Had one of those moments where you life flashes in front of you today.
After having SWMBO's car mot'ed and a front damper done and the car re-MOTed by them, it sounded a bit clunky. We were told not to worry as its the damper bedding in. Additionally the tracking was out but they don't do tracking and recommended a local specialist.
I went to Walkers in Leicester for the tracking at which point on the ramp they spotted the tracking problem and clunking.....
The drivers track rod end was held on by a couple of mm of thread (i.e. lots of free play).
The track rod end thread is now seized and the guy doing the tracking said I should also query the condition of the hub in case it has been damaged too.

Feck me, I had the serious shakes after seeing that.

I really didn't want to go back to the garage, but given that they should have a chance to remedy the problem I did. What I'm concerned is about the likleyhood of hub damage (its done about 30 miles of normal road driving and a few speed humps). The last thing I want is for them to just slap on a new track rod to find it fails months later as the hub is shot but it was bodged.

I called trading standards who gave me some advice, then called VOSA who said that the MOT was fine as they only do a visual inspection and gave me an advisory of "slight play in track rod ends"

quote:

---

it sounded a bit clunky. We were told not to worry as its the damper bedding in

---

I'm surprised at vosa's reply,I'm sure if they pulled you for a spot check and found it they'd of thrown the book at you,they're normally pretty good at that!did the garage have to remove it to fit the shock?if so is be having a hissy fit until they give you a new hub regardless.if not I'd just be glad it didn't let go and give it a little ream to be honest!

a couple of years a go this happened to me on an mx5. The track rod end came of the rack on the motorway I was very lucky to get the car on to the hard solder without hitting any one or them hitting me. clean under ware was required.

Thanks guys.
I would be amazed if they didn't have to remove the TRE to get to the damper as it was on that side that they took the damper out.

Certainly I would have been amazed if they missed that on an MOT as I would swear they have to check for free play. You could push it with a finger up and down with the thread easily visible between the hub and the ball joint.

I was a bit shocked a VOSA's reply too. I would have thought they take great interest in MOT inspections that miss serious faults.

Either a) this problem had been there a long time and I never knew, which I swear would result in an MOT failure or b) they messed up during the repair.

Given that the tracking was spot on before the repair and on the wee, and having to steer to the right after the work, I think I can tell which way round things went.

[Edited on 3/9/10 by bigpig]

If the MOT was done prior to the new damper and they did have to remove the tre, it may not have been that loose in the MOT. That said, i replaced the front shock isolators on my car yesterday without removing the tre.

quote:

---

Originally posted by bigpig
Given that the tracking was spot on before the repair and on the wee, and having to steer to the right after the work, I think I can tell which way round things went.

---

quote:

---

We were told not to worry as its the damper bedding in.

---

just had a camper van drive right at the side of my car. certainly s**t me up a bit! forgeiner who doesn't know how to read road signs or drive roundabouts...

Went in. The hub was fine and they were very apologetic. They said they could just tighten up the ball joint as it was still fine & wasn't seized after all, but they put a new one in just to be safe.

The guy said he definitely did tighten up the nut, but looking at the nut the nyloc had failed and the nut shook loose. I guess if there was grease/dirt on the shaft that would have caused that to happen with a nyloc that had been removed and done back up (I thought normally they were only good for one use anyhow).

I think in the end the worrying bit is that I drove with what I though was a loose but seized nut but it actually was loose & could have fallen out.

I think after this, I'm glad at least with an Indy its easy to inspect stuff like that

quote:

---

Originally posted by bigpig
The guy said he definitely did tighten up the nut, but looking at the nut the nyloc had failed and the nut shook loose.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by MikeRJ

quote:

---

Originally posted by bigpig
The guy said he definitely did tighten up the nut, but looking at the nut the nyloc had failed and the nut shook loose.

---

What a load of rubbish. A nyloc stays tight by being torqued correctly in the first place, not due to the nylon bit (which is to prevent a loose fastener completely undoing itself).

He didn't do the nut up, he knows it and is trying to bluff his way out of it rather than admit it.

---

Yep I agree too. Took it in for wheel tracking at Walkers again who said that for it looks like they have done a decent job this time.

if the bolt is correctly tightend up it shouldn't come loose within a drive home.