xantia pulling to one side

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Jaspwieser
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xantia pulling to one side

Post by Jaspwieser »

hi guys, have just collected my xantia from a indy garage after having a ball joint and a wishbone replaced.
on the trip back i found the car pulls to the left under acceleration and when i removed the foot from the pedal it then veres to the right, possibly because im compensating on the steering wheel.
i have never been scared in a car before but i needed a change of clothes once i got home..
any thoughts what it could be :?:

thanks in advance
(2001 hdi estate)

jaspwieser
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Post by citroenxm »

Bottom joint not done up tightly????

, or rear wishbone Bolt not done up tight allowing the wish bone to move which will in turn allow the wheel to move out of track...??

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Post by Citroenmad »

Either way, take it back to the garage who did it.
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Timmo
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Post by Timmo »

I've had similar in the 16v, on cam would change lanes by itself, very concerning! Turned ouy to be wishbone bushes, wearing to the extent that on removal of the bolts the metal sleeve in the bush Fell out both front and rear bushes! :shock:

Id be straight back to the garage! If he fitted used/breakers yard arms then possobly the bushes are shot, or if new bushes then somethings setiously not right there!
Certainly sounds like a bush area issue!
After All, I am the Cornish one!

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falling-out-with-my-car
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Post by falling-out-with-my-car »

the bushes are seriously difficult to replace without the use of a press I am wondering if they just re bushed it instead of replacing the wishbone arm for cheap and filed out the wishbone to get the bushes in or applied heat to the wishbone to get new bushes in making them loose when applied to a hot metal surface, they may well have forgotten to put the steel sleeve in the middle of the bushes or one has fallen out, they might have removed these trying to collapse the bushes to get them into the wishbone, if so it will cause the pulling to one side, a new wishbone comes with the bushes already fitted, have a look underneath and see if the wishbone is nice an shiny or dirty as hell use a torch and a mirror to inspect it, better still take the wheel off to let some light in and have a look. don't get underneath without using axle stands & don't leave it to long for rust to set in before you check it out.

I had a front wishbone replaced last year on my S2 Xantia it cost £90 for the part complete with bushes, I wonder what you paid for yours? if the bottom ball joint is loose you should hear a clunk when you go over a bump in the road, unusual as they have locking nuts on them, although it is possible that the lock nut was so0 tight that the threaded end of the new ball joint just kept spinning and spinning, if you put a jack under the wishbone when this happens you can usually lock the threaded end of the ball joint and the lock nut will tighten easily.

it is also possible that a slightly dippy mechanic undid a steering rack end thinking he knew what he was doing and didn't mark its position before he put it back on again leaving a wheel slightly toe out.

it could be that your tire is worn badly because the old wishbone was going and now it is being forced to run true it might be causing the pulling but probably not quite as aggressive as you are saying.

you could check to see if they have done the wheel bolts up tight.

My best guess is that if they did the job on a hoist and not rising ramps the wishbone is hard to lift up and locate the new bottom ball joint if this job is done on the ground you can use a jack to lift the wishbone up to locate the threaded end of the ball joint, I reckon they undid the steering rack end ball joints hoping it would give them more side ways movement on the suspension strut to line up the ball joint bolt, not marking its position properly would seriously make the wheel toe in /toe out which will cause this pulling.


regards Nigel.
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Post by pete@co.uk »

hi jaspwieser

i would seriously take the car back to the garage you paid good money to have this job done properly just don't beat around the bush take it back if it was me i would be straight back there

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Post by falling-out-with-my-car »

yep Pete is correct mate, the trouble is finding faults is a process of elimination checking one thing at a time Take it back to the Garage that did the job asap.

Nigel.
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