My 1991 350SD was making clunking sounds when I turned the wheel, I looked underneath and juggled things around and didn't see anything. I took it to a shop and they found nothing. I had them check the alignment and it was OK.

Then it started making clunking sounds when I slowed down to stop and released the brakes. I got underneath and took off all of the under engine cover panels. The damage was hidden by the under engine covers.

I was horrified when with what I saw. I think it is the thust rod mounts on the drivers side (the bar goes underneath the engine and has a bar that goes forward to the control arm are broken in two places.

There is a lot of rust and when I inspected the other side it isn't yet broken, but there is some rust there too, and it should be repaired.

Some pictures are attached.

Obviously it is going to require some welding to fix it, but I need some advice here.

Have any of you run across this before? How did you fix it?

BTW: Other than this the car is in excellent condition. The engine has 30K miles on a rebuild with updated rods, new turbo, looks new, etc..

Attached Thumbnails

     

__________________
1991 350SD (updated rods)
Biodiesel B100 when I can find it.
Dino when really cold outside