Axle damage?

invuk

Thanks facade. I put my hand behind the rubber boot and there appears to be a lot of standing oil there. It all kind of makes sense now as I went to a new car park recently and remember going over a particularly bad pot hole. In the future I think I will stick to parking on the road or proper ca parks! I will call my usual mechanic tomorrow and tell him what the problem is. 

I thought the ribbed hose was the brake hose and this is what I originally checked. I will keep local for now until this is fixed. Thanks again.  

MinuteNoodles

Yeah that shock absorber needs changing if its leaking that badly. What will be happening is every time you go over a bump because it's not doing anything your wheel will be bouncing up the road, sometimes not in contact with the ground. If you leave it it'll wear flat spots on the tyre tread so not only will it be a new shock absorber but it'll be a new tyre too. The part should be around £50-£75 for a new one and no more than an hour's labour to fit. I'm of the "it's a false economy to fit a used one". People tend to not change them until they completely fail and by 70,000 miles they're usually quite tired meaning a used one even if not leaking is likely to perform quite poorly.

If you're planning on keeping the car any length of time it may be prudent to just do both at the same time especially if this one that's failed is the drivers side as the passenger side is actually the one that takes the most hammer. Shocks are one of those things that because they fail gradually over a long period of time you don't actually realise how bad they were until you replace them and the car all of a sudden seems to be better over bumps and feel more secure going round corners.

invuk

Thanks for the above advice. I noticed only last year I had the coil spring replaced in the same location and now this. Oh well atleast I now know what the problem is and can arrange to get it done. I always ask for new parts but may only get the O/S done to keep costs down.

red_eye

invuk said:

I will have a look another look at this in the morning. I don't really have anyone to ask to hold the brake pedal down for me so will probably call a mechanic out on Tuesday.

Brake fluid absorbs water so you can give the whole area a good rinse with hot water and wait until completely dry. If it was brake fluid it would clean up, then pump the brake a few times and then hold, the pedal should now be hard start the engine and if it should sink, if petrol engine foot off and back on and hold it should not sink if it does you have a leak (diesel engine cars the peddle will sink)

Check the brake pipes, component will be wet if there is a leak, 
Check the brake fluid bottle first if you have had pads changed as some people see the fluid is below max and top up. As pads wear the pistons will keep the pads close to the disc so the volume of the caliper will increase this will cause the fluid to drop under max. When it’s time to change the pads the pistons are pushed back and all the excess fluid spills over and down the side and onto your paintwork. Brake fluid damages paint.

check your fluid if it look like a nasty number two in a public toilet (Should be clear with a tinge of yellow) or if it’s 2 years old have it changed, water in brake fluid will give you a spongey brake pedal and you won’t know about it because it’ll still feel the same as when you brought it