flatliner

Will do. Many thanks to everyone for thefor the comments.

Well I decided that the existing rear diff mount was OK just moderately worn as one would expect and certainly not worthy of replacement. So I decided the rear diff clunk noise was a symptom but not the cause. The old mount went back on and I got the car back down and parked it in the drive. For the first time in about a week it wasn't actually snowing so I was able to do a daylight inspection of the engine bay..... While checking the engine mounts I found that the drivers side engine upper engine mount was completely devoid of a bolt which mounts into a sliding fixed nut style bracket. A trip to a local Unipart shop for a new bolt and 2ltr of antifreeze with a total bill of £5 seems to not only have fixed the problem but quietened down general noise a lot! Clearly the local garage that did the HGF work didn't use the right torque and the bolt must have worked loose, finally dropping out when the wife was driving back home last week. I can't be absolutely certain but I'm guessing the car has done around 10 miles since the first clunk noise was noticed by my wife but probably 2000 since the HGF work. During this time the engine will have vibrated but not really tilted until the bolt fell out. I'm not sure what damage could have been done to the exhaust, drive train etc by an engine tilting backwards. I will speak to the local garage on Monday and ask them to take the car in and check all the mounts and for other damage. There is a slight noise when I lift the foot off - the sort I would put down to a leaking exhaust. If anybody has a suggestions on possible damage to check for I would be very grateful.

Thanks for the feedback so far. I'm am seriosuly hoping this isn't going to be a an IRD or anything else majorly expensive. I put the car back up on stands this afternoon and have checked the rear diff movement again. Despite the new mount on the front, the diff still moves a fair amount and I whilst the right/driver side was quite firm, I felt that the left side was softer. I can't pretend that either was rattling around but for a given amount of effort the left moved up may be an inch whilst the right didnt really move at all.. It all seems quite subjective. With the usual effort on working out seized bolts, I have stripped out the left side mount - and whilst it does seem soft it doesn't look totally knackered like Les' photo of the centre mount. The rubber centre just seems to give/stretch a little more than the new one I bought. A bit of a stupid question, but how soft is too soft? The reason for the question is I can return the new part if I don't fit it. At £53+VAT it isn't the earth but no point in wasting ££. The guy at the LR dealer parts dept suggested I also check trailing arm bushes? Is this suggestion of value and can anybody point me to a diagram? He has also suggest taking the car over and letting one of the mechanic test drive it - it about 8 miles round trip but I am not sure that if I should drive the car that far. I don't have any experience of this but, given the gear stick movement, my own worry is that somehow after the HGF repair that I have an engine mount problem.

Even though I'm new to the forum, I have already found it an extermely useful source of info. I have a S reg Freelander 1.8 with approx 80k. Recent work includes an HG replacement/rebuild and a master/slave clutch system. The problem is a loud clunk sound from the rear (offside if anything) when I change gear whilst keeping the power down . It occurs when the clutch is just engaging. An almost certainly related issue is that the gear lever literally moves in your hand when you accelerate firmly but whilst already in gear. Having read earlier discussions on the rear diff centre/front mount, I have bought the LR part and replaced that. Do I really need to do the left and right rear diff mounts as well? Or is there something else going on? Any suggestions would be much appreciated.