ready to throw the towel in.

Ok, i am close to throwing in the towel, sorry if this post is abit long winded, but i also need some help.

to date this is what i have had to have done to my truck

Ok, my truck is A series 2L sport.

I have her a year and a couple months, so far spent
130.00 on fuel pipes from fuel sender.
130.00 on all new bushes on the back
280.00 on brakes, master cylinder which was well documented on here.
380.00 on new heater matrix
not counting servicable items, 2 new tyres to the front 150.00 plus tracking 20.00

two days in the garage, bad squeak to right front wheel, and a sound on metal to metal from suspension.

So has cost me today another £170.00 for new wheel bearing and new brake pads.

squeak from the wheel has gone and all is well there.

But the metal to metal noise is still there. The guy in the garage eventually came up with ball joints. He has drove it over speed humps and heard the noise, but when he gets it on the ramps or lifts, he cant reproduce the same noise. Now he said 90% ball joints, to replace the 2 it would be another £150.00.

Now im not convinced, (and im not tech minded), i dont get any noise where turning steering, or any vibration or woble on the steering. having got under the car for a look and pushed and pulled things, to me it seems to be wish bone bush, if i am looking at the right part. if i stand centre car and bounce it, i can hear the noise.

Now i have 2 choices, pay the 150.00 and have that fixed and it may not solve the problem, and hope the rest of the truck runs fine. or i take a possible loan of my boss for 1500.00 to a possible 2000.00 and get myself a newer car. (i do love my truck and have shelled out alot of money on it.)

So i have two questions now

1. is there any members who could have a look at my truck for me, and work out the noise, happy to travel 100 miles or so, and throw in a crate of beer. Because i want to know if the garage is telling me truth, and what i can expect to pay for what needs doing.

2. should i take the loan and want to stay with a fronty, which would you recommend, engine, bearing in mind the tax, and which model, i do fancy a long wheel base this time. and which is most reliable.

The last thing i want is to take a loan, and run into similar problems. as my car is to help him out as well at work. as he said, its in interest for me to have a car and be reliable.

cheers

sean

bloody ell mate, for a case of beer I would do the ball joints, cost about £40ish a pair, wheel bearing Ive just replaced one £17 ( and then found them for £14 :roll:

)

Brake pads 10 minute job, you would take longer taking the wheels on and off, full set of 8 about £34.

I think your car has just passed its MOT ? The ball joints should have been picked up on that ?

Its your choise, I understand the Smoke costs more, it may pay if you have time to do a short mechanics course, as any car you buy can throw up problems and its always good to know what your talking about if you go to a garage, even sourcing your own parts helps a lot :wink:

Sean,

I wouldn't know what to say about your current truck because like you I am not technicaly minded. The only thing I will add is that I am currently looking for a diesel SWB and I am finding them more expensive than the LWB.

What ever you do stay with a Fronty

Huw.

Get your bits and take them to the garage, as the garage will charge at the very least 10% extra on the parts, but remember a garage has to make a profit so they will bump the labour charge up a bit, but overall you should save :wink:

The bushes in the suspension arm can wear, but this would cause uneven tyre wear, so not to sure on that one.

The ball joints may only grind under the weight of the vehicle and a pry bar may not replicate it, though Im not saying the garage is wrong, they sound really helpful.
The £45 labour I would consider cheap for London up here in Liverpool its around £40ish.

Just wish we could hear the noise to help

sean

the garage has checked a lot of the suspension have they checked the CV joints they could be worn :?:

Sean, check the prices here and ask your garage if they can match them, then ask if they wouldnt mind fitting the parts you bought, they should understand as you are a good customer.

No i havnt to be honest, as only car back 4pm this afternoon, but that does sound like a good valid point. as i dont think they were checked.

as a novice, how would i check, and what should i look for. either while standing still, or driving.

Also what i have just thought about, now and again, when leaving my truck, my wieght getting out can cause a creek also, a creek being the same noise, if that helps anyone.

cheers for all the help.

sean

Just reading your post, you say that you had opportunity to feel the play in the ball joint (he asked you to put finger on it whilst he used the bar/leaver), was there (did you feel) any movement???
If there was then it may well be that creating the noise.

i had the same noise on mine turned out to be lower ball joints i was worried about changing them but done my homework in the suspension section and had a go it was easy in the end

if its taken back to the garage get them to put it up on the ramps with 1 of them in the car or next to it and just get them to bounce it up n down, they should be able to spot if anything is moving, or even take a look urself just by having it on the ground lookin under the arch and rocking the wheel side to side and rocking the car. may not be much help but its all i can think of in terms of troubleshooting

Can't guarantee to fix it, but if you want to come down I can certainly have a look at it..

Or alternatively you can come see my mechanic on a week day and give him the car, he's very good and finds most problems straight up. He doesn't like not getting things right

(and it's probably cheaper than London for sure!!)

Don't throw in the towel though mate, you've spent a lot on your truck, just think, soon there will be nothing left to go wrong in which case you'll have it for another dozen or more years with no problems.

Si

Hi Sean, To be honest with you Mate, thats why I got rid of mine, I could not justify spending good money after bad, so hence my decision to buy a newer model, as much as you love her take a step back and think about it logically, my advice would be to sell her and buy a newer model registered before March 2001. Good Luck Mate. ATB. Reeco

All good points put forward, its your choice and your gut feeling as to your next step, we can advise and help but your the guy/family making the decision at the end of the day ( gawwd I hate that phrase )

Your call mate

An easy way to find the noise underneath is for you to get under it and someone to rock/bounce it, its surprising what you can hear like that.......we had one doing similar and it was the torsion bars on the splines. Water had got in and caused corrosion, took them off, cleaned up and re-fitted, would've thought a ball joint would knock rather than grind......check the anti-roll bar to lower suspension arm mounting, thats more likely to be the cause.
I think to check the ball joints the car needs lifting on the suspension arms to prevent the suspension from dropping.