1stade

Update: First of all big thankyou to Tony. I spoke to him on Friday afternoon, and he was exceptionally helpful. Talked with me through the issues and gave me the confidence to drive the 300+ miles to see my family. I can't thank him enough, as he had no obligation to help but did. Well driving 300 miles gave me a much better insight into the car's problems (it's the missus' car usually). I had described the issue as speed related, but in fact it's more acceleration related. If I put my foot down I can feel the vibration through the car, the wheel etc. However if I accelerate really slowly it's barely noticeable. I think the 40-50-60 feel I had described earlier has much to do with the fact that I accelerate most through those speeds, or I at least apply the throttle a bit harder at those speeds. Once at say 70 the vibration is subtle, and I don't really notice it below 30. That got me thinking and so I jacked the car up yesterday and had a good look again. The spring is definitely "wonky" but I wonder if its the seat at the bottom on the strut that's not quite "straight" and is forcing the spring over. Imagine pushing up on one side on any spring and it will bend? So maybe changing the spring will not change the way it sits around the strut. I spun the offside wheel and had a look at the Inner CV joing and halfshaft, and there is definitely some movement, and noise coming from the CV joint. Tony had suggested turning full lock and listening to any noise, but I hadn't heard anything whilst doing this, but I could hear it when I had the car jacked. The halfshaft(?) also definitely wasn't turning in the "same" position. So my conclusion is I've got a dodgy CV joint, and possibly a bent driveshaft, but won't know about the driveshaft I guess until until the CV joint is replaced. The spring therefore may be a red herring?. What I don't really understand is why I wasn't suffering the vibration until the spring was changed. (I admit there was probaly a little vibration that occurred at about 75, but it was fairly minor, and I had put it down to minor wheel imbalance.) The conclusion is that something that occurred during the spring change could have damaged the CV joint? But I am not sure that that's that likely? What do you think? (I don't want to give the garage a hard time unneccessarily, but I still have that nag, that we didn't have the problem until they changed the spring). Does anyone have any ideas, as to cost to replace inner CV and driveshaft on offside of a Mk iii mondeo? Again, thanks all for the help.

Update.....Not satisfactory. I've picked the car up, but have not had to pay anything. They say the vibration is down to wheel balance, and swapped two (one clearly balanced with front nearside which had no weights) and the vibration has gone away, but it hasn't. It might not be so severe but it's still there. The vibration maybe starts at about 30-35 now. They haven't changed the coil, they seem to think it's a non issue, but I've stated I'm not happy. They say if I push (which I am doing) they'll change it but couldn't do it today, they need to dig invoices and get the coil changed under warranty etc. My view is there's still something causes the coil to deform like that. They did say theres a clicking noise on the outer CV joint as it turned, and I did hear it myself, o maybe the CV joint is the culprit? Or is that just another symptom?. (I did get to see it on the ramp, and wasn't completely convinced the drive shaft was running true). So my major question is would you consider this spring in this slightly deformed state safe? Got a 300 mile round trip with the wife and kids this weekend. My hunch is, it probably is safe, but would fail at some point - just don't know when. Second question is what's the cost for CV joint replacement/ or half shaft & CV? Third is, Tony do you do this stuff? Thanks everyone, appreciate any comments, but my real concern, is should I be driving this like this on long journey with wife and kids etc. Depending on what you say, I might be hiring a car in an hour or two. Thanks Adrian.

Normally you would hear that.....especially in a lock. I wonder if it is something like that. Although the pic looks like it's the middle helix (you can't see the top helix), the top three helix are in line, and only the bottom one is out, in relation to them. However the bottom one can't be out, as it's fixed/held in position. So in reality I'm saying the spring appears to be being pushed out to the right (as you look at it, from the top). So I'm wondering if there's something wrong with the thrust bearings (?), at the top that would push the alignment out. Although it's probably not worth anything the strut looks like it sits straight/ all nicely bolted in from the top, ie. looking from the bonnet. I'm at work and the cars at the garage (they said they will sort it today), and will be giving them a call soon for appraisal. But I want to see the car on the ramp before I depart with it (me thinks). Thanks Adrian.

