Miserable MoT failure - advice appreciated

    Hi Chaps,

    My car failed its MoT miserably, but at least it gives me an excuse to do some "wife-approved" work on the car :)

    It failed on the steering box not transferring all of the movement to the pitman arm. This was interesting as there's definitely something up with my steering and I have a new steering box knocking around that I've been meaning to fit for months. The guy showed me that there was a lot of play between the splined output shaft of the steering box and the pitman arm. I'm hoping that tightening up the pinch bolt does the trick, but otherwise I'm guessing the new box (which has a pitman attached) will need to make an appearance.

    The thing that I'm looking for advice on is that he failed it on two worn rear wheel bearings. He showed me that there was too much movement when the top and bottom of the wheel were grabbed and wiggled. He thought it could be the bearings or number 19 in this picture:



    What do you think is the most likely culprit? I have replaced the front wheel bearings but haven't touched the rears or the rear suspension at all. I've been too scared :ahhhhh:

    Doesn't sound too bad Nick. I reckon tightening the bolt on the pitman will hopefully cure your problem there. Did the tester actually fail it on rear wheel bearings? Sounds like he couldn't be bothered to find the actual problem!

    The fail was rear wheel bearings, but he went out of his way to tell me that it wasn't his job to diagnose the problem. Just to tell me that as the wheels wobble, the it will fail on wheel bearings, but in his opinion it could be suspension. Has anyone else had a similar problem?

    #19 is a ball bushing, any play in that would be so small that you would not see that on the wheel.
    in any case it would be #23, not #19 that could potentially cause some play.


    My question to you is, do you have a rumbling noise from any of those wheels?
    should increase when turning one way, and decrease when turning the other if one is shot.
    If both the sound should move from one side to the other when turning.
    you could try to tighten the wheel bearing center nut and see if the play in the wheel is reduced, but don't over torque it.

    -Egil (thats my name)

    1990 850IA Hartge SC
    2012 M550d Touring

    If I misspelled a word it's because I'm Norwegian, so bear with me.

    Thanks Noggie. I don't remember any road noise, and now the car is illegal I can't take it out. I'll try tightening the big nut at the weekend and see if the play is reduced. It could also be an over-officious MoT tester, they are common place....

    Zitat von Noggie;97833

    #19 is a ball bushing


    Is a rubber bushing.


    #2 and 23 along with the unavailable one between 11 and 12 are ball joints.
    All #2 and 23 are shot in old cars, meaning that the rubber cap has failed and dirt can enter the joints.


    #'s 7, 15, 16 and 20 are rubber bushings. I have seen defective #16 so far.


    I am not sure whether any of those would lead to significant movement as described. My bet´d be on the wheel bearings only without the noises described by Egil I´d also think in lines of overly ambitious... :roll:


    There is a rubber mounting on the pitman arm which has some history of failure and can influence steering precision/play. P/N: 1136452


    None of the rear axle joints/bushings are easily accessible without a lift.


    Good luck!
    Reinhard

    Thanks for the correction Reinhard.


    #16 was replaced on my car 3-4 years ago.


    Any play in the bushings would not give much movement of the wheel itself.
    a play of 2-3mm in the bushing would probably not be noticed on the wheel.
    play in the wheel bearings are directly transferred to the wheel.
    when they are worn to a stage where you would find excessive play on the wheels they tend to make some noise.


    IF you tighten them, check the BMW manual for the correct torque and DO NOT over torque or you will for sure get a terrible noise.
    Off the top of my head I think it was 250nm on that nut when I replaced one of my front bearings last year.

    -Egil (thats my name)

    1990 850IA Hartge SC
    2012 M550d Touring

    If I misspelled a word it's because I'm Norwegian, so bear with me.

    Thanks chaps. I was getting my steering arms mixed up. The movement was on the drop arm, the thing directly connected to the box. Number 10 below.



    The splined shaft on the steering box was moving, but the drop arm not as much. I'm planning on tightening #11 and crossing my fingers.

