clanking sound driving over bumps

[Jkalplus1]

Driving over small road bumps at speeds above 25km/h I sometimes hear a clanking sound...I am thinking sometimes when a muffler is loose it will clang agains bodywork when going over bumps, except in this case the muffler is ruled out.  It seems like the sound is coming from the right hand side of the car, towards the center.  I looked but everything seems right.  Since I don't know what to look for, can someone tell me where to look so I can find and fix?  Thanks!
Jerome

[Jonny B]

Rear differential mounting? If so, a reasonably easy repair.
Try the search function (using the search tab). I tried "differential mount" and left the search wide open. I got three pages of items, but if you scan through the first page, the first 10 or so, you should see some information to assist

[jameshoward]

Driving over small road bumps at speeds above 25km/h I sometimes hear a clanking sound...I am thinking sometimes when a muffler is loose it will clang agains bodywork when going over bumps, except in this case the muffler is ruled out.  It seems like the sound is coming from the right hand side of the car, towards the center.  I looked but everything seems right.  Since I don't know what to look for, can someone tell me where to look so I can find and fix?  Thanks!
Jerome

Look also at the clearance between the rear compensating spring and the place where the fuel tank mounts in that area . If the rear axle has shifted, perhaps when someone carried out some serviving to replace the numerous bushes, etc, they may not have aligned the rear axle properly. The sound of the spring rubbing on the fuel tank mount sounds like a clank. Ask me how I know...

[Mike K]

I was getting a clunking sound from the right hand side of the car towards the middle, very disconcerting.
It turned out to be the heat shield between the exhaust and chassis. It's held in place by 2 self-tapping screws, the rear screw had come off and the shield was rattling against the exhaust. A bit of a  pain in the backside to sort out, had to jack the car up high enough to get under it and have enough space to get a long screw driver in and replace the screw.

Best,
Mike

[Benz Dr.]

The shield actualy has three screws. Get all of them and it will never come loose.

[Mike K]

The shield actualy has three screws. Get all of them and it will never come loose.

Thanks for pointing this out Dr. Benz. I'm in the process of replacing brake calipers & brake hoses, the car's sitting on stands. I'll have to get under it again & look for that 3rd screw