| GOT BOOST |
Well as luck would have it my front left lower ball joint has decided to go to a better place.
After receiving a wheel alignment 2 weeks ago, the car was running almost perfect, shifted nice, had lots of boost, still blew some smoke from the oil leaking from the Valve Covers into the spark plug galley.
2 days after the alignment I had noticed that the back end of the car would slightly jerk to the left, when I let the clutch out, and slightly jerk to the right when I let off the gas. As the days passed the problem bacame worse and worse to the point that if I let go of the wheel on a straight road, and I hit a bump, the back end would sway, leaving me with a roller coaster feel. The turns were an adventure too.
As much fun as it was to have this happen while driving I thought maybe it was time to bring it back to Darren at Brake Check as he just did the alignment. Thinking that he had missed something, or a bolt came loose along the line, he painstakingly realigned all four wheels and went through all my suspension components and all the alignments bolts. After the process was complete he discovered that my front left ball joint was insanely loose. It was so bad, that it required little effort to shake the wheel back and fourth. In the process you could see the ball joint moving around like a tumble weed in a windstorm. :lol:
I have ordered up a new ball joint ($85.00) at Autorolla reg price $112.00 .
Darren felt so bad that he did not check the wheels for worn ball joints that he will be redoing the alignment for free after he installs the new ball joint. The install charge will be around $30.00. He has also offered to store my car inside the shop untill the ball joint arives which will be for another 3 or 4 business days.
The car can still be driven, but I would rather not with the drivers side wheel looking like it is ready to fall off.
I would just like to send a special thanks to Darren at Brake Check, and to Harvy at Autorolla for their unprecidented service. These guys I highly reccomend.
Thanks for reading,
Mike Nikolai |
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| HeavyEarly87T |
Mike,
I am glad you caught that before it put you into the ditch! Tell Darren at Brake Check to expect other Supras in for inspection.
Oddly my car has the same sort of symptoms. (go figure)
From a safety standpoint I think everybody should have the front ends of these cars inspected yearly. After 14-18 year, something is going to go.
Will Darren give discounts on inspections for Club Members?
Earl |
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| GOT BOOST |
quote:
Originally posted by HeavyEarly87T
Mike,
I am glad you caught that before it put you into the ditch! Tell Darren at Brake Check to expect other Supras in for inspection.
Oddly my car has the same sort of symptoms. (go figure)
From a safety standpoint I think everybody should have the front ends of these cars inspected yearly. After 14-18 year, something is going to go.
Will Darren give discounts on inspections for Club Members?
Earl
Hi Earl,
I agree, goint into the ditch and doing some crop dusting with my Supra is not high on my to do list.
I also agree that it is not a bad idea to get your stuff checked out. The ball joints from Toyota were a little more, they were about $130.00 with the discount.
As for the discounts with Brake Check, I will need to check and see with him. Even if he does not give discounts, I still find his service to be outstanding. He is not happy unless his customers are happy!
I will tell him to expect a few more Supras to fill his shop! As for the inspections, I think they are next to nothing and Darren goes through the car with a fine tooth comb and let you know how things are. I will next be in his shop on Monday to take a boo at things and to chat.
Darrens number at Brake Check is 780-437-4391. His address is 6532 104 St NW
Mike Nikolai |
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| Supra_devil |
| i go to souch campus, right by there, i knew that was your car in front of there. |
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| GOT BOOST |
quote:
Originally posted by Supra_devil
i go to souch campus, right by there, i knew that was your car in front of there.
Hi Supra_Devil,
Thanks for spotting my ride!
.....and my car is still sitting there inside the shop. After replacing the ball joint, they realigned the car, took it for a test drive and yet the problem is still thre. :dunno: Darren is confused as he has never seen this before.
Any ideas as to what it could be?
Mike Nikolai |
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| Trowa |
can't help with the problem but i was driving there yesterday and saw ur car sitting outside the shop and it looks good :bthumbup:
Andriy |
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| Supra_devil |
| i'm not familiar with the mk3 suspension but could it possibly be the wheel bearing? if the wheel is wobbly and its not anything else.... |
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| GOT BOOST |
Hi Andriy,
Thanks for the compliments! :D I am looking forward to driving it again!
Hi Supra_Devil,
I did replace the Right rear wheel bearing about 3 weeks ago. I had posted the problem on the supramania forum and some have indicated that the rear "Toe Clips" may be worn? I am unfamiliar with what they are.
Darren at Brake Check it going to be checking to see if the brakes are catching, then the wheel bearings, then the LSD. He wants to get this problem beat. It has perplexed him as he told me in the 27 years of doing this, he has never come across this problem. It is always nice to have a car with a humdinger of a problem. I guess that it may not be an alignment issue completely. I will be happy when it is all done. But on the positive side is that it keeps the milage on the car low and the fuel bills low. :D
Mike Nikolai |
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| GOT BOOST |
Success at last!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D
I received a call from Darrent this morning just before I was about to head out to check on the car. The case has been solved. It turns out that the rear sway bar had become loose but was tight enough to pass the retightening of the alignment components. Darren had gone through each bolt and reefed (sp) on each bolt to tighten it. When it came to the rear sway bar it was able to tighen a few more turns. YAY!!!!!!!
So now I have a new ball joint, and the arse of my car will not swing out when I let the clutch out or let off the gas!
Mike Nikolai |
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| HeavyEarly87T |
Thats great! When buddy mentioned a cracked sub frame, I almost cried, and it's not my car.:p
We will see your car Saturday.
Url |
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| GOT BOOST |
quote:
Originally posted by HeavyEarly87T
Thats great! When buddy mentioned a cracked sub frame, I almost cried, and it's not my car.:p
We will see your car Saturday.
Url
Yeah, that makes two of us. If the subframe was cracked I would start looking for some dynamite! :lol:
The Car will be out on Saturday. :D
Mike Nikolai |
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| CanuckDave |
| Hey great to hear you're back up and running Mike :bthumbup: I'm finally getting my car running tonight, after waiting for my crank case ventilator hose (which cracked horribly) to ship in from BC to my dealership over the weekend. I've just been itching to drive the car again, this weekend seemed like an eternity.. well at least I got some other work done, like finally fixing up my hatch stay. see you on saturday! |
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