Advice prior to the Service Department

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Tue 20 Jan 2004 15:25
Advice prior to the Service Department - hootie
Could someone give me a couple of pointers please.

Car in question R reg Honda CRV auto. Milleage just under 45,000.

Terrain covered - main roads, but also two daily 11 mile round trips in narrow, hilly and winding lanes - often involving pulling on to the grass verges and braking in the face of oncoming traffic around blind bends (not travelling fast obviously)

I've noticed an occasional knock on the nearside front coming from underneath - a sort of cross between a knock and a rattle. Doesn't last long and is intermittent. Naturally never happens when anyone else is in the car except me and my daughter.

Could this be a problem with a shock absorber?

Secondly, just lately have noticed an unsettling shuddering on occasion when braking harder than I normally need to in ordinary driving on main roads.
At first I thought it was abs kicking in? but I need to get it checked out, as it feels a bit alarming when it happens.

As you can tell, I'm not very technical, so... do those explanations make any sense?

Any helpful comments would be appreciated before I go to the garage on Thursday morning.

Thankyou.

(PS I promise I'm not an erratic kind of driver, and the car is regularly serviced and maintained at a local garage as I've given up on the main dealer a couple of years ago. Tyres are also new at rear and newish at front.)
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Tue 20 Jan 2004 18:01
Advice prior to the Service Department - David_S
Hootie,
I am not familiar with the set up on your car however the
symptoms are exactly as I had on a Fiat Uno some time ago.

I went to the expense of shocks and steering rack before discovering it was the ball joint on the wishbone that was worn.
Replaced wishbone complete with balljoint and problem went away.

This can also be felt when braking as the play in the balljoint causes the hub to judder with respect to the wishbone.

Good Luck

David
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Wed 21 Jan 2004 09:56
Advice prior to the Service Department - Claude
Shuddering when braking could be caused by a warped brake disc, worn wheel bearing or suspension component. If you have been mounting the verge on a regular basis I woud look for something on that side.
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Thu 22 Jan 2004 16:43
Advice prior to the Service Department - hootie
Thankyou both for your replies.

I went and got the car checked out (unfortunately couldn't get back online before I went) the garage say everything is ok, and nothing's showing signs of undue wear. They looked at it as if for an MOT and also took it on a run down the road (albeit not the road I use where the problems seem to occur)

However, they also said pop back if I get worried again, or notice a marked increase - so I've made a note of your comments.

I'm the kind of person who likes a Stitch in Time, so at least I'm bearing it in mind incase.

Once again, thanks.
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Sat 24 Jan 2004 19:21
Advice prior to the Service Department - DL
It'll be a worn anti roll bar link - I changed one on a '97 CRV a few months back for the exact same symptom.

Hope this helps.
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