Car Excitement

My brother down San Francisco way had a little excitement with his Nissan minivan:

I was driving down El Camino this afternoon when I heard a thunk, my tires screeched and the van ground to a halt. Investigating, looks like the right lower control arm snapped, pulled the axle out of the transmission, and the wheel was sticking out at 90 degrees. God knows what else is messed up there. Got it towed to a shop. Awaiting estimate.

Should I be prepared to abandon this minivan?

Dan

You might think about how much the van is worth. If the axle isn't damaged, they might be able to just put it back in the tranny, if the tranny isn't damaged. Inner ends of axles on front wheel drive cars ride in slots. Only restraint is on the wheel end, and the axle boot. Axle boots are relatively cheap, but difficult to replace. You made it easier by pulling the axle out (grin).

Usually it isn't the control arms themselves that break, but the pivots at the outside ends: the balls joints. They wear and eventually need to be replaced or things like this happen.

Do you have a mechanic and/or shop you like? With an old vehicle, you need one.

ccp

It looked like the control arm was snapped -- damaged earlier, and finally broke. I'll get some pictures if I can. The axle was pulled out and the big CV joint bearings were rolling around on the pavement....Theretically, the labor shouldn't be too bad -- it's all suspension work on the outside. I have no idea what parts may need to be replaced, possibly the control arm, axle, tie rod, strut.....or what those cost. I'll know in a few hours.

Dan

Nissan Fixed

Attached are pics of the parts. The ball joint is in its own separate assembly, which bolts onto the control arm. I hadn't seen this but maybe it's common practice. Seems smart, makes replacing ball joints easier.

However it was the flange on this bolt-on assembly that failed. See pic where the flange appears to have been previously cracked/compromised; the blue-outlined area is corroded, and the bright area below was the only thing holding it together prior to my breakdown.


$1000 -- approx. $250 for towing, $750 for parts and labor: control arm, ball joint, tie rod end, axle/CV joint, alignment. I was prepared for much worse. The control arm actually looked OK to me, I don't know that it needed replacing.

Dan

Yes, ball joints are typically separate parts from the control arm. Usually they are riveted together. I have never had to replace one. They last a long time. Typically, the mounting holes for the ball joint are arranged around the circumference of the joint, not all cantilevered out on a bracket sticking out of one side of the joint. Bad design, though I suppose if the steel had been thicker it might have been okay. There are bushings on the inside end of the control arm. They are probably worn. It might have been easier to simply replace the entire arm rather than try and replace the bushing. On the other hand, something cracked the ball joint bracket. There could be a crack lurking in the control arm as well. Having it fail in short order after this repair would make the repair shop look incompetent, not to mention costing sometbody another $250 in towing fees. I cannot believe that! $250 for towing? That's a rip. But maybe that's one of the features of living in the People's Republic of CA.

How is the upper control arm and ball joint? How about the other side? Everything else check out okay?

ccp

Towing: tow truck came around 4:00 PM. He asked "where you want it towed?" I said, "You know any good nearby garages?" He balks, says "I don't know anyone who'll take it; whereever you take it, it can't be moved once it's off the towtruck."

I said, "Well, take it to your yard, I'll find a shop and have you tow it there."

I walked home and found a shop down the street. I told them I had a van with a broken control arm, it's immobile, etc. They said, "No problem, we'll put a jack under it if we need to move it, we do this all the time."

Called the tow company and asked them to take it to A-1 next morning. They said "Oh, yeah, we do business with them all the time." So apparently the driver was playing possum to accrue some extra tow and storage fees.

So it was $150 for the first tow, $80 for the 2nd. At least they waived the overnight storage. Shop was good -- clean, pleasant and professional, run by a Hungarian, and the actual came in slightly under the estimate.

Things I could have done to lessen the damage: had a AAA policy for free towing; had a local shop on teh cell phone; perform regular ultasonic inspections of frame and undercarriage to detect imminent failures.

Ultra sonic flaw detectors start at $4500 on ebay. I'm ahead of the game!

Dan

I know I've run into this before somewhere, but I can't remember where, where the people who know where to go can't give you any recommendations because of the appearance of favoritism. I think it must be government offices, but tow trucks are heavily regulated (meaning they have to buy an expensive license) so maybe the same sort of thing applies. A competitor finds out the driver is recommending some shop and complains and now the tow trucks license is in jeopardy. Or maybe the tow truck driver has gotten burned before by a customer. He recommended a shop and the customer wasn't happy, so now it's the drivers fault. Best just to keep mum.

ccp

Update December 2016 replaced missing images.