Pics of replacing broken spring on a Mondeo

[michelinman]

Hi there - any advice would be appreciated. Got into my Mondeo this morning after it had been sitting for a couple of weeks and heard a loud bang as I sat down into it. Thought it might have been the discs breaking their seal onto the pads. But as I was driving it there was a scraping noise when I turn the wheel left. So got under the arches and saw this!?!?

This is what the other side looks like:

I reckon that its a broken spring, but just wanted a second opinion from RMS before I start taking the strut out of the car. Must go and buy those new spring compressors I keep promising myself!!!

Cheers guys!

 

[pimpslap]

If its a new shape Mondeo its very common for them to break Springs.

You need to grind the spring in half to get room to remove it.

 

[Lee]

broken spring

As said above this is quite common in the new shape mondeo ie 00/01 onwards. The same thing happened my mothers car, but it i think it was due to hitting a bump to hard. It resulted in an awful knocking noise in this case. So yea tis probably a broken spring

 

[michelinman]

Thanks guys! Yeah she is an '01 TDI (new shape) - another Fix Or Repair Daily to add to the list then!!! Good to know that it is common on these cars - I thought that maybe I'd put on too much xmas weight lol!!

 

[Rob]

Common enough problem, I know someone else who had the same problem. Looks like the bottom coil has broken half way around

 

[pimpslap]

New spring is about £30 from Ford iirc

 

[michelinman]

New spring is about £30 from Ford iirc

Good man! Not too sore on the 'ol beer tokens then!

 

[michelinman]

Appreciate all the replies! I'm amazed how many others have seen this on these cars!! I've just done the bushes in the rear beam - managed to get a contact in Knockdene to sell me an exchange unit with the new bushes fitted already - so was a real easy bolt out and in job.

It does look like the bottom coil has broke - so I'll be taking my time getting the strut out as I don't want the spring to go awol! Can't see there being enough room to get a compressor in before I remove the strut - but I'll post up some WIP pics next weekend for ye's!!

Thanks again, your replies are much appreciated!!

 

[Lyons]

Lol, it always was, and will be Knockdene! None of this Lindsays caper .

 

[Rob]

Heard rear bushes are another common problem alright!

 

[m00k]

if ur lookin a new spring should be colours painted on the old one to reference off cos there's quite a few different ratings on em, either that or have ur chassis no to hand

 

[michelinman]

Lol, it always was, and will be Knockdene! None of this Lindsays caper .

LOL Yeah man

 

[michelinman]

Heard rear bushes are another common problem alright!

Ya man! Handling is fantastic, but you pay for it in maintenance! Spose it doesn't help that I drive my mondeo like it was a kart!!

 

[michelinman]

if ur lookin a new spring should be colours painted on the old one to reference off cos there's quite a few different ratings on em, either that or have ur chassis no to hand

Thanks mate! Will take the old one with me and the chassis no.! Back to good 'ol Knockdene again!

 

[Bibby]

if your replacing a spring, always replace the other side also! always replace suspension items in pairs! if you have had an accident and only 1 has been replaced, well if the insurance accessor see's this, 99% of the time they will tell you hard chese and leave you to pay for it your self!

 

[michelinman]

if your replacing a spring, always replace the other side also! always replace suspension items in pairs! if you have had an accident and only 1 has been replaced, well if the insurance accessor see's this, 99% of the time they will tell you hard chese and leave you to pay for it your self!

Cheers Bibby - I was afraid of that TBH. Makes sense anyway - the other side is as likely to break if this is a common Mondeo issue. I was just lucky it happened on my drive and not midway through a chicane!!

 

[michelinman]

So got around to fixing this last weekend and here's some photos of how I did it...

Wheel off! (please excuse the filth, this car is my workhorse!)

Strut top cover removed. Also removed brake fluid reservoir cap, so that when I press the caliper in, the master cylinder doesn't turn inside out!

