both front drive shafts broken....

[Backtobasics]

The wife has got an 03 plate ford maverick 3.0, which she uses for normal work duties and the occasional towing of her horse box. A few days ago she was complaining of the abs kicking in for no reason and that she was loosing some brake performance. Taken it to the local main dealer and they say that both front drive shafts are broken and you could have a cheap holiday for 2 for a week on what it is going to cost to fix.

I would expect driveshafts to make one hell of a noise if they are broken, plus I would expect to see some oil around the drive shafts.

Anyone shed any light on it, or have had similar experiences?

Sorry I dont have much more to go on as I am not seeing the mechanic that looked at it until tomorrow morning.

[stevieturbo]

It would be very strange for both shafts to be broken, and notice no other symptoms.

I suggest get a second opinion.

[Backtobasics]

cheers stevie, thats what I said to her, she is going to go to another garage tomorrow.

[Zad]

I don't know if these have locking centre diffs, but could it be that she had the central diff locked for off-road towing and then moved onto tarmac, causing "wind-up" in the difference between front and rear speeds, breaking the front prop/transfer shaft? A second opinion is definitely in order, and I would investigate 3rd party parts suppliers too.

[fatjon]

I think the universal joints can be replaced, no way the actual shatfs are broken, it wouldn't move and they would be crashing around loose trashing the bottom of the car and making one hell of a noise surely! I think the UJs are about £50 for a set on ebay. ABS kicking in when the wheels are not locking is often (usually) crap on the ABS sensors. Have seen it on several cars and each time it has just been a case of pulling out the sensors and cleaning the bits of swarf off the tip. When they get dirty they don't "see" the reluctor ring passing by and think the wheel has stopped. Usually worse at low speed so the ABS starts pulsing just as you are coming to a halt and the car sails straight on. Good luck anyway.

Jon

[BB-Q]

In the highly unlikely event that it has a front diff capable of locking up to the point of breaking a second shaft once the first one has broken then may I suggest Googling Moser Engineering? Amongst their drag racing and custom stuff they do stock replacement stuff too, and even if you end up paying shipping and duties it will cost you much less than half as much as it would buying stock stuff in the Uk.

[Backtobasics]

thanks for the help guys, I was with you re the abs sensor due to the mud she drives through, however. Amazingly they are broken. The rings on both front drive shafts that hold the ball bearings in place have gone. Luckily my local backstreet will sort it for about a quarter of the price of the stealer. I may ask the garage for pictures to remind my wife why she rarely drives my car! Although I have had to lend it to her due to the state of hers and .....

I will be posting in a minute on how to reset an airbag light on my 03 impreza (which looks like a trip to a garage)....... it never rains, it pours!

Yep she was driving it so it's her fault!

[stevieturbo]

Backtobasics said:

thanks for the help guys, I was with you re the abs sensor due to the mud she drives through, however. Amazingly they are broken. The rings on both front drive shafts that hold the ball bearings in place have gone. Luckily my local backstreet will sort it for about a quarter of the price of the stealer. I may ask the garage for pictures to remind my wife why she rarely drives my car! Although I have had to lend it to her due to the state of hers and .....

I will be posting in a minute on how to reset an airbag light on my 03 impreza (which looks like a trip to a garage)....... it never rains, it pours!

Yep she was driving it so it's her fault!

So are the shafts actually broken, or just the ABS rings ?

[Backtobasics]

just the rings mate, I did not see the actual problem as the car was off the ramp when I turned up. Ford say that they dont sell the rings, just the whole drive shaft, but as I said to the guy, I'll just get a set from a scrappy and get the backstreet to recondition my wifes from the scrapper parts. Cannot see a second hand set being more than £150.