Help please!
I am currently touring in Portugal in my 2007 Roadster 3.0 litre. As we came off the ferry in Santander (Spain) in torrential rain last Saturday I was travelling very cautiously down the ramps but despite my care a nasty metal up stand (hinge or something) hit the underside of the car. I am not sure where it hit, there was traffic behind and in front of me and virtually no visibility what with rain and fogged up windows. The underside bump was quite significant but I was travelling very slowly.
On the first left hand bend that I came to after getting off the wharf there was a loud and peculiar vibration/rubbing noise that seemed to be coming from the the left side of the transmission tunnel. The same noise has occurred on just about every left hand bend that I accelerate into for the last 1000 miles. The noise sounds like the tail shaft rubbing on the tunnel, sort of like the outermost edges of a universal joint touching on the sides of the tunnel. I am not sure what is going on or even if there is a universal joint under there. I am not very mechanical, I am just trying to explain the noise in the hope that someone can suggest what it might be.
The obvious thing to do would be to put the car up on a hoist and have a look to see if there is any visible rubbing spot. I just have not seen a single hoist as we have travelled the quiet country roads of Spain and Portugal and having none of the language have not felt inspired to go in search of a ramp and the problems of trying to make myself understood.
Apart from the noise the car is going and behaving really well. The noise may or may not be related to the underside bump the timing certainly suggests some connection.
I have had a look at the sump which is one of the likely points to be bumped. There is no obvious sign of the sump having been bumped.
Has any one got any thoughts as to what is going on. By the way I am an Australian, I have owned the car for about 14 months and i keep it in Wales, we have done about 6,000 miles in it, it has only done 12,500 all together.
I love it, and am planning to ship it to Australia next year.