Caliper off (2 bolts) and hung out of the way to stop flexible hose damage

Disconnected brake hose, anti roll bar mount and abs sensor from strut/hub

Loosened cv shaft nut

Disconnect track rod end from hub

After splintting bottom ball joint I carefully pulled out the cv and driveshaft and removed the strut top nuts

Suspension assembly out!

mmm, broken spring anyone?!?!?!

Had to grind the old spring to get it out!

Compressing and fitting the new spring

Noticed a hole starting to form in the cv boot - so I replaced it too!! Marked the position of the cv on the drive shaft before removal.

Scooped out old cv grease before packing with fresh stuff

Boot slid on and cv refitted

Secured on with industrial cable ties (I don't like the metal bands you normally get with boot)

Driveshaft slid back into hub, strut top bolts aligned, bottom ball joint reseated (sorry couldn't take photos and fit this all at the same time!!!)

New spring starting compressed in place (looks to be aligned and seated fine)

Track rod end, anti roll bar, flex hose, caliper and abs sensor all refitted to hub

Bottom ball joint reseated and pinch bolt nipped up

Assmebly complete - time to double-check all is tight and re-fitted correctly

Wheel on

Job Done! Think I'm gonna have to do the discs soon, but I also have to replace the other spring as preventative maintenance so will do brakes at the same time too!

 

[Cormac]

a job welldone..

i have one to do this weekend.. i dnt see the need to remove the whole strut assembly tho..theres a bolt have way down that allows you to seperate the top strut from the hub.. think ill try that.. ford springs must be quite weak cause i replaced a back spring on the same car no more than a month ago...

 

[Antoin]

a job welldone..

i have one to do this weekend.. i dnt see the need to remove the whole strut assembly tho..theres a bolt have way down that allows you to seperate the top strut from the hub.. think ill try that.. ford springs must be quite weak cause i replaced a back spring on the same car no more than a month ago...

I was wondering that too if you just undo where the shock sits in the hub you dont have to undo track rods or bottom ball joint or caliper or go near the cv joint...usually a bugger to get off though!

 

[michelinman]

a job welldone..

i have one to do this weekend.. i dnt see the need to remove the whole strut assembly tho..theres a bolt have way down that allows you to seperate the top strut from the hub.. think ill try that.. ford springs must be quite weak cause i replaced a back spring on the same car no more than a month ago...

Cheers Cormac. I thought that too mate - until I tried to take the strut out of the hub carrier - f@cking impossible!!!!!!! There's just not enough travel in the bottom arm to pull the hub down far enough out of the bottom of the strut. Makes sense if you think that if the bolt ever came loose and the car was in the air on full suspension travel, you wouldn't want the strut to come out.

Fraid the only way lad is to take the whole thing out. Of course if you can manage to do it - take some pics please!!!

 

[michelinman]

I was wondering that too if you just undo where the shock sits in the hub you dont have to undo track rods or bottom ball joint or caliper or go near the cv joint...usually a bugger to get off though!

See previous post. Thought it could be a easy job too until I tried it. TBH the caliper, ball joint and cv were pi$$ easy - I only had a bit of bother getting the bottom arm ball joint out - but a ball joint seperator and a crow bar sorted that!

 

[Antoin]

See previous post. Thought it could be a easy job too until I tried it. TBH the caliper, ball joint and cv were pi$$ easy - I only had a bit of bother getting the bottom arm ball joint out - but a ball joint seperator and a crow bar sorted that!

Fair enough, my da just got one of these so its helpful to know...

 

[-Pete-]

that type of failure on that spring is nuts! its completely sheared off in a downward direction!!! it clearly broke when the spring compressed itself!! the metal they use for the springs must be ****e for that type of failure to happen. thats shocking seeing that picture!

 

[Bibby]

it's alot easier to remove the whole hub assembly, than to remove the one bolt and take the shock out!!!
for one reason, yes you can tap on the hub with a hammer to get the hub down, but getting it back on is a different story as the bottom arm, cv joint etc etc is all in your way and quite hard on a trolley jack to get a swing at to tap back up in!

 

[Graham2]

Hit it a thump with a big hammer to get it out and use a big bar to lever the whole assembly down to fit the strut again, thats what I did with the Bora.