Hi all, just wondering if you can give me some suggestions to help fix my car? i know the car has had a hit up the front and the back. i drove to Qld for a holiday where Pete did me a big favour and checked over the car for me all for free!! LEGEND! (Hi Pete, I drive the yellow TT) If i hadn't got it up on the hoist, i surly would have chashed. either on the way home or some time later around home. It had a torn rear controle arm. continuing to tear! i owe you a car Pete :biggrin: the car always kicked out a bit in the back end going over bumps, But on my way home after getting the controle arm fixed, just coming about 40KMs from home, it started raining and the car wandered about 1 whole lane sideways!!!! i could barely controle it! had to slow down pretty quick to under60KMs to be able to controle it. some how avoided a big accident! lucky noone was beside me! there was a car that had to brake heavily in the lane i drifted into. Didn't drive it for about a month or 2. Now i do and i now something is stil wrong. still handles like crap in wet and still kicks out in dry. i still need to get a wheel alignment. had no money due to other expenses. but now i really want to enjoy her again. i even found out she is running saefty boost (6PSI) so i haven't even begun to enjoy her! One of the rear wheels is buckled. Could this be it? I'm going to test with a friends wheels that i know are good. (Will commodore wheels fit)
Seriously dude, please do not drive your car unless its directly to a workshop or suspension place to find out why it is stepping out on you. It could be any number of issues as to why . Get it looked at asap and do not drive and place yourself and others at risk.
HICAS maybe If im reading your post right your back end is wandering. That could be a problem with the rear wheel steering, which is active over 70kmph I think. It steers out of phase then in phase with the front wheels. From what ive seen on this forum a common trouble is aftermarket steering wheels, the HICAS steering wheel sensor is in the steering column somewhere and needs to be setup right. One option is to buy a hicas locking bar to deactivate the system. Thats on my to-do list cause I found if your wheels slide a bit when accelerating around bends things get a bit weird! There is a hicas diagnostic you can do, its explained somewhere in the tec section.
I got booked for parking in a No Standing area once, my bloody HICAS caused it (by steering me into some place I didn't want to park). Let's not go down this rubbish strewn path AGAIN. BTW, what the Hell is a "torn control arm" and what causes it to continue to tear?:bash:
just a wild guess but given the question not unreasonable? 1)someone was under the car checking it, so probly nothing mechanical 2)back stepped out 3)when under 60kmph he was ok. 4)raining; a good chance for electrical trouble.
I had a case of the HICAS malfunctioning where the wheels turned to one direction and stayed like so for quite a while, so I was literally going sideways down the road. Then, they either decided to return to the middle suddenly, or went to the other side, because the back end kicked what felt like a half metre or more. Was scary at freeway speeds to say the least. Anyways, I'm guessing your problem is the same as mine was. Faulty HICAS. Run datascan/consult or similar, that allows you to get a speed reading. Drive it (slowly is fine considering the danger of having a car that suddenly kicks sideways). Find out if the ecu is actually getting a proper signal. And yes, the speedometer can get a proper reading whilst the ECU doesn't. You could also try a manual HICAS diagnostic (here), but I've never been able to get one to work, so maybe you could find someone local with conzult tuner (is there any other software that does HICAS diagnostic?) to be able to run it for you. If this doesn't make sense, apologies, can't think straight at the moment, no sleep.
Possible Cause Under your car's rear end & as part of your suspension, there is an arm that attaches to the Sub-Frame. This arm has a rubber bushed rod that then attaches to your Hicas. If this bush has worn or has torn away from the rod, then this will cause your car to wander in the rear end. I'm not sure what the actual name of the part is, but I sure as hell know what the symptoms are, cause it happened to my Zed. Another thing that will cause this is your tyres if they are worn to low & have little tread left to grip the road. When checking your tyres, be sure to look over the entire contact area, as some have way to much camber & appear OK when looking only at the outside edge. Hope this gives you another alternative to the cause of your problems. Cheers Kerry :zlove:
yep I remember! just cant remember your name what everyone has suggested above but IMO specifically: 1. check for faulty HICAS operation 2. if you have a buckled wheel THATS a problem 3. the HICAS steering arms might have excessive play and need replacement see you next time you're up QLD way
Rear subframe bushes maybe? Mine were getting worn and was causing the rear to feel very "Drifty" in a sence that going in a straight line the rear was following every bump in the road..... MAybe yours are totally gone and buggered?!
wheels that fit BA Falcon wheels fit and even have the correct offset for the standard Zed. Hope this helps
I would go with what Fleet has said but would point more towards faulty HICAS from what you have said. Its easy to check for worn parts but you will need to remove the hicas arm from the outer ball joint to check these properly (they push in and out as well as feel floppy). If the outer joints are fubar then the car will step out quickly rather than steer in the wrong direction, as the wheel wobbles when hitting bumps. Good luck and take it easy
ok. i just got home form a BIG night out. LOL just came on to see any responses. 12!!! thanks very much for your time guys. Will have a full reply around lunch time. but i know shocks are good. tires. gone theough a set with car running like it has been changes nothing. perhaps is a little better to controle with better tires. Controle arm was torn due to accident which resulted (most likely) in buckled tire. Speedo does not work in car. so that is another issue i forgot to mention. probable an important one. as i said. will reply more a little later. need sleep now. B.I.G.THANKS again guys. your advise is much welcome. :thumbup: Dane
I suggest that you take your car to Pedders for the $14 - 28 point suspension safety check. http://www.pedders.com.au/products/49
I agree with Ports A very good Pedders shop is located at: 9 James Ruse Drive, GRANVILLE. Phone: 9897 2122 Very experienced with ZEDS, ask for the Manager, Con.N.Rouggos. He is very helpful & all others that have been reccommended to him in the past are very happy with his work & prices. :thumbup: Cheers Kerry :zlove:
i'll take it to pedders when i can dam well bleed the clutch lines. cant drive it at the moment. tried the other day, but no success. i'v read so many explinations on howto lately, so i will give it another go soon. i want to get a new master and slave cyl. Dane
I'll throw something else into the pot. When I had my last rear tyre change, the car started wandering all over the road, particularly on un-even surfaces or un-even camber even (like when you change lanes the camber of the road may change between lanes). Tyres don't necessarily run true especially the cheaper ones (Federal in my case). When I bought the Mickey Thompsons from Caz1, and had them on the car for a few days before the last drag night, the problem disappeared, so this rules out every cause other than the tyres. When I put the Federals back on, I swapped them over L > R and R > L. The problem has not returned. Might be worth trying as it is FREE.
yeh. that what i'd like to do. i want to put some other wheels that aren't buckled with good tires, get a wheel alignment, have the new working dash in that i got the other day, and see what happens. Hopefully that should fix the problem.
