Help my car to survive

[jester@westfailure.net (jester@westfailure.net)]

On Wed, 9 Jan 2002, '84 Scirocco wrote:

>=20
> Ok after a month of debating whether to sell my car and buy something new=
,
> I've decided FUCK THAT idea and just try to fix her.  This list gave me
> hope.  Here's whats going on.
>=20
> Basically I'm having front end problems.  If I hit a major bump my rack
> feels like its shaking.  In general my steering rack feels "loose" - loos=
e
> steering and rattling.
Most likely cause: if the rattling is INSIDE the car, & the steering wheel
itself moves & shakes, its your steering column bearings, a bit of a pain
to r&r, but their is a quick fix... stuiff the needle bearing back in teh
column & keep it from falling out with duct tape. thats what i did on my
81 pu till i have time to yank the column & replace em.

> Struts are less than a year old.  CV joints are fine.  I KNOW I need to p=
ut
> new control arm bushings in, and I even have the bushings and NEW control
> arms from Potterman too, just need to sink them in.  But other than that,=
 is
> there anything else I should be worried about?  Will the control arms
> themselves cause this much problem?  What about the motor mounts? I hate
> taking the car on the highway now - it doesn=B9t feel safe somehow.  Most=
ly
> psychological, cause its not really driving *that* bad...
well, i wrote this letter once, & my e0-mail program lost it :( so i'll
try again...
Possible causes:
1) bad bump stops:
symptom: ful compression of the suspension will cause a loud deep thud.
diagnosis: look at bump stops to see if they are split.
2) bad steering rack/tie rod:
symptom: pulls & wanders on highway, can make noise but nto too loud
usually... feels twitchy.
diagnosis: jack up one wheel, put hands at 3:00 & 9:00 try to move wheel
front to rear (like turning) & see if play is in assembly beyond spec 9a
feel thing)
3) bad ball joints
symptom: clunking rattling over repeated bumps
diag: easiest to just undi 17mm head pinch bolt, drop the a-arm down &
check ball joint
4) front wheel bearing:=20
symptoms: various
diag: get wheel to be checked off ground, put hands at 12:00 and 6:00 try
to wiggel wheel top to bottom & in & out. should be minimal in & out and
no discernable top to bottom.
5) strut bearing
sympt: clunks when suspension is fully unloaded
diag: hard to do, just know the sound & when taken apart make sure strut
bearing when on shock without spring has littel or no up to down play, can
be corrected by grinding strut mount bushing until washer sandwiches strut
bearing to eliminate up down play.
6) motor mounts bad
sympt: getting on & off gas will make it kinda hop or shudder/jolt easiest
way to diag is to look at mounts & see if good, another good way is car in
neutral, engine running look at engine 7 blip throttle from under hood
look for "unusual" movement.


> Luckily we have the new Ford for heavy traveling and stuff, so its not li=
ke
> I cant get around.  I drive the Scirocco daily to work and love the looks=
 I
> get from people, especially the other VW owners.  I love my car ... Just
> wish I had a proper place to do shit, cause I havent been able to do the
> control arms on my street.  Gotta find someone with a garage.

I live about 1 mile from you & I have a garage, but its full :(

However, the street in front of my garage is clear & i can swap a-arms on
a a1 in about 30 minutes a side, if you have poly bushings to swap i can
do that, but have never tried to put a new stock front lower a-arm
bushing in, dunno how hard/easy that is. Between the two of us we can have
you fixed up in an hour or so... (unless the front bushings are an
issue..)

take care,

Steve

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