Hi there,

im totally brand new to the forum and please forgive me, by no means a mechanic! I’ve had a developing problem with my car and I just can’t seem to get to the bottom of exactly what’s causing it. I have seen other owners post about the same problem but can’t find a thread that has a divinities answer.

The car is a well looked after, 2008 Mondeo Titanium X 2.5 turbo, petrol. It has 66k miles on the clock, give or take.

About 3 months ago, when reversing off my drive at full lock, I noticed, what I would describe as a ‘ping’ or clonk. It can be heard and felt through the steering column as I continue backwards. The sound and feeling isn’t uniform in terms of timing, you may get one, followed by two more in quick succession than one random one and so on. It’s not a clicking, it’s like a clonk. It feels like tension on something, being released …. Then as I drive away, I always feel one slightly less aggressive clonk, but this time it’s felt through the accelerator pedal. And also, just the once.

This issue seems to be getting progressively worse, going from one clonk a few months back, to 5 or 6 clonks as reverse back off of my drive at full lock. It almost feels like there’s a loss of traction as well as it happens. It doesn’t do it after the first drive of the day.

I thought it could be CV joints, but I’ve heard that that’s more of a constant and regular clicking noise on full lock ….. this is an irregular clonk. 

it’s due its MOT in 2 weeks time, and that’s being completed by a very trustworthy family friend, so I’m sure I’ll find out then, but I’m wondering if it’s safe to drive for the next couple of weeks. Any advice, gratefully appreciated 🙂 or indeed, if anybody has had the same issue and had it resolved. 

My first thought would be a failing CV joint. Many years ago I had the same symptoms you have described with a Vauxhall Caviler that was less than 4 years old and had only covered 40,000 miles. The CV joint was badly worn. So age and mileage is not always an indicator of a potential problem.

My other thought would be the bottom end of one of the coil springs has snapped.