I've just joined the (operational) 940 owners club!

[Badger vs Bodgers]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Check your steering column upper bearing, also the nacelle/surround on the steering column and the UJ in the column inside th car. Any of these could be the source of your noise as well, especially if it's louder in the cabin than outside the car.

It sounds like you have one or more of the following :

Incorrect tyre pressures
Incorrect wheel alignment
Worn front dampers
Worn spaceship bushes
Worn Track Rod Ends (TREs) or other ball joints
Worn bushes in the front suspension

My first guess would be the first two and thouse are probably easiest to eliminate.

That economy doesn't sound out of the way, in fact it sounds quite good. You may get an improvement with a new Lambda sensor, especially if it's more than 100k miles or 10 years old. This is the generally accepted service life of a Lambda sensor so ideally should be renewed if over either of those limits.
If the CTS isn't misbehaving, leave it be.
If you do change the Lambda sensor, pull fuse #1 for at least 30 seconds and then refit after to reset the fuel trims and fault codes in the fuel ECU memory.

Fairly certain the noise is coming from the strut somewhere, I noticed it makes a similar noise when the strut is built up but out of the car and I twist the top mount. I'll check the bits you've mentioned though - it never hurts to be thorough!

The front end is nearly all new now - rod ends by the previous owner, new dampers, new control rods, new lower arms and new spaceship bushes on my watch (along with new top mount bearings). The creaking only started after I did all that work, the funky handling predates it unfortunately.

Just put new tyres on it and done the pressures, so alignment is next on the list. Also worried there may be a bit of play in the steering some so need to have an investigate.

To be fair it's not a bad run economy wise, but I'm always searching for improvements! Fairly certain the Lambda is pretty old, and I've got some new ones in my garage - I just need to check they're the same type.

[MiniNinjaRob]

If you have lowered it 40mm don't do the camber mod - I did it and the steering was noticeably stiffer with some scrubbing at parking/low speeds. I then got a binding steering column - reversed the camber mod and lubricated everything and it was ok again, drove much better.

Basically lowering by 40mm changes the camber enough to not need the mod.

I assume if you were lowering it further you'd have to get smart with other suspension mods like adjustable top mounts or something.

[MiniNinjaRob]

BTW the MPG sounds ok, if you want a bit more MPG use Shell V-power - noticeably more MPG and I worked it out that the increase in price of that fuel was less than the saving in fuel used (if you get what I mean!).
Keeping below 70 on motorways helped with me - I just popped the cruise on and relaxed and manged 35mpg+ on a long run but low 20's around town is normal.

[MiniNinjaRob]

Originally Posted by Badger vs Bodgers

Also I have some funky steering going on - it's vague, and tends to tramline or skip on bumps. Also when turning medium to tight corners the self centring turns into the wheel trying to turn in further, which is a new one on me!

Just been looking through the thread and I had this too when lowering 40mm and the camber mod done at the same time - as I said above reverse the camber mod.

[Badger vs Bodgers]

Thanks for the replies! I've ordered new top mounts in an attempt to cure the creaking, so will fit them straight on without the camber mod for now and will see if that helps.

In the long run I'll probably look at upgrading the injection and ignition systems (ECU, wideband, new injectors, COP/wasted spark, etc.) in an attempt to improve performance and economy. But that's a project for the future

[Badger vs Bodgers]

Finally managed to get some garage time today, and wellll... things don't look so good overall.

On the creaking suspension/funky steering side of things I went through the steering mechanism from column to rack and could find no play or creaking items. So that's good at least.
Used the old screwdriver to the ear check whilst someone else turned the wheel and I'm about 75% certain it's coming from the strut somewhere and reverberating through the chassis to make it louder inside. Interestingly only starts doing it when the car has warmed up... When it's cold it doesn't.

Of more concern is the water usage. I went through all the cooling system, heater matrix, etc. and found no leaks. There is this though:

https://youtu.be/yl-pKs_9J3g

On the bright side I guess I can hire it out for when they choose a new pope.

Edit: That was just after a motorway run, so everything was hot as well.

[griston64]

Are you losing coolant ? As if you are and you can't find the leak it could be HG

[Badger vs Bodgers]

Originally Posted by griston64

Are you losing coolant ? As if you are and you can't find the leak it could be HG

Yep, that's my thoughts. Only other thing could be the turbo leaking water into the exhaust, but that seems unlikely.

It's started eating coolant really quickly now, so won't be driving it again until I can sort a new head and fit it. Luckily my folks have let me borrow one of their cars!

[Moomoo]

Originally Posted by Badger vs Bodgers

Finally managed to get some garage time today, and wellll... things don't look so good overall.

On the creaking suspension/funky steering side of things I went through the steering mechanism from column to rack and could find no play or creaking items. So that's good at least.
Used the old screwdriver to the ear check whilst someone else turned the wheel and I'm about 75% certain it's coming from the strut somewhere and reverberating through the chassis to make it louder inside. Interestingly only starts doing it when the car has warmed up... When it's cold it doesn't.

Of more concern is the water usage. I went through all the cooling system, heater matrix, etc. and found no leaks. There is this though:

https://youtu.be/yl-pKs_9J3g

On the bright side I guess I can hire it out for when they choose a new pope.

Edit: That was just after a motorway run, so everything was hot as well.

I hardly dare say this out loud but, try a can of K seal in the cooling system and see if it makes any difference!

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Moomoo

I hardly dare say this out loud but, try a can of K seal in the cooling system and see if it makes any difference!

I doubt it will Andrew and the video is too short to hear if there's a misfire or any other associated problems that would point to HGF but a pressure test of the cooling system should help identify any leaks and where they are. Probably best done before K-Seal goes anywhere near it though!