cheers.

99% sure its your sway bar bushings but could be a bad ball joint or upper strut mount. WHen the car is on a hoist the mechanic should be able to check for loose ball joint or tie rod ends.

99% sure its your sway bar bushings but could be a bad ball joint or upper strut mount. WHen the car is on a hoist the mechanic should be able to check for loose ball joint or tie rod ends.

Thanks for your reply,

I guess the best thing for me to do is to take it to a suspension specialist and see what they find.

Cheers.