Hi all,

Had an odd issue occur today. While maneuvering at slow speed in a parking lot, we heard a loud-ish "ping" sound come from the front (sounded like front passenger side). Then, while driving I noticed that between 0 and 35mph the car felt "off". Steering was lighter, the car seemed to tramline more, and under moderate power it torque steers noticeably (never did that before). Then, more worryingly, above 35mph the front end starts to "bounce" with increasing intensity - quite violently! Slow down to under 35mph, and it drives almost normally again (except for the above off feeling).

I took a look under the car and I can't see anything obvious broken. Sway bar seems fine, as well as all linkages.

Anyone care to hazard a guess as to what happened?

Thanks!

S.

 

poss broken coil spring dude,

 

You might want to pull on the half shafts, too. You might have broken a CV joint. Would explain the vibration. If the boot isn't torn, you wouldn't see any visual evidence.

 

Hey guys,

I will check those two possibilities, but a couple of things to note..

1) the car doesn't appear to sag anywhere (usually an indication of a broken spring?)

2) there are no noises while driving.. CV joints are usually noisy when they break, aren't they?

I'm also thinking possibly a blown shock? The car has 90,000 miles on the original Bilstein (MR) shocks.. The entire suspension system is stock right now.

Thanks!

S.

 

You wont always have a broken spring show a visual indication by that side being lower.

 

Hey guys,

I got under the car again, pulled on the half shafts, and they seem solid. Also looked at the springs, and they appear in one piece. I need to get the front wheels off to look closer tho. When I do the "bounce" test, the suspension feels firm and always returns too.

I noticed that the bouncing seems to be worse on deceleration above 35mph, and it bounces evenly across the front (i.e. it's not just one side bouncing)...

Any other ideas, or things I can check??

Thanks again in advance all!

S.

 

A true guessing game

How about a blown strut? Any oil leaking from the strut? If you put your hand the barrel of the strut it should be warm after a drive. If they are cold they have failed. How many miles on them?

 

I was thinking blown strut.. No oil that I can see, but I didn't try checking the temperature. They have 90,000 miles on them (OEM Bilsteins). I would have thought that if one side blew that only one side would bounce a lot more than the other, but it *feels* like it's pretty even. Anyway, I see see if I can check the temp on them.

Thanks!

S.

 

Okay guys, I figured it out.. and it's kinda scary actually.

Basically, the nut that secures the outer tie rod to the wheel hub was about 2-3 threads from just falling off! Right now you can see any of the bolt and I can freely just turn the nut with my hand, and the tie rod had basically dropped down as far as the nut would allow down (and I can move it up and down with my hand). So essentially I was probably pretty close to loosing steering entirely on that wheel! I didn't notice it yesterday because I when I looked from underneath it looked fine and the wheels were on ramps. This time I raised the whole front end letting the wheels dangle and immediately noticed I could move the passenger wheel about 1 to 1.5" side to side without the steering wheel moving!

How this happened I'm pretty sure I know. I had my clutch replaced about 2-3 weeks ago, and since this is a 6-speed the shop would have have had to take those tie rod ends off... Since usually getting that nut/bolt off is meant to be pretty difficult (and most people have to use a puller), I'm guessing that they forgot to tighten it up properly (and maybe didn't use a new lock nut anyway since it's hand loose right now).

So far this shop has done some poor work... First ACT clutch broke after just 10 months and they claimed clutch defect (ACT replaced the clutch, but they still charged me labor). Got the car back and now 3rd gear is unusable due to synchromesh grind which wasn't there when the car went in, and they claim because they couldn't drive it when it came in, it's not their fault (so now $2K in work minimum coming up). Then I went to adjust the clutch pedal and found that the jam nut on the clutch pedal master was completely loose. And now it appears they may have forgotten to secure the outer tie rod ends, which if they did, endangered my entire family!!

Tomorrow I will inspect the tie rod closer and hopefully it hasn't been damaged.. I am worried they may have forgotten to tighten up some other critical parts tho..

Thanks!

S.

 

Wow, good catch. Where was the cotter pin?

All too often we find shops not crossing the T's & dotting the I's. Shamefull

 

No cotter pin on the Evo 9... Just a lock nut (with a plastic insert).