I have been hearing a loud clunk sound lately in the rear (passenger side) of my 1985 240 DL. It seems to occur after it goes up a small incline to a flat surface in my driveway. I checked the exhaust sytem by shaking etc. but it seems fine. Any idea what it could be?

I´ve just recently had my own 240 fixed, and it sounded "clunk" just the way you described, and now it doesn´t!
What I did was to change the bushings and the rear end suspension on both sides.

Anyway, I´ve hear a lot of people describing this clunky sound, and in most cases new bushings were needed, so I´s check them to begin with.

It could be the notorious rear trailing arm bushing. fcpgroton.com has an excellent exploded view of the 200 series suspension systems. This will give you an idea of what bushings are back there and where to check for play. Is that the only time it makes noise?

Matt

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'82 DL - 153k, '93 945 - 101k

Only when I am going over bumps it seems.

Are you sure it isn't exhaust? I had the same problem, checked the exhaust by crawling under the car to shake things around and was positive it had to be something else. Weeks later it turned out to be the rear most section of tailpipe hitting the body under the bumper. I lossened the clamp and rotated the tailpipe a bit, problem solved.

same thing in my 240 wagon..I rotated the exhaust..twice!

It's the bushings!!

Thanks for the info. I will check again.