So.. at work today..

[Spike]

WARNING: This might be hard to look at for people from MICHIGAN AND ABOVE.

When I backed out this morning.. I heard a poppin' type sound, but dismissed it as my strut tops doing their normal broken business. I drive 65MPH all the way to work, no troubles. I start to feel a bit of a wheel shake about 5 miles from work (35mi each way), but I just had my tires (badly) rebalanced and rotated (they didn't EVEN BALANCE the rear left), but I suppose that's the least of my worries lol..

I pull into work, clock in (2:51AM), do my morning routine until I leave for the second warehouse (3:20AMish..), and I start 'er up, put it in reverse.. get about 3 feet.. pop pop clunk. My front passenger side drops a foot. Auto trans fluid all over the ground, brake fluid all over the ground. I assume the trans finally went, or I lost an axle (which were in good/decent shape, most suspension new).

Any guesses what happened?



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My strut rusted away and snapped off.

The carnage. Hide the children:





More pictures here:

http://s1183.photobucket.com/user/Spike-Festiva/media/PICT1572_zps5be1eef9.jpg.html?sort=3&o=30

Time for Aspire swap LOL.

-Joe

[Spike]

Oh, and the worst part.. the wheel moving upward bent my ONLY DENT-FREE FENDER.

I hate my life.

[Festevil3]

Ouch! Lucky you were not driving it when it broke, good luck with the repairs

[fastivaca]

:shock:Wow:shock: My first thought was that the ball joint let go... don't think I've ever seen a strut rust badly enough to break like that. Glad there wasn't more serious damage.

[Spike]

Thanks! Yeah.. the more I think about it, the more I'm happy I'm alive.. thank God I got there, and thank God he made Festivas to break at the BEST POSSIBLE TIME. Like some people drive on a bad CV for months, then it drops when they're taking a slow corner.

Festivas were made in heaven.

[JPT]

Had that happen to me also. While I was driving too, just about to get on the highway. Limped around for a week on a dead replacement. Now, I have a Rio suspension.

[Spike]

UPDATE:

She's on the road, and moving under her own power. Picked up a strut assembly (spring and all) at a local yard yesterday.. I was calling around, and someone says "Oh, we just got a car in a few days ago.. it's in the line to be crushed right now."

Seriously.

I get there, it's a '92 L with 103k miles. Very little rust underneath, a bit by the rear wheels. Engine is shiny (though taken apart underneath - the clutch went...). It had a Hawaii-stripe kit on it, and a DEALER INSTALLED SUNROOF.

I ask how much for the strut.. $50. I can buy a new one for that.. he goes back and asks, for the same $50, I can have the sunroof, too! Deal.

Only two hours of work today, new strut on, brakes didn't break. It just looked that way. Axle popped back in no issue.

Nearly 5 quarts of ATF later, it's moving right along. Needs alignment bad. :p

Yay, I can get to work tomorrow.. had to call in today.

-Joe

[Prafeston]

Sweet! Good deal for the strut and sunroof...should have asked to through in some other goodies. Sounds like there was probably plenty you could have stripped from it!

[Spike]

If I hadn't just payed for a tow, and been up 21hrs at that point, I probably would've offered on the whole car.

They were putting it in the jaws of death as I left... was a true waste.

[Prafeston]

I just cried a little! :'(

[Safety Guy]

Sad story!

But at least your car is back on the road again.

Karl

[Pu241]

UPDATE:
Nearly 5 quarts of ATF later, it's moving right along. Needs alignment bad. :p
-Joe

Congrats on the quick repair!

But, I'm concerned about the 5 Qts of ATX fluid, as the E series tranny only holds 2.6 Qts.

[Spike]

^^^^^ I flipped through the shop manual.

Automatic transaxle:

Capacity: 5.6 U.S. Qts Mercon.

I thought it seemed crazy, too.. but the stick just kept showing clean.

[Bert]

Lucky you that the strut sheared when you going slow. Would have been a rude awakening out on the Interstate.
Sort of like you, I had a lower ball joint pop out just as I started to back out of my driveway last year. The pinch bolt was not the proper item (which are very specific diameter-wise and made of hardened steel) and had deformed, bent and worn enough to release the otherwise nearly new ball joint. Looking at the car immediately after (wheel skewed way off plumb) reminded me of the Bill Maudlin cartoon from WWII of a GI pointing his 45 at his trusty but downed Jeep to put it out of it's misery, like you'd do a horse with broken leg. That picture too portrayed a front wheel that had come off.

I don't know what highway traffic act laws are like in the States but I had a buddy up this way have a tie rod separate from a knuckle out on the freeway and promptly skidded into a ditch. He was kinda shook up by this and an attending cop didn't blink an eye about automatically issuing him a ticket for 'driving without due care and attention'. My buddy didn't contest the ticket, only to discover his insurance went through the roof the following year. No doubt if he'd explained to the Judge why he slid off the road on a beautiful dry day the ticket and insurance outcome would have been quite different.

[Spike]

Local cops would first make sure I'm alright, ask what happened, say "Oh, I understand. Glad you're alive!!"...

...then I'd get a $200 ticket in the mail a few days later. Plus a bill for a towtruck (even if one never came). This happened to a neighbor once, when his axle snapped at 45MPH, causing his mud tire to rip the whole passenger-front out of the frame. He had the truck towed on a friend's trailer.. yet still somehow got all this^^.

After 3 days in court he won, but still.. bleh.

-Joe