9 replies to this topic

[silve1999]

on my 1991 City e 998 Automatic

 

So I got home rather late last night, was driving back from Crawley via Handcross was a bit of a tapping that disappeared with light pressure on the accelerator pedal, figure I need to refit my manifold clamp.

Then a few miles down the road there is a clicking as if something is caught in the fan, went round a roundabout and it became a scraping noise which turned into a crunching noise, I stop get out check everything looks okay look underneath for obvious signs of things hanging down, governor rod still attached, tap round the disc brake carriers can't feel anything obvious. get back in the car and move to a safer location (in a car park) coast in neutral and still grinding/crunching turn the engine off get out push the car back onto hard-standing and can hear the noise coming from the front passenger wheel area.

jack it up and spin the wheel still grinding/crunching. maybe 2-3mm vertical axis movement on the wheel and same left to right so I figure its wheel bearings.... called the recovery on my insurance.

Roadside guy came out jacked it up took the wheel off and did the same as me...

After the roadside guy span the hub and checked the crunching sound and put the wheel back on and tapped it all about a lot the sound got a lot quieter....

It still sounds like bearings to me but would love to hear everyone else thoughts too?

Also I have massively uneven wear on both front tires on the insides... ball joints? outer cv? could this be related to the crunching?

at first I thought something was caught in the fan or a cable was dragging along the ground and hitting the car then the crunching happened I feared the worse and thought I had ran out of oil and the gearbox was dying.

Any and all advice welcomed !!

Edited by silve1999, 21 March 2014 - 03:32 PM.

[cal844]

The clicking will be either a CV joint, or wheel bearing,I'd replace both wheel bearings and all 4 ball joints... The un even wear on the tyres will be front wheel alignment, get this checked asap

[silve1999]

that's what i was thinking too

Edited by silve1999, 21 March 2014 - 03:47 PM.

[The Principal]

Jack the car up safely and check for movement with your hands in the 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock position, with the tyre wear and noise you mention it should be fairly easy to see any movement. check for any movement in the ball joints top and bottom plus hub movement.

 

Crawley has a Unipart at Cobham Way, check their prices for replacement parts their genuine ball joints were cheaper than most Mini suppliers

[silve1999]

Jack the car up safely and check for movement with your hands in the 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock position, with the tyre wear and noise you mention it should be fairly easy to see any movement. check for any movement in the ball joints top and bottom plus hub movement.

 

Crawley has a Unipart at Cobham Way, check their prices for replacement parts their genuine ball joints were cheaper than most Mini suppliers

 

there was around 3-5mm movement on 12 and 6oclock and same on 3 and 9oclock

[tiger99]

It sounds like the bearings then. When were they last replaced, and what type? Genuine Timken or cheaper? (You may not know of course, if it was a previous owner.) But also check that the hub nut is tight, however if it has run with it loose, the bearings are wrecked anyway, as is the hub flange and probably CV, although a loose nut is not very likely.

 

When the bearings go, it can be fairly sudden and ultimately catastrophic, so stopping where you were and having it recovered was definitely the right thing to do. It may well have prevented a very serious accident.

 

And, as suggested, if you can get genuine Unipart ball joints, I strongly recommend them. Don't lap them, just shim correctly with between "no nip" and 3 thou end float, as per the Rover manual. My last set of Unipart ball joints did over 80k miles, and were still good.

[silve1999]

It sounds like the bearings then. When were they last replaced, and what type? Genuine Timken or cheaper? (You may not know of course, if it was a previous owner.) But also check that the hub nut is tight, however if it has run with it loose, the bearings are wrecked anyway, as is the hub flange and probably CV, although a loose nut is not very likely.

 

When the bearings go, it can be fairly sudden and ultimately catastrophic, so stopping where you were and having it recovered was definitely the right thing to do. It may well have prevented a very serious accident.

 

And, as suggested, if you can get genuine Unipart ball joints, I strongly recommend them. Don't lap them, just shim correctly with between "no nip" and 3 thou end float, as per the Rover manual. My last set of Unipart ball joints did over 80k miles, and were still good.

 

thanks for the responses, I am going to order some bearing sets and 4 ball joints when I can (new hub nuts etc), got discs and pads to put on as well mini budget is getting eaten up by mechanics instead of aesthetics lately! :-P

[grumpy dad]

Hi 

Hastings also has a Unipart

[ibrooks]

Worth bearing in mind that with a wheel jacked up if you can feel play it could be bearings, ball joints or track-rod end (crunching as it spins suggests bearings in this case). If you get someone to hold the brake pedal down (couple of pumps and then hold it down hard) - try wiggling the wheel again if the movement has gone then it's not ball-joints or track rod end.

 

Iain

[silve1999]

Got bearings brakes balljoint done. So far so good