Shadgrind
Active Member
I went to get a four Wheel Alignment and the guy in the shop said he would be unable to do it as the track rod and ball joint was loose. Also mentioned one wheel bearing at the front was too tight and the other was too loose. Plus the Auxiliary belt was worn.
I’ll replaced said belt, replaced both the track rod ends, the driver side one was particularly difficult to get out. I used an air chisel, a pickle fork and a hammer. After that I was still stuck so I got out my blowtorch and heated up the area around the ball joint nice smell of burning rubber. I was beginning to give up when I remembered I had some map gas…
With that and the air chisel, I managed to get it free woo hoo.
The belt still has a story to tell it was replaced by me. As mentioned above, the replacement snapped after two days. I sent a message to the guy on eBay who sold it to me, saying it was rubbish. Little did I know that The steering pump was on the way out, although I did check all of the pulleys at the front of the engine to make sure they were turning easily. The second time it snapped I was about 50 miles from home, with the original belt back in its place. I called the AA out again, and they said as I had already had a callout for the same fault they wouldn’t come out to me. I begged and pleaded pulled on heartstrings about the fact I have a dodgy heart no pun intended, but the best they could come up with was. £299 and £4.50 mile that would have made it somewhere around 350 quid!
So I walked to Halfords they did not have a belt in stock, but reckon they could get one in two hours. They said they would give me a call after three hours with no call. I drove the car, a short distance, with no power steering! Got to Halfords car park got out and went to see what was occurring. As it happened, not much was occurring in that there was no belt. The suppliers inventory was incorrect.
call the taxi to take me to motor parts, direct the other side of town, another £16 for the taxi and 40 odd quid for the belt, which I glee fully fitted in front of Halfords. Then proceeded to drive off with a happy heart right up until about half a mile from Halfords the belt decided to snap yet again up at this point I have not realised it was the power steering pump, As all of the pulleys seem to turn just fine. I was actually on a roundabout leading to the A329M motorway, and was unable to find anywhere to pull over, so I pressed on glancing feverishly at the temperature gauge, which began to go up. Once the car started beeping at me with the temperature gauge around the 100 Mark I decided it would be best to stop and pulled over on the hard shoulder.
After contemplating my life choices for sometime, I decided to get the shredded remains Out from the engine bay and see if I could salvage anything, it turned out the belt had come off, but was mostly intact. So I decided to see if I could find a way of making the belt last longer. I concocted a narrow cylinder of slippery plastic from the high viz jacket that I was now wearing. After first, putting out the safety triangle at the requisite distance.
As I continued to drive through the glorious English rain and drizzle, I was just hoping that my botch would last for the 45 miles or so I had to get home. by some miracle, I managed to make it thinking that if the pulley seized on the power steering pump, it would slip on the plastic and save the belt just enough and it worked!
I’ll replaced said belt, replaced both the track rod ends, the driver side one was particularly difficult to get out. I used an air chisel, a pickle fork and a hammer. After that I was still stuck so I got out my blowtorch and heated up the area around the ball joint nice smell of burning rubber. I was beginning to give up when I remembered I had some map gas…
With that and the air chisel, I managed to get it free woo hoo.
The belt still has a story to tell it was replaced by me. As mentioned above, the replacement snapped after two days. I sent a message to the guy on eBay who sold it to me, saying it was rubbish. Little did I know that The steering pump was on the way out, although I did check all of the pulleys at the front of the engine to make sure they were turning easily. The second time it snapped I was about 50 miles from home, with the original belt back in its place. I called the AA out again, and they said as I had already had a callout for the same fault they wouldn’t come out to me. I begged and pleaded pulled on heartstrings about the fact I have a dodgy heart no pun intended, but the best they could come up with was. £299 and £4.50 mile that would have made it somewhere around 350 quid!
So I walked to Halfords they did not have a belt in stock, but reckon they could get one in two hours. They said they would give me a call after three hours with no call. I drove the car, a short distance, with no power steering! Got to Halfords car park got out and went to see what was occurring. As it happened, not much was occurring in that there was no belt. The suppliers inventory was incorrect.
call the taxi to take me to motor parts, direct the other side of town, another £16 for the taxi and 40 odd quid for the belt, which I glee fully fitted in front of Halfords. Then proceeded to drive off with a happy heart right up until about half a mile from Halfords the belt decided to snap yet again up at this point I have not realised it was the power steering pump, As all of the pulleys seem to turn just fine. I was actually on a roundabout leading to the A329M motorway, and was unable to find anywhere to pull over, so I pressed on glancing feverishly at the temperature gauge, which began to go up. Once the car started beeping at me with the temperature gauge around the 100 Mark I decided it would be best to stop and pulled over on the hard shoulder.
After contemplating my life choices for sometime, I decided to get the shredded remains Out from the engine bay and see if I could salvage anything, it turned out the belt had come off, but was mostly intact. So I decided to see if I could find a way of making the belt last longer. I concocted a narrow cylinder of slippery plastic from the high viz jacket that I was now wearing. After first, putting out the safety triangle at the requisite distance.
As I continued to drive through the glorious English rain and drizzle, I was just hoping that my botch would last for the 45 miles or so I had to get home. by some miracle, I managed to make it thinking that if the pulley seized on the power steering pump, it would slip on the plastic and save the belt just enough and it worked!
