Scraping / Grinding Noise when driving

anotheruser

Before people just on the brakes, here's the situation:

Ford Fiesta / Diesel / 96,000 miles.

Drove into petrol station and after filling up, the EML was on.
I drove the car for about 10 miles and nothing seemed amiss so thought I'd get one of those code readers to see what it was.

The car was driven about 60 further miles with nothing wrong. Yes, I know I should have had it checked before.
However after being parked for about 24 hours, I go to move it and there's a really awful grinding noise. I pulled forward about 3mph, less than 5 metres before reversing gently to the position it was in.

I can feel a lot of vibration on the clutch pedal.

It sounds like something wants to snap, a fair bit of scraping from the tyre area.

When stationary, the vehicle sounds fine and ticks over as normal.



Here's my thoughts:

Originally I thought the suspension has busted on one side as the wing did look really close to the tyre on one side of the car. However it could just be the way it is on the road.

I am now thinking perhaps it's a clutch problem?
But I was able to select a gear like normal and begin to drive.

I thought maybe the brakes were just stuck on, but the tyres move around. The sound is definitely coming from the front of the car.

So now I am thinking it might be a drive problem.

I haven't tested if I can push the car along without the engine running, or even if the engine is running but not in gear. If the noise still happens with the car "off" then I'm going to struggle to get it to a garage.

Any ideas?
I know it's a stab in the dark and I'll be calling the garage today so will update here.

AdrianC

It does sound as if a front coil spring's broken, and is rubbing against the tyre. If that's the case, then you've got a very, very strong chance of the tyre suddenly failing in short order. Jack it up, get the wheel off, and check, before you move it ANY further.

But that's unrelated to the engine management light, which may or may not be related to the vibration in the clutch pedal.

anotheruser

Just as a quick follow up, AdrainC was right.
So right in fact, before I even did further investigation I found a piece of it on the road under the car.

Thanks

arcon5

When stationary, engage clutch. Does it make the noise when engaging?
Pushing it engine off would rule out suspension. Although if your parked on a slight camber or something then the mismatch would be normal.

You got breakdown cover?