Honda Civic 2001-2005 1.4 Petrol - HELP! Problems after suspension work

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Fri 24 Jul 2015 12:29
Honda Civic 2001-2005 1.4 Petrol - HELP! Problems after suspension work - dean_wales

Hi guys,

Before anyone says I should have got this done at the garage please bear in mind that I have a young family, we are broke and can barely afford to run the car anyway. So I have to do these things myself as cheaply as possible!

My 2002 1.4 Honda Civic failed the MOT on front tyres, shocks, track rod ends and anti-roll bar drop links. The car has been super reliable apart from the front suspension so I decided to keep her going.

I picked up all the bits at my local parts place and managed to change them all OK over two evenings. I did realise at the end that I had messed up the tracking when tightening the locking nut in the dark as I hadn't used a spanner to stop the track rod itself from turning. But seeing as this needed redoing at the garage anyway I wasn't too bothered as I needed to just limp down to the garage.

The problem is that the car is undriveable due to a really serious knocking sound that clunks with each rotation of the wheel. I think that when I removed the strut I must have let the hub hang forwards and it has disengaged/extended the drive shaft. Some guy mentioned the risk of this happening in a YouTube video but I forgot at the time as there is no mention of this being a problem in the Haynes manual.

There is nothing in the drive shaft section of the manual about how to sort this out. I'm hoping I dont need to take the bloomin hub and everything off :-(

Do you think that is what is wrong? How can I fix it?

We were meant to be going on holiday on Monday!

Please help, thanks,

Dean.

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Sun 26 Jul 2015 13:15
Honda Civic 2001-2005 1.4 Petrol - HELP! Problems after suspension work - Big John

Clearly something not gone back together correctly. I'd strip it back down to check and investigate. At the end of the day this is a safety thing - you don't want to take your family on holiday in a death trap! With each of the front wheels jacked up remove wheel and spin to investigate noise - DONT get under the car when just on a jack though!

It's usually easier to strip down a second time anyway as the bolts wont be siezed and you have had a practice run! Obviously pay attention to the feel of the driveshaft.

P.S. If you do strip down the driveshafts you may as well change the CV boots (easy and cheap to change when in bits - not easy when on the car) and ensure the joint is well greased. These are a common MOT failure on an older car. Inner joint grease can dry up in time especially when above the exhaust (outers probably have already been replaced)

Edited by Big John on 26/07/2015 at 13:19

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