Omega Owners Forum
Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: Golfbuddy on 10 May 2008, 19:32:13
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I've had a loud knocking/creaking from the front offside suspension, when I really stamp on the brakes, for the last few weeks now. It's got progressively worse so I changed the drop links today hoping that that would solve the problem. It hasn't :'(
I'm guessing that it must therefore be the wishbones? Would anyone concur with this diagnosis or perhaps give any other suggestions before I change the wishbones?
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You should be able to check for movement in the wishbones yourself to see if the bushes are shot.
It could also be the top strut bearing although less common.
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Cheers Dazzler. To be honest, I had a bit of a poke around when I had the car off the ground with the wheel off and couldn't really detect and movement. Having said that, I don't get the sound when I brake normally but it is really loud under 'violent' braking. I'm not surprised that my puny efforts couldn't find much wrong but when the full weight of the car is trying to go from 30 to zero in 10 yards that's when I get the noise.
I don't think it's coil springs, they both seemed fine. I can't really think of anything else apart from the wishbone bushes. :-/
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Cheers Dazzler. To be honest, I had a bit of a poke around when I had the car off the ground with the wheel off and couldn't really detect and movement. Having said that, I don't get the sound when I brake normally but it is really loud under 'violent' braking. I'm not surprised that my puny efforts couldn't find much wrong but when the full weight of the car is trying to go from 30 to zero in 10 yards that's when I get the noise.
I don't think it's coil springs, they both seemed fine. I can't really think of anything else apart from the wishbone bushes. :-/
It'll be one of those knockers, Cornish fokelore is full of em Budgie.
Look for a small gnome-like critter hiding on the front axle.
HTH.
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Cheers Dazzler. To be honest, I had a bit of a poke around when I had the car off the ground with the wheel off and couldn't really detect and movement. Having said that, I don't get the sound when I brake normally but it is really loud under 'violent' braking. I'm not surprised that my puny efforts couldn't find much wrong but when the full weight of the car is trying to go from 30 to zero in 10 yards that's when I get the noise.
I don't think it's coil springs, they both seemed fine. I can't really think of anything else apart from the wishbone bushes. :-/
It'll be one of those knockers, Cornish fokelore is full of em Budgie.
Look for a small gnome-like critter hiding on the front axle.
HTH.
I wondered what he was doing there. Problem solved then. :'( :'( :'(
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Cheers Dazzler. To be honest, I had a bit of a poke around when I had the car off the ground with the wheel off and couldn't really detect and movement. Having said that, I don't get the sound when I brake normally but it is really loud under 'violent' braking. I'm not surprised that my puny efforts couldn't find much wrong but when the full weight of the car is trying to go from 30 to zero in 10 yards that's when I get the noise.
I don't think it's coil springs, they both seemed fine. I can't really think of anything else apart from the wishbone bushes. :-/
Budgie, I found to check the wishbone bushes, get your Mrs to sit in your car and wiggle the steering wheel left and right, whilst you are looking at the wishbone bushes..... mine were moving a hell of alot but i could also feel the car dancing left then right when driving :-?
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:'( :'(
my one is the same but passed mot like it
do you think i should replace them or is it something else more sinister :(
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:'( :'(
my one is the same but passed mot like it
do you think i should replace them or is it something else more sinister :(
To be honest I would never drive my car again like it was, it really scared me, it was pulling left so i steered right slightly to correct it, then it would dance to the right big time so i then had to steer left honestly was not safe at all.....
So for the price you can get a pair of wishbones for I would just replace them :y
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how much would i expect to pay
been quoted
22.95 for wishbones each
25.00 for idler
18.00 for stabilizer bars
from vauxhall-car-parts.co.uk
is that good or could i do better
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Don't think that sounds to bad.. think there is a place called buyparts.co.uk or something like that worth trying too :y
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Cheers Daz. To be honest, the handling wasn't a problem although changing the drop links has made a difference as the car, unsurprisingly, doesn't roll through the corners so much.
There is also a slight pull when I brake but nothing too serious. Tyre wear seems fairly even as well.
Unless there are any other suggestions it looks like I'll be ordering some wishbones off Ebay and see where it goes from there.
Thanks fellas. :y
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**** UPDATE 19.05.08 ****
I decided to bite the bullet and have a go at changing the wishbones.
They arrived from the Buypartsby.co.uk in very quick time, delivered to work as they had to be signed for, at £59.08 inc vat and delivery for the pair.
I started the job, with the help of my works engineer, at 1730 on Friday afternoon. All went well, to start with, the nuts were easy to get undone with my trusty Aldi air impact wrench, although the pinch bolt was tight and had to be done by hand.
From that point things didn't go to plan. We decided to start with the drivers side, purely because that was the closest side to where we were. The old part came off with a bit of wiggling and quite a bit of sweat. I offered up the new part and couldn't work out how to get it in the rear mounting.
Mistake No.1 Having had difficulty in getting the rear bolt in I decided to put the ball joint in and then work on the other two bolts.
Mistake No.2 Having not been able to get the hole in the rear mounting lined up properly I decided to put the bolt in the top and tap it in to try to line up the holes. This resulted in the bolt becoming stuck fast. At this point I decided to jack up the wishbone to compress the spring, my new spring compressors were too big to fit the narrow gap between the spring and the car, all this did was lift the car off the axle stand and still the wishbone wouldn't line up at the rear mounting.