Again thanks all. I only question underlying problem, in that this coil is portraying same "behaviour" as previous. Of course I never saw the previous snapped coil, but I did see it bent like this (but worse). Pic can be seen at... The other side where the coil is is symmetrical around the strut is If I'm breaking forum rules for posting links, apologies. The annoying thing is first long trip in a while planned this weekend, family get together and my mother was in tears when I said I'm not sure I dare bring the kids over, all because I'd hate this to crack again whilst on a longish trip. So the solution is £150 quid on a hire car, just to make sure I don't let my kids, my parents, brother, nieces and family down. I guess this time I need to see under the car myself, instead of relying on just their word. They may well be being straight up/legit, but no mention of "should do replacement of both springs" when they did the first, and 5 weeks on I wouldn't expect to see a similar problem again. Thanks Adrian

Thanks Tony. Will be back to the garages tomorrow, though maybe just the second one who fitted the coil, after what I've seen tonight. Had a look and the coil is not straight around the strut. It's clearly banana shaped. When I took it in to have fixed before, the old coil was similarly shaped, (but significantly more so), and they said it was cracked. Is this bad fitting or maybe indicative of another underlying problem? On my previous comment about lowering the subframe, the Haines manual states.. "The subframe MUST be lowered when removing the front suspension strut, otherwise damage will occur to the lower arm rear hydro-bush" Now for the STOOPID question, does the strut need to come out for the coil to be changed? My assumption is that it was? Also IMPORTANTLY, is this safe to drive? I have a 260 mile round trip to see family this weekend Thanks Adrian.

Thanks Tony. I don't/didn't know better Simply put the spring was broken, and the garage said I needed a new one! They didn't advise me I should do them in pairs (is that what your'e saying?). Does rate refer to strength/length of spring? Would that cause vibration in a straight line? Your comment on the weights was my view. They did the tracking as well (and I think I know your view on that!), so would they do the balancing after the tracking, or would it not matter? Should I go back to garage 1 for a balance that maybe they didn't perform! and then go back to garage that did the coil, if vibration still exists? I'm tempted to say a visit to Chesham is in order, but in truth I don't have weird tyre wear etc. just this vibration. As in reality its the car the kids travel in, and the wife drives 5 days a week, I just want to make it safe. Again, appreciate your time - thanks.

Found my way here after doing reading on alignment and balancing, I’m a pretty naïve average customer, but intelligent and inquisitive so don’t mind doing research and listening to experts. Forgive me my cheekiness, but I hope you might be able to help me out…. Symptom Have a mondeo that’s developed fairly severe vibration whilst driving at around 50. It starts at around 40, and gets better beyond 60. It’s also accentuated if I push the accelerator hard, ie. The faster I accelerate the worse the vibration. Background I had a new coil fitted, after the previous one broke, a few weeks ago. The wife drives the car and says she noticed a dreadful noise the day before I take it to for an mot!. So I get a new coil fitted (front offside – right(?)), prior to the MOT, the garage say the coil was split. I could see it was out of position, but hadn’t seen the split. After fitting, the next time I take the car out I notice this vibration. Previously I had very very minor vibration at around 75 but this new vibration clearly happened after the new spring. I also had a new rear sub frame fitted last year (at another garage), and was never convinced that the car was properly set up (when I went to pick up the car I could see from about 30 yards away the rear wheels were pointing way off to the right , and so the lithuanian mechanic (and his three words of english) and I tried to put it right, but was never convinced it was all done properly). Thus when I got the vibration after the coil, I thought I’ll check the balance and alignment and potentially remove my concerns and vibrations, and if not fixed go back to the garage that fitted the coil. I had the alignment and balance done yesterday (elsewhere), and can attach the reports if needed (it’s from one of the Hunter machines). However the vibration still exists, it’s reduced a little after the balancing and alignment but it’s still there. I have a Haines manual, and in it it states something along the lines, “in order to replace a coil, the front subframe will need lowering, otherwise you’ll do more damage than good.†When I went to pick up the car after the coil was fitted I said “I believe you had to lower the front subframe in order to change the springâ€, they replied “No we didn’t need to do that, but it was a bugger to get the thing done, things had seized, and took longer than expectedâ€. My immediate thought was oh dear what have they done, and now wonder if they bent or damaged any element of what I would call the driveshaft. Any ideas? Are my assumptions probably correct, or will it be simply a balance issue? My other observation is that although I had 4 wheels balanced, there are no weights on the front wheels to be seen. I can see weights added to the rears, but surely I would see weights on the front wheels? (I dropped off and picked up). My real problem is historically I’ve never felt that I can trust any one of these garages I’ve used. I keep trying another, but don’t really know enough about the cars, and I won’t even go into the nightmare I had with the official london ford dealers and the way they lied to me about servicing, that drove me to try these other garages. Any help gratefully appreciated.