Mini mot suspension failure woes

[Pesty]

Daughter took mini for mot without consulting me ( roll eyes) she didn't even check the lights or mention warning lights were on. ffs anyway I can sort most
Haynes manual on way too. Not had chance to inspect the car yet. Done some but not a lot of suspension work before

Warning lights I can sort.

Wheel bearing done those before

In A ball joint inner? Assume it's Inner ball joint fiddly but I've done before

Now this part

Suspension arm bush offside front (rear bush )? Not sure what they mean by this.

Assuming it's this?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-MINI-ONE-COOPER-S-FR...

Edited by Pesty on Friday 10th June 20:14

[Pesty]

Thanks. Yes that may be the cause of one of the lights. The other one is a common fault and comes on when you move the passenger seat all the way back

This article says to remove that inner bush you have to drop the sub frame including frompnt bumber etc

That's way way too much for me.



http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/MINI/41-S...

[Pesty]

Thanks. How would would I get them to call it an advisory when they have already failed it? No sure I understand that part.

Right it seems there is an easy way......... That involves burning it out then air chisel and air Hammer

Heat I can do. Air chisel well I have a electric sds chisel hmmm but doing it from lieing underneath the car?

Then fitting power flex



https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B7kQn82QB7U

[Pesty]

Found this.


https://www.amazon.co.uk/BERGEN-FRONT-CONTROL-REMO...

Only issue is it seems you can only fit in power flex I assume in that case I would have to do both sides?

Scratch that gsf has them for 16 quid.


Ps car has done 205000 so I'll let it off

Edited by Pesty on Friday 10th June 21:13

Edited by Pesty on Friday 10th June 21:18

[Pesty]

Thanks guys ordered


I'm pretty sure we had the other side fitted last year at huge expense daughter was away at uni I had no time to do it anyway so did no research and as usual she needed the car and waiting till days before mot ran out just like this time... Daughters eh.

So I'll order from gsf edit. Just seen link above cheers,

This actuall looks easy the inner ball joint looks to be more fiddly than I expected. I'll do outer ones at the same time. Might do both sides as I'm in there doing wheel bearing anyway.

Where's that lottery win for the double garage lift and air tool sigh and I'm not getting any younger oh well keep me busy

[Pesty]

Cheers.

I've just driven round block while there is a day left on mot before parking it up on drive to be dismantled slowly. No grumbles from bearing handles like a go cart I defy anybody to drive this car if I'd covered up the milage and say yeah this is a 200k car.

Looking through receipts previous owner had full history most of these things have been changed. We will see once I have it in bits.

Offside is bearing and inner bush so might as well dismantle this while I'm waiting for parts and that tool
will do inner and outer ball joints while I'm in there too. Maybe drop links and roll bar bushes while I'm at it. Of course will give me good chance to inspect the brakes. I hate doing jobs twice so might change them out too.

Passenger side apparently has more room for inner ball joint so may be bale to get bolts out without dropping anything.

Will see. Still can't picture it in my head from vids and diagrams it's not like anything I've dismantled before looks similar but everything comes apart different.
The adventure begins no time limit she's bought a new car and this will be passed into youngest daughter.

It's worth nothing I want to get it to 300 k

[Pesty]

Right I'm not being thick here. Off side is drivers side yes? Because there is no movement whatsoever in that bush I've swung on it hit it with hammers rock solid eleven appears UN damaged. Wonder if they meant near side ?

Also first problem 4 bolts for wheel bearing rusted away easiest job might turn out to be the hardest


Just remembered why I don't work on suspension much

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XSmnVJ-ZV7w&feat...

Edited by Pesty on Saturday 11th June 17:57

[Pesty]

Mr2Mike said:

Tapping the wishbone with a rubber hammer won't show you anything useful about the state of the bush. Get a decent sized lever in there and apply some force to the bush.

Thanks Not my area of expertise I was swinging on it too just trying to show no matter what I did it wouldn't budge. It's always been pretty obvious whenever I've done them before,

I took my car there last year in which I'd replaced the near side drop link. They put and advisory near side drop link. When I queried he changed it to offside said they'd made a mistake So I'm kinda thinking they've made a mistake again. It looks perfect. These things happen.

Daughter is fetching receipts around so i can check which one was done last time. All vids and pics show clearly visible damage. That one looks like new.

Looks like I'll need to drop off the hub carrier and bang the rusted bolts off with drift or something. No hurry this is going to take a while I don't enjoy these things like I used to.

[Pesty]

Cheers appreciated I'll sort it. I just work really slow these days. Plus it's a bit of a learning curve

[Pesty]

Things that went wrong today or what happens when an idiot tries to work on a rusty old mini

Dropped breaker bar on teeth
Hit hands with hammer
Broke hammer
Outer ball joint welded onto hub carrier
Cannot get wishbone out of inner bush

Hammering and perciverence will sort that

One problem I need advice on. 4 bolts behind wheel bearing are rusted cannot get socket on to bite. What do I do now

[Pesty]

Tried that I have 13mm and 10mm not enough to grip 13mm and 10mm won't fit hard to hammer on.

Never don it this way but I assume if I remove the pinch bolt at the strut. Steering arm and drop link, abs wire I can remove the whole hub carrier.

Guess I'm going to have to try that.