Tempermental

Don't let this happen to you








--I am so lucky this happened on a side street @ 30 mph and not on the highway with my wife and 14 yr son scrunched in the back seat

The car is now at its first shop in my tenure - they'll replace the balljoints
any hints or WYAIT ?

mark kibort

WOW, that is nasty. To think.............

While your in there? cant really think of anything. everything around that connection is pretty tough, except for the... well.... you know. Glad you got out of that one with only a scratch!

cali4sun

'89 S4 GP White/Black
'76 912E Silver/Black sunroof

James Bailey

It was loose long before the ball popped out of the socket and a bit of prying aound and compressing the joint would have made that clear before it failed. Note that you will need the steel carrier joints and two eccentrics but can reuse the bracket / studs and two of you existing eccentric adjusters.

dr bob

Have them check the tie rods for wear, the rack boots for tears, and replace the upper balljoint boot. The strain put on the upper balljoint is tremendous as the lower fails. Do it all at once, get's it all tight again, and follow with a good alignment. If the shocks are more than 75K old, it's likely time for them too.

You asked...

bronto

Jim, you say there's warning when they are going bad?

I replaced my steering rack and had an alignment about a year ago, and I have a good mechanic. If there are warning signs I would think he would have mentioned something. I am planning on doing this next time I'm in there. Especially with our roads here getting as bad as they are.

James Bailey

And check steering rack for leaks replace as needed but once that is out the motor mounts can be seen and if there are all mushy oil soaked .....course with the motor lifted up and mounts out the oil pan gasket that leaked ruining the mounts is right there... Listen to dr Bob he knows !

928nut

I feel your pain, I can relate. Happened to me 4-5 years ago.

Luckily, most of these seem to happen at low speed turns. Mine popped pulling out of a parking spot. Make sure you get the new "steel" version put in.

Jan

James Bailey

It is not a breaking but a wear issue and they get quite loose before they fail. If the boot gets torn and sand/grit gets in it wears more quickly. Also usually happens when you turn the wheel sharply like pulling into a parking spot doing a tight U turn and the wheel just flops over after the ball pops out. The 79 my wife drove for years had alloy carriers I simply checked compressed them from time to time...as long as they were tight I saw little danger. Porsche never recalled them simply made a running change and superceded the parts.

Nicole

Scary! I'm glad you didn't get hurt.

Landseer

Does this technical bulletin apply? Might help the shop guys if they don't have it.

Stromius

Did the newer S, S4, GT, GTS models have the same issue or were the lower ball jointed updated for subsequent years?

Chuck Schreiber

Welcome to the club!:
Mine happened on a nice summer day (about 106 degrees)
Heading to a photo shoot with Sterling and Jim M here in DFW Aug 99.

Mine happened on a low speed turn into the parking lot. It went completely horizontal under the car and dragged the wheel for a good long way.

The guy behind me pulled up along side me and said,
"Dude, you do not want to get out and look at it!!!"

I can laugh at it now, but it sucked when it happened. I've got pics but they are old school in a scrap book.

Should be on the list for EVERY early model (first thing!!) before the changover to steel!!

mark kibort

Your ball joint warning light must not have been working.

davek9

Please do not think that a steel joint won't fail this way too, a badly warn Steel joint will do the same thing. It is just that the Aluminum ones were / are less forgiving to neglect.