corsa d bottom arn snapped

jam_jar123

i have a corsa d which i bought new in 2011. it has a 60 plate. back in 2017 and 2018, the mot cert said 'offside steering arm corroded but servicable'. no note of that in the 2019 mot.  service/mot done by vauxhall approved garage each year as it has the lifetime warranty.
does anyone know how much it'll cost to repair this? i'm annoyed that it was picked up in 2017 and 18 but no mention in 2019 when perhaps it should have been repaired however i'm just glad my kids didn't get killed - they were driving in built up traffic (but still 25mph) when it happened - so like i say thanfull no-one, including pedestrians, got injured.
is this something covered in lifetime warranty or will they say it's wear and tear?

AdrianC

You say bottom arm, then you refer to the steering arm. I'd assume they were different - the bottom arm is the suspension lower arm, the steering arm would be the track rod, track rod end or hub.

Has it failed through corrosion, or through a crack, perhaps impact-related?

But, assuming they are the same, then this arm has been flagged for three years, but you've left it until it fails to get it repaired...?

Absolutely wear and tear for suspension components to fail (albeit not so spectacularly) after ~9.5yrs use.

foxy-stoat

Bottom arms (wishbones) rarely snap unless damaged some how.  Bushes tend to go often.

 Wishbones are around £40 a side and probably the same again to fit, give or take.

jam_jar123

Thanks for the replies. The recovery guy taking car to garage says it's the wishbone. Main concern is that there's a leak underneath. It looks like old engine oil but when it 1st got damaged (at weekend) it looked orange in colour with a slight oily smell - so I thought it was coolant. But coolant level is the same. 

AdrianC

Gearbox oil, probably - when the arm's failed, the driveshaft's popped out.

Goudy

This isn't uncommon. They go with a right bang!
The part is a hangover from the older Corsa C (as is most of the car) and I've seen quite a few  C's and D's go over the years.

The mount for the bush at the front of the wishbone (the horizontal one) is quite thin and weak.
A bit of rust and bumping it up and down kerbs tends to see them snap.
I'm guessing it's the near side, they tend to be the one's to snap first.

With the oil leak it sounds like Adrian is right, the drive shaft has popped out and gear oil has leaked out, gear oil does tend to smell a bit strong, hopefully there's no other damage but you will probably find it's bent or broken the track rod or track rod end and perhaps bent the anti roll bar link.

Should be a simple enough fix, though it might add up if there's other damage.
I would replace the other side's wishbone at the same time, if it's knackered a track rod/track rod end, replace both and get it tracked after, plus the gearbox will need topping up.

I doubt you'll get any joy with the warranty, they'll put it down to wear and tear and if you press them they hint you've abused it on kerbs, but the good thing is it's a Corsa and the parts are pretty cheap and readily available.

jam_jar123

I'm still waiting on what the outcome is.........cars are so complicated. The garage is busy ++ but I'm a a 'frontline nhs worker' and just hope I can get the car up and running. Getting a bit of exercise though.

Mercdriver

Also worth bearing in mind is that although the 'lifetime' warranty doesn't have an expiry date, I remember the small print stating a maximum mileage of 100,000.

AdrianC

Mercdriver said:

Also worth bearing in mind is that although the 'lifetime' warranty doesn't have an expiry date, I remember the small print stating a maximum mileage of 100,000.

100k/1st owner, whichever came first, subject to "free" annual dealer inspection.

Which said everything about what they assumed the "life" of a Vauxhall would be.

jam_jar123

Car has done 69k miles and I'm the first owner

jam_jar123

AdrianC said:

You say bottom arm, then you refer to the steering arm. I'd assume they were different - the bottom arm is the suspension lower arm, the steering arm would be the track rod, track rod end or hub.

Has it failed through corrosion, or through a crack, perhaps impact-related?

But, assuming they are the same, then this arm has been flagged for three years, but you've left it until it fails to get it repaired...?

Absolutely wear and tear for suspension components to fail (albeit not so spectacularly) after ~9.5yrs use.

It was flagged up as an advisory in 2017 and 2018. I'm not car mechanics literate. 
Say you go your optician and they advise you that you have high eye pressure but it's not high enough to cause glaucoma - you'd expect them to do their routine checks and then, once it reached levels where it could potentially damage your eyes, it would be their duty to do something about it. They would be held responsible if you had highish pressure eg, 2017, 2018 but they didn't check it in 2019 and then in 2020 - you were told you had glaucoma. Whereas, had they done the checks in 2019 and put you on eg, medication, which controlled the eye pressure, your eye or eyes would not have been damaged by the effects of glaucoma.
I may be wrong but I still feel they should have checked it in 2019 and I would have gone by their advice - 'it's now time to do this repair'. Instead I'm faced with no car and no idea when they'll be able to look at it, let alone repair it. I know it's just a car but there are other family members (key workers) who rely on me for lifts.