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[Fiona]

Some help please 

Driving down the road last night and heard a metal clang and thought I ran over something.

Got under the car to check and I could see a bold missing from the grey cylinder type thingy which is situated in front of the petrol tank.

(it's the last piece of the engine and transmission when you see an engine laid bare on the floor!!??)

I am presuming this is the outside cover of the diff as it does have two arms coming from it feeding to the two rear wheels.

There are 3 bolts along the bottom of it and I appear to be missing the right one. I have no idea how long this has been gone or if this is the noise that I heard driving down the road.

The car did recently pass it's NCT (irish mot) so I would presume if something like that was missing it would have been a fail advisory to get it looked at?

I have a 180 mile journey ahead of me later on this evening so need to know how dangerous this missing bolt is, would it be a generic bold that a mechanic could be refit for me or is it a special Vauxhall bolt?

I am unable to load pictures from work but if somebody has an email I could mail them a picture of what it looks like?

Many thanks Fi

[RobG]

If you mean one of these bolts Fiona just get a "generic" one fitted

[Fiona]

Ah panic over, the 'bolt' that I thought was missing is the hole on the far right, thanks for that pic!

[duke101]

I had a similar experience to yours , going over a level crossing I heard a noise as you describe, stopped, asked the driver behind if he saw anything drop off, looked all around the car...nothing I could see. Shortly afterwards the car went for its MOT and they discovered a broken coil spring ....  this I think was the noise I heard. Might be worth checking yours?

[Fiona]

I had a similar experience to yours , going over a level crossing I heard a noise as you describe, stopped, asked the driver behind if he saw anything drop off, looked all around the car...nothing I could see. Shortly afterwards the car went for its MOT and they discovered a broken coil spring ....  this I think was the noise I heard. Might be worth checking yours?

Oh I see, will be getting the car checked out this weekend, can you drive on a broken coil spring?

[zirk]

I had a similar experience to yours , going over a level crossing I heard a noise as you describe, stopped, asked the driver behind if he saw anything drop off, looked all around the car...nothing I could see. Shortly afterwards the car went for its MOT and they discovered a broken coil spring ....  this I think was the noise I heard. Might be worth checking yours?

Oh I see, will be getting the car checked out this weekend, can you drive on a broken coil spring?

You can as a temporary measure, dont go to mad though if it is broken.

Most people dont know there broken untill MOT time.

[Webby the Bear]

I was told by WIM that over 50% of cars on the road have got broken springs due to them not realising!

[jonny2112]

I had a similar experience to yours , going over a level crossing I heard a noise as you describe, stopped, asked the driver behind if he saw anything drop off, looked all around the car...nothing I could see. Shortly afterwards the car went for its MOT and they discovered a broken coil spring ....  this I think was the noise I heard. Might be worth checking yours?

Oh I see, will be getting the car checked out this weekend, can you drive on a broken coil spring?

You can as a temporary measure, dont go to mad though if it is broken.

Most people dont know there broken untill MOT time.

Been there ........ 

[Fiona]

Himself checked out the rear of the car all ok.

The front however, horrific pull to the left when you press on the breaks, needs ball joint, tie rods and bushing on the front left side, the amount of play in the wheel was shocking, how this passed the nct (irish mot) I will never know.

We are going to just price up the full suspension arm for both sides as he works in a motor factors so nice discount to be had.

Think I may have an air leak somewhere as well, a whistle coming from the engine / turbo that needs to be looked at too. Car is driving fine though so hopefully it's an easy fix.



*said no Omega owner ever 

[Shackeng]

Himself checked out the rear of the car all ok.

The front however, horrific pull to the left when you press on the breaks, needs ball joint, tie rods and bushing on the front left side, the amount of play in the wheel was shocking, how this passed the nct (irish mot) I will never know.

We are going to just price up the s full suspension arm for both sideas he works in a motor factors so nice discount to be had.

Think I may have an air leak somewhere as well, a whistle coming from the engine / turbo that needs to be looked at too. Car is driving fine though so hopefully it's an easy fix.



*said no Omega owner ever 

Do read up on the advice on here about wishbones as there are some that are made of chocolate.  I believe all German Parts Lemforders are recommended if going for pattern.  On no account use Delphi wishbones, experience on here, and personally, indicates that they are rubbish.

[Fiona]

Himself checked out the rear of the car all ok.

The front however, horrific pull to the left when you press on the breaks, needs ball joint, tie rods and bushing on the front left side, the amount of play in the wheel was shocking, how this passed the nct (irish mot) I will never know.

We are going to just price up the s full suspension arm for both sideas he works in a motor factors so nice discount to be had.

Think I may have an air leak somewhere as well, a whistle coming from the engine / turbo that needs to be looked at too. Car is driving fine though so hopefully it's an easy fix.



*said no Omega owner ever 

Do read up on the advice on here about wishbones as there are some that are made of chocolate.  I believe all German Parts Lemforders are recommended if going for pattern.  On no account use Delphi wishbones, experience on here, and personally, indicates that they are rubbish.

Thanks will pass it on!