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waj1974

waj1974

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Messages
327
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7
Location
West Midlands
Car
Honda Accord i-ctdi
I was driving down the dual carriageway a while ago and heard a creaking noise, so slowed down, got to a roundabout and BANG, car pulls to one side and i manage to guide it onto the kerb and brake. It was rush hour, and it scared the hell outta me. I was thinking what if this had happened if i was driving on the dual carriageway, I didnt want to go outside and have a look as i knew it was bad but had to face the music.

The passenger side front wheel was hanging on its side, dented the wing a bit, looked closer and the ball joint had completely snapped. To make things worse the driveshaft had popped out the gearbox too. :( :(

It was not a good sight, but eventually got the recovery truck to take it to the garage, lower arm knuckle, driveshaft, and wheel bearing along with a new abs sensor had to be replaced, it was expensive to say the least, anyways got the car back drove it and it was pulling to the left side, took it back and asked them to check the tracking, it was a bit out so they fixed that but to me it seems it still pulls to the side where the balljoint had snapped.....

What do you guys think it could be??? also the tyres were replaced by the garage by a pair of part worns which they balanced, surely cant be the tyres :( :( :(
 
thats alot of sad smileys bro and rightly so! Glad it wasn't any worse really. I remember something similar happening to Si's old car, maybe a loose wheel though still scary.
Have you checked tyre pressure, it could be something bent like tie rod.
 
Waj

Glad your ok though, like you say could have been much worse.

to me with this sort of failure, all the geometry will have gone out, I remember of Thaoc and I think it was Alung that did the write up, about how you really need to get it all lined up to stop tramlining etc, think Drury Lane was used.

Anyhow if the garage has just done basic alignments then it might not be enough, plus worse case senario depending on speed, angle and impact, force has been absorbed by the suspension and chassis and may have knocked something else out of line.

Worth getting the whole alignment checked out by someone with I seem to remember a Hunter alignment machine.
 
Waj, ETB in worcester has a hunter system and as long as your running stock setting you will be fine to use them.
 
Blimey bet that was a bit of a shock was there no knocking noises before hand? how many miles has your car done?

the steering pull could be the tyres particularly if you've had part worns fitted (not a good idea in my book) a tyre get streesed in one direction when it was fitted how did they know what direction it should be fitted. But like said worth also getting the geometry checked.
 
Wow a snapped ball joint??? Were your ball joints ever replaced, and with a non OEM part?

Glad you weren't though bro, cars can be replaced.. people can't.
 
Thanks Guys I've booked the car in for an alignment check with the hunter machine at our local garage hopefully get new tyres too
 
Waj bro glad you made it out ok. This is the second incident i've heard of this now. My neighbour has a 2.0 i 53 plate and uses it on Taxi, he said similar thing happen to him but rather than damaging the wing it damaged the inside of the wheel.

I just wouldn't expect something like this to happen. Have you hit a bit pot hole or anything recently or do you think it was down to wear and tear?
 
^^ very true about TW, The manufacturer spec is not that much at all, they come undone very easy just shows how over tighten they can be when using a gun for instance.

Not saying this is the fault with waj's car.
 
No Pothole hit or anything like that mainly wear and tear I've had the alignment done and its all good for now incidently another taxi in redditch has had the same problem am hearing that hondas are prone to ball joint failures
 
Actually taxi's are a very good yardstick. If a car can take the punishment of being used as a taxi, it's gotta be doing something right. That's why Toyota's make such good taxis B)
 
Waj Im glad its all sorted for you mate.

I think CJ was refering to the whole mentality of most taxi drivers ie cut corners on servicing ect....

I was at my local garage today and he had a Mondie td taxi in, he showed me something I would have never imagine anyone being so stupid to do. The lower arms had a stress fracture a big one and it was cable tied :eek: worrying thing it was not even in the garage for that fault B)

Funny thing is they are local and I have used that taxi company before :(
 
omg that is just shocking, cj all taxi drivers ain't the same I look after my car service it with fully syn oil every 6k and mostly I get from customers is "omg is this really a taxi?" I never skimp on anything and was shocked and disappointed when this happened
 
ball joints snapping on 7th gen accords are most certainly not common!...........i have seen joints with play in them but never seen one snap! somthing must have happened to cause it to snap be it impact or stress.
 
CJ mate not all taxi drivers are the same, I agree some may cut corners but then again so will some private owners. End of the day not everyone will have the luxuary of going to the main deasler using oem parts etc all the time.
My dad was a taxi driver many years ago and he always serviced his car reguarly and fixed his car as soon as it went wrong. In terms of the maintenance of the car, taxi drivers are always subject to random stops by the Taxi licensing agency who will go though the car with a fine tooth comb looking for mechanical defects. They even check the type of fuel you have in your tank in case they are using red diesel.

Also i'm agreed with Faddy on this, any car that can survive taxis is a goods car.

More to the point ball joint failure does not sound as uncommon as we think maybe?
 
Not sure how ECU tuning came into this but anyways as Shab has said, not all taxi drivers are the same and as with every industry there are always a few bad apples. I also know some taxi drivers, and each one of them takes excellent care of their cars. At the end of the day, every time their car fails is time off work and lost income so it pays to keep it in good shape.
 
ha ha loving the stereo typing, if that was true then i'm a terrorist lols
 
Cj take note of shabz and fahad s comments, I think your being unfair in generalising taxi drivers my friend in brum has a 5 series bmw taxi and trust me that car is mint and he only goes to the dealer for servicing etc...
 
guys,

i had the alignment done by the hunter machine but the car still doesnt feel right to me after driving it for a while, although way better than before but the steering wheel does tend to wander to the left, the side that the balljoint snapped. Im wondering if something else could have been damaged like track rod end, what do you guys think????
 
Bent lower arm? The machine should have picked it up though.
 
damn sorry to hear bro, just seen this as i dont venture into this part of the forum much.

There is a possibility it may have been replaced with a motorfactor part as i was offered unipart lower balljoints for £65 each last year, which is why i went with the j's racing roll centre adjusters instead at £115 each. They need pressed in and are held in place with a lock ring. Honda do not sell the lower balljoints seperate, only the full knuckle which i think was about £300 each!!!!

This is probably the first i've ever heard of a 7th gen balljoint snapping. I've only ever heard of it before with older eg's and ek's where the owners were too cheap to get them replaced. 7th Gens are not of an age where they would seem to be wearing out, unless your car has mad milage on it.

Either way im glad you're ok bro, pullin to the side will probably be due to tracking, but it needs to go on a hunter machine and that will tell you if any other arms are bent too
 
Pepster said:
I wanted to refer to ECU tuning as a locked down car cannot be tweaked you are not putting undue stresses on a stock engine , any deviation from the base map will affect engine life .. yes performance gains are high but at the loss of reliability.
The enemy are reliable car for one the entire fuel system intake system and ECU systems have been made by Denso, which is a million time far superior to any poo Bosch makes.

the day Honda adopts the same vendor or Japanese vendor these issue seen on Honda will be gone.Honda need to get rid of Bosch , they day that happens tuning on the diesel accord will be history ..
Click to expand...

Damn, all you remapped Accord drives need to watch out now as your ball joints may snap :rolleyes:
 
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