It was then decided to take the whole lot out and start again. By this time we had been on the task for about 3 hours!!! I finally managed to get a short 1/4" ratchet with the correct size socket into the top of the bolt and gradually unscrewed it from it's stuck position in the top of the rear mount. After 'breaking' the ball joint the wishbone was free from it's previously precarious resting place.
Time for a cup of tea and a fag and a chance to reevaluate what we were trying to do.
This time it was decided that the only way we were going to get this thing to fit was to pull the hub out of the way and to fit the rear bolt first, followed by the front bolt and finish with the ball joint. This time, success, everything went like a dream.
30 minutes later we were finished. Sadly it was now 9.30, the factory was closing in 30 minutes (I never had my keys) and, to my dismay, the pinch bolt thread was well and truly stripped. Only enough time to quickly refit the wheels, drop the car off the axle stands and do up the nuts with my friendly engineer sitting in the drivers seat. The pinch bolt will have to wait until Vauxhall at Truro have one in stock, as will finally getting to torquing up the bolts properly, as will fitting the passenger side. Finally got home at about 10.30, knackered, dirty and thoroughly cheesed off.
The good news is that the knocking sound has gone. :)
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Blimey Martin,
Haven't done 'bones in ages, but I don't remember them being quite that troublesome! :-?
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**** UPDATE 19.05.08 ****
The good news is that the knocking sound has gone. :)
You said the noise was only there when you braked "violently" - you tested the new part by doing that before you'd had a chance to torque up the bolts?! Blimey, you're "brave".
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Did you take any Photos Martin??
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just changed my wishbones ,car pulled to the left when braking and steering wheel wobbled like made when braking hard,i got them for 35 pounds a side ,drives side one front big bush totally split hense the wobble and the back bush was split and metal to metal,not to bad to change ether which made a change 8-) 8-) 8-)also the car used to grab a bit turning right and felt out of control,werse in the wet,all good now though drives like new now 8-) 8-) 8-)
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What I have read explains why my front right tyre has been ripped to bits. Noticed that when braking steering went wooly with slight pull to left. I parked up with car on full lock & as i walked by glimpsed the inner edge of the tyre.
completely back to canvass & stlle coming through as well. Dawned on me that last MOT had mentione bush showing signs of wear. Wishboned were replaced 17k ago so would have expected a bit more life before having to replace bits but there we go.
Just as well I have another car to use in mean time.
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Blimey Martin,
Haven't done 'bones in ages, but I don't remember them being quite that troublesome! :-?
I suspect that's because you did it right. ;D
To all wishbone virgins out there, there are three golden rules as I see it.
1. Fit the rear bolt first
2. Fit the rear bolt first
3. Fit the rear bolt first
After that it's all plain sailing.
I am fitting the passenger side on Tuesday night and will try to remember to take and post as many photos as possible. :y
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Getting the rear bolt in on the passenger side can be an absolute cow.
It's not too bad on the drivers side becasue you can use a long 'thing' to push it through from above (in my case an upside down golf putter), but there's no room at all to get any leverage on the bolt to push it back through on the passenger side.
Because of this, the wishbone needs to be perfectly aligned to get the bolt to 'drop' through which ain't easy if you're not lucky.
Took me about two hours to coax the bolt through....not a pleasant experience. >:(
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Getting the rear bolt in on the passenger side can be an absolute cow.
It's not too bad on the drivers side becasue you can use a long 'thing' to push it through from above (in my case an upside down golf putter), but there's no room at all to get any leverage on the bolt to push it back through on the passenger side.
Because of this, the wishbone needs to be perfectly aligned to get the bolt to 'drop' through which ain't easy if you're not lucky.
Took me about two hours to coax the bolt through....not a pleasant experience. >:(
BIG screwdriver through from underneath and lever the 'bone into place while you employ a small monkey to climb down and pop the bolt in :y
seriously if you can lever the rear bush into place then wiggle the bolt in from below to line up then put in the right way (from above) it is a pig ;)
top tip(stolen ::)) use spring compressors to pull strut up to get bottom balljoint in (i struggled >:()
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Another top tip, make sure you've 2 21mm sockets in your kit, I hadn't and ended up walking to the car shop for one.
Of course they seemed to have every size but the one I wanted, luckily a 21mm plug socket fits.
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I undid the bolt at the top of the strut in engine bay, then tied the strut to the side, but still found the anti roll bar restricted the amount you could lift the wishbone.
There must be a technique Vx mechanics employ to do these regularly??
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I undid the bolt at the top of the strut in engine bay, then tied the strut to the side, but still found the anti roll bar restricted the amount you could lift the wishbone.
There must be a technique Vx mechanics employ to do these regularly??
remove the ARB drop link first - i'd advise to change these at same time as WB coz they ain't to expensive :y
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I undid the bolt at the top of the strut in engine bay, then tied the strut to the side, but still found the anti roll bar restricted the amount you could lift the wishbone.
There must be a technique Vx mechanics employ to do these regularly??
remove the ARB drop link first - i'd advise to change these at same time as WB coz they ain't to expensive :y
Yup drop link and track rod off makes it much easier to get the ball joint into the strut.