Jimbo1959
Senior Member
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2018
- Messages
- 1,786
- Reaction score
- 1,811
- Location
- Ayrshire
- Your Mercedes
- VW Scirocco. The Quattro, E350 CDi Blue Efficiency Sport Coupe, now both gone
Friday night, just as I'm ready to leave work and meet up with Swmbo to do the "shopping run" and I get a text from her informing me that her car is making a funny noise and that she doesn't want to drive it. Can I come home and get her so that we can do the shopping?
Oh joy! It's my long weekend (two days off instead of just one) and I was looking forward to a long lie on both mornings. No chance, I'll need to get up early and take no.2 son to work on Saturday morning as Swmbo flat out refuses to drive my car.
I must admit and as some of you will have gathered by now, that I'm a little OCD, well ok, a lot. She knows I'd freak if anything happened to my beloved, and yes, I mean the car. Plus, I think she's a little afraid of it, she's always had smaller cars and I think the size of mine (the car) puts her off.
Her's must be fixed before Sunday as, she starts working her night shift rotation at the hospital then.
No.2 son who was with her at the time reckons the o/side front coil spring has broken.
The car is sitting a little lower on that corner and when she is turning right there was a horrible twanging noise Fortunately she was literally just around the corner from our house when this happened and, she was able to nurse it home.
So, still being at work (a large independent motor factors), I get a spring organised just incase I need it as, basically I'm not sure what the issue is but it's nice to be prepared and I live twenty miles away so nipping back isn't as easy as it might be if I lived closer.
My mate, the parts advisor who was checking part numbers and availability for me, recommends taking a new strut top mount too, as, in his experience, they usually fail at the same time. (More on that later).
Go home, quick look at the car, yep, looks like a spring, but I can't see a lot 'cos it's dark and Swmbo wants to do the food shop, it's after nine when we get home and I'm tired, Saturday is looking like the better day for doing the job.
Saturday get awoken at the crack of dawn by my, " Are you taking me to work Dad?" lad, and off we set, another thirty mile round trip before I can get started on the gaffers car.
Eventually get her car into the garage and stripped down to discover that indeed, the spring has broken and the broken coil is caught up in the strut shaft protective rubber boot. It has broken at the top and as a result the top strut mount is damaged too. Thank goodness my mate at work recommended I take a new one home too, saves a lot of time and faffing about and I can get the job done and dusted in a oner.
I had to strip off/out the scuttle, wipers and the mounting plate to gain access to the strut top nut. Which put around an extra hour plus on the job. If only I'd had smaller hands and a better selection of tools I could have prised up the corner of the scuttle assy and get it done that way. Sadly not possible so, I had to take the long road round.
This job confirmed what I have suspected for quite a while, I'm getting to old for all this nonsense!
I woke up this morning absolutely aching all over.
At least the gaffer will be able to get to and from her work tonight. Sunday, the day of rest!
Oh joy! It's my long weekend (two days off instead of just one) and I was looking forward to a long lie on both mornings. No chance, I'll need to get up early and take no.2 son to work on Saturday morning as Swmbo flat out refuses to drive my car.
I must admit and as some of you will have gathered by now, that I'm a little OCD, well ok, a lot. She knows I'd freak if anything happened to my beloved, and yes, I mean the car. Plus, I think she's a little afraid of it, she's always had smaller cars and I think the size of mine (the car) puts her off.
Her's must be fixed before Sunday as, she starts working her night shift rotation at the hospital then.
No.2 son who was with her at the time reckons the o/side front coil spring has broken.
The car is sitting a little lower on that corner and when she is turning right there was a horrible twanging noise Fortunately she was literally just around the corner from our house when this happened and, she was able to nurse it home.
So, still being at work (a large independent motor factors), I get a spring organised just incase I need it as, basically I'm not sure what the issue is but it's nice to be prepared and I live twenty miles away so nipping back isn't as easy as it might be if I lived closer.
My mate, the parts advisor who was checking part numbers and availability for me, recommends taking a new strut top mount too, as, in his experience, they usually fail at the same time. (More on that later).
Go home, quick look at the car, yep, looks like a spring, but I can't see a lot 'cos it's dark and Swmbo wants to do the food shop, it's after nine when we get home and I'm tired, Saturday is looking like the better day for doing the job.
Saturday get awoken at the crack of dawn by my, " Are you taking me to work Dad?" lad, and off we set, another thirty mile round trip before I can get started on the gaffers car.
Eventually get her car into the garage and stripped down to discover that indeed, the spring has broken and the broken coil is caught up in the strut shaft protective rubber boot. It has broken at the top and as a result the top strut mount is damaged too. Thank goodness my mate at work recommended I take a new one home too, saves a lot of time and faffing about and I can get the job done and dusted in a oner.
I had to strip off/out the scuttle, wipers and the mounting plate to gain access to the strut top nut. Which put around an extra hour plus on the job. If only I'd had smaller hands and a better selection of tools I could have prised up the corner of the scuttle assy and get it done that way. Sadly not possible so, I had to take the long road round.
This job confirmed what I have suspected for quite a while, I'm getting to old for all this nonsense!
I woke up this morning absolutely aching all over.
At least the gaffer will be able to get to and from her work tonight. Sunday, the day of rest!