    That will be the inner bush on the upper arm, part number 10. You will need replacement arms and these are very common. I have posted warnings about these being missed on inspection and service numerous times because technicians do not want to have to replace them. When you do it you will know why!!


    I have done approximately 20 in the last 2 years.


    There is a minimal possibility of bushes 2 or 23.


    A loose wheel bearing would have play in all planes of motion and is very rare.


    8Tech.

    Thanks Gerry, I guess I knew the rear suspension would end up needing doing one day. Sounds like I'm best off doing 2,10 and 23. I've asked for a quote from bmminiparts but I suspect it's off to BMW for me... :(


    I have a friend who is a professional mechanic of 25 years, but I think even with his help I may struggle to do this on my drive. Think I might try and sniff out one of these places where you can rent a garage with lift. Anyone know of anywhere near London?


    Gerry: I may come crying to you if I'm not man enough for the job ;)

    Thanks BBMatic.


    I've just got under the car, and it's clearly #10 that's failed. You can feel the movement in the bush. Wokke has refurbed arms so I'm going to buy those and hopefully they will sort me out. Replacing #2 and #23 looks like a pig and I don't need to do it for the MoT so I think I'll leave them for another day.


    Good news is that I tightened the pinch bolt on the drop arm and the steering issue is solved! Result.

    Since I'll have the suspension in pieces I may as well sort out my embarrassing squeak. I posted about this a while back but have been putting up with it. Someone suggested it was the top shock mount and I can clearly hear the squeak is coming from around the top of the shock.

    Which bit do I need to replace? #7?

    Zitat von NickF;97953

    Gerry, you said a while back that you were working on offering exchange wishbones (#10) with powerflex bushes. Did you get anywhere with that?


    Yes, you can come crying to me and Powerflex were not particularly forthcoming in producing my bush design due to the limited market.


    It took them 3 years to consider the merits of producing my trailing arm bushes to no avail so I had them made by the Mitsubishi Rally Team supplier, which was rushed through.........and still took 14 months.


    I am not holding my breath for the upper arm bushes.


    Zitat von NickF;97960

    Since I'll have the suspension in pieces I may as well sort out my embarrassing squeak. I posted about this a while back but have been putting up with it. Someone suggested it was the top shock mount and I can clearly hear the squeak is coming from around the top of the shock.

    Which bit do I need to replace? #7?


    Nope, number 7 is the bump stop. You need number 9 and I assume you have the rear strut top mount reinforcing plates otherwise you may well have split the bodyshell. The gasket part 11 is no longer available so just use silicon sealant.


    Zitat von NickF;97959

    Thanks BBMatic.


    I've just got under the car, and it's clearly #10 that's failed. .


    Well that wasn't a bad piece of diagnosis on my part then was it? :top:


    Zitat von NickF;97959

    Thanks BBMatic.


    Replacing #2 and #23 looks like a pig and I don't need to do it for the MoT so I think I'll leave them for another day.


    Yes, they are and you need special bush tools to remove them in situ or a LOT of time to remove the complete upright to get them in a press.


    8Tech.

    8Tech: No auto merging here (but I've merged them for you). If you wish to bundle stuff in one post, you best write it as one or edit your reply afterwards.


    Personally I don't like auto merging (as found for example at bimmerforums.com). When you add new information to a thread in which you already had the last post, it doesn't get bumped and people who have already read your last post may never see the new addition. The problem is of course that some deliberately abuse this to bump their topic on top of the rest...

    Bump! ;)


    Thanks Gerry. No, I don't have re-enforcement plates. I know you've warned us many times, but I figured that as the car had coped for 21 years and 160,000 miles if something was going to go wrong it would have done it by now, and I drive it like an old woman.


    My "optimistic" approach combined with no time to work on the car, and extreme laziness has left it plate-less.


    Assuming it's not too late (I had a look at the squeaking side and it looks OK), I may as well add the plates now. I couldn't find them on your eBay shop. I can see the camber plates, but they are different right? I also vaguely remember someone having a spare set lying around?

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