Faults

[henrym3]

Last week I headed of to Blackburn in the Alpina and got as far as Manchester j21 before the car decided it had had enough and spluttered to a stop. As I always carry my diagnostics the problem turned out to be the crankshaft sensor. AA picked the car up and said they would relay it back to my house over 200 miles and gave me a Ford custom van (all they could find to hire) so I headed home in that. The car actually arrived home the same night at 11pm.
Next day jumped into the x5 and set out again, all went well until the way back, I had done about 400 miles at this point. Suddenly the dash lit up with all the usual suspects but no drop in performance but the steering wheel is off to the left?? Anyway, quick diagnostics tell me the fault is the steering angle sensor. Start up again and all faults gone but steering is still off center. At home I can’t find anything wrong with the suspension or steering nothing loose. Next day I decide to take the front strut out to find the top mount the bit with the 3 nuts that secure the strut to the tower the rubber center piece is completely shot. So I’m assuming that is the problem ATM I’ve put it back together and I await 2 new MEYLE top mount’s arriving this week. BTW I did just short of 600 miles and did 21 mpg also managed to do it all less 47 miles on lpg. Oh 1 other fault the intermittent wipers stopped working. I believe that is a relay problem but that particular relay is over £80. Such a shame you can’t wander around scrap yards anymore.

[Leslie]

You are having a rough time of it My passat is offroad as the motman knocked a big hole in the rear suspension arms the springs sit into with his big hammer. I thought you were not allowed to hammer stuff in the mot but clearly its fine over here in NI.He battered the hell out of them last year too, I could hear it from outside the building but didnt make any holes that time

[Alan Gunn]

Force of finger and thumb then if suspect the approved tool in the uk mot.
I used to have a little toffee hammer as well lol.

[Leslie]

We are banned being in the test centres since covid so I will never know how big the hammer is

[henrym3]

The MEYLE top mounts have arrived and I will hopefully get them fitted this week. The intermittent wipers are fixed by removing the relay and taking the cover off and using a mixture of sand paper and the wife’s nail file to clean up the contacts. I like these cheap fixes.

[Themoog2]

How did the top mount suddenly just let go?
At the moment mine has an annoying clunk / rattle from the steering column uj / lower bulkhead bearings area that's doing my head in and I'm keen to fix but other than that it's just done 500miles in 2 weeks with no agro.

[henrym3]

They must have been ready to give up for some time and just needed that last pothole to finish them off. To be fair I have had a rattle/knock for some time and put it down to the drop link

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The wheel is much more central now but needs an alignment and the knocking at fairly low speed 15/20mph is gone so I’m putting this down to a fairly cheap success.

[henrym3]

Still haven’t had the alignment done as I now have a really annoying squeaking from the front. Suspected the anti roll bar bushes (polyurethane) so disconnected the link arms and yes very stiff and some squeaking when moved, pita to get them off and lubed but afterwards the squeaking is still there. Back on the ramps and as I pulled myself under I hear a squeak. Long story short I could pull on the subframe and hear the squeak. It’s a knackered wishbone bush. The new ones should be hear this week. The only bushes that aren’t polyurethane.

[henrym3]

FFS, Wishbones are on and squeaking is gone but there is still a knocking faint but there, you know the sort that really annoys. Took the link arms off and went for a drive, still there. Snookered at the moment as to where I should look next.

[Greydog]

I had a knock that drove me bonkers changed to PTFE bushes still every now and then it was there took the arms off couldn't see anything so refitted but with new bolts (advice from my local Specialist) and nuts everything is quiet.

[henrym3]

Thanks for that, as all the other bushes are polyurethane and the only thing left is the ball joint on the tension strut I’ve sent for a pair of MEYLE ball joints last changed 6 years ago. £33. Should be here Thursday.
Watched my lad change a front wheel bearing on his Renault van (still immaculate and rust free and has done 350k) jez what a job makes everything BMW look easy..

[henrym3]

So in the end I renewed the link arms replaced the wishbones and fitted ball joints to the tension arms. Had to replace an outer boot on rhs. This turned into a nightmare as once I had loosened the hub enough to just push the driveshaft in (remarkably easy) and as it popped out it was clear that the retaining ring was knackered and fell off the shaft. New one from BMW for less than £1 reassembled and went for a drive. Jez what a racket. It turned out that not all of the retaining ring fell out and what was left was floating about in the grease and cages and balls. Had to remove the hub wash out all the grease clean and inspect for damage find the offending bit of the old retaining ring and reassemble. One bright side of all this is that I found out why I had a sort of whooshing sound as I drove along and have had for some time. When I put the new bushes on and needed to torque the bolts I needed the discs off in order to get the torque wrench on the nuts and I jacked up the hub in order to simulate the vehicle being on the ground. There is a metal dust/dirt shield round the hub which I squashed with the jack only needed reshaped with a screwdriver to stop the noise. Problem was the whooshing I had was on the other side so rinse and repeat on other side. Happy to say there now isn’t a single rattle squeaky or whoosh anywhere. I can finally arrange an alignment.