Another creaky ball joint warning!

[Oblivion]

Firstly - Once you hear that creaking dont put off getting it sorted. If you find the steering becomes stiffer and particularly if the steering wheel doesn't want to straighten itself after a corner - STOP DRIVING IMMEDIATELY!
Just like many others I had that familiar creak from the ball joint and had booked it in for Tuesday to have it replaced. Unfortunately it wasnt soon enough. On Friday I noticed the steering wheel was slightly harder to turn, which I thought may have been due to wider tyres I had just fitted (wrong!) . On Saturday as I took the car out of the garage and started down the driveway I heard this awful 'clunk' and so stopped the car and hopped out to have a look. This is what greeted my eyes....





In the photo below the wheel should be straight!


Why it looks like that


Luckily some friends helped me out and we managed to get it sorted out that day.


Biggest problem was moving it back up the hill on to the flat part. Trolley jack and a bit of a push....




I count myself lucky that all thats needed now is some panel and paint to the guard that was pushed out. I know it could have been a LOT worse if I had not been at home or if it was last weekend while on my 1000km road trip (including some 'spirited driving')!

And here's the culprit.

[bigoxo]

shocking! lucky it happened where it did tho!

[Louis]

was that a replacement part?. That is the balljoint that comes under the mitsubishi recall do you know if the recall work had been done?, you might get a free one from them if it hasn't been done before, good luck

[bradc]

Strangely though, they never seem to happen at speed, only at below 50kmh.

Sorry to hear of the damage, but you're right, it could have been a lot worse!

[Kieran]

Strangely though, they never seem to happen at speed, only at below 50kmh.

I think that's 99% luck though...

[bradc]

Perhaps yes, not a recommended way to look at the problem!

[The Vee]

Not happy with these. To me it's a design flaw. Yours hasn't even seized and snapped the pin, just worn the socket and pulled out. Such a good thing that at least you were at such low speed. I really don't like the way that the weight of the car is suspended by these. Hmmmmm back to thoughts of the USDM design..................

[Davezj]

i am really starting to worry about this issue.

have all these ball joint failures been reported to Mitsubishi.

There have been a few of these ball joints fail now, and it only very good luck that one of these hasn't ended in a death.

makes me think of changing my lower arms just in case, but some of the failures have been after market part that have failed.

Has anyone found a reliable source of these lower arms or is it a case the mitsi ones are the only part we trust. but these still fail as well, if they didn't then there would not be a recall in the first place.

[Davezj]

And here's the culprit.

just out of interest for safety reasons, how many miles has this ball joint done?

is it a mitsi part or after market part?

Has your car had the lower arm recall been done?


this really worries me!

[ANTHONY]

have any of the recall replaced arms fitted by mitsi failed?

[Davezj]

just to let you know,

the wording of the recall says if there is any play or splits in the dust cover then change the arm other wise it is just an inspection.

just because you have had the recall done it does not mean they have replaced the arm. it could still be an old one.

do a translation from the jap recall site to check.

[ANTHONY]

just to let you know,

the wording of the recall says if there is any play or splits in the dust cover then change the arm other wise it is just an inspection.

just because you have had the recall done it does not mean they have replaced the arm. it could still be an old one.

do a translation from the jap recall site to check.

i had my recall done over here and they replaced both arms complete. but are they still liable to go after they have been done

[Davezj]

did they say there was play in both arms or slipt dust covers, when they replaced them. good job you got them done when you did, were they creeking. or did they just replace them anyway.

my car has a recall outstanding on it. but mine show no sign of play or splitting heavey steering, creeking, etc. so i not going to put it in for the recall work untill it is necessary.

I am i right in thinking the replacement part are the same as the old ones just a new part. or has it been redesigned to make it stronger.

i presume lower arms have failed after recall work has been done as people have gone out a bought after market ones as the mitsi one are expensive. and these after market ones have failed also. otherwise why would somebody go out and buy new lower arms when they can get them done under recall.

please correct me if i am wrong about this, as i would not want to put my foot in it (but then why change a habit of a lifetime).

[Louis]

The recall will not last forever!, after a certain number of years they will stop doing the recalls. When I found I had a recall outstanding I called and went to mitsy, the car was booked in and they decided whether the ball joints were damaged. The fault was the split rubber cover allowing dirt into the ball joint causing failure.
The replacement parts they fit are new and are redesigned so they don't fail as the first ones did. (if it is a part that goes faulty after 6 months due to design, they can't replace it with the same part that would go faulty after 6 months!).
If anyone was to have a failure and crash, I don't reckon they would have a case, as mitsy have put out a recall on it, if you know about it and don't get it fixed it would be your fault, as they (mitsy) have done what they can to put the recall out there. (if you use mitsy for servicing they check for outstanding when the car is in).
As for after market, you pay your money and take your chance, (which I do!).
If it needs done, I would get it done!, just my thoughts.

[Oblivion]

just out of interest for safety reasons, how many miles has this ball joint done?

is it a mitsi part or after market part?

Has your car had the lower arm recall been done?

this really worries me!

I've done a lot of kms as I drive it HEAPS , total on the car is around 160k now.
To me it looks like a Mitsi one, I've replaced it with an aftermarket one as Repco was the only thing open on Sat afternoon.
Not sure if the recall had been done already, I'll have to look in to it.

[Eurospec]

I very strongly suspect that the mitsi replacement arms are exactly the same as OE. I have a set here and they look exactly the same!

I've seen that exact failure mode in OE AND in aftermarket arms.

I suspect the issue is a design problem, specifically the poor lubrication of the ball joint. The problem being that to lube the joint youd have to make a hole in the dust cover.

About all i can think of is to use a syringe with a small needle to inject the joint with grease, and then put a little blob of silicoln over the hole made by the needle.

Cheers,

Ben.

[Kieran]

I wonder... on my old Galant, there's grease nipples on the bottom of the lower arm balljoints. Is it possible to drill the bottom of the balljoint casing and tap it for a grease nipple perhaps?

[Oblivion]

Ok I've just checked the recall status thanks to the thread on here and it doesnt look like it was done while the car was in Japan.

[Subaru ETA]

I wonder... on my old Galant, there's grease nipples on the bottom of the lower arm balljoints. Is it possible to drill the bottom of the balljoint casing and tap it for a grease nipple perhaps?

id say yes it poss. it was done to the first of th AU falcons as there balljoints were popping out as they were driven out of the showroom. so we did just that - drill and tapped in a grease nipple

[Davezj]

My jeep grand cherokee had grease nipple all over the place and the hand book said these had to be done every 6 months. as a matter of course.