N/s Front Vibration

[demag]

Help!!

The car has developed a vibration very quickly indeed. I first heard it slightly yesterday but tonight it is quite loud.

Rolling in a straight line in neutral 35mph there is a thump thump noise from N/S front area. A regular noise in time with wheel rotation. I can't feel anything at all through the steering which is completely smooth but there is a low frequency vibration throughout the cabin. A carrier bag was rustling with the vibration.
This isn't the usual drop link clatter but something totally different. It reminds me of the thump you get when a wheel is badly out of balance but as I say the steering is faultless.

Not quite sure but it appears to die off when applying the brakes or on steady acceleration. Although at other times it appears to come and go of its own accord.
I haven't driven above 40 because it sounds that bad. Wifey was moaning like hell because it's only just had the pas ram done If it gets much worse I will think twice about driving it because it really does sound like something will break.
I'm going to check the wheel bolts in the morning in case the indie left one loose but I doubt it's that cos he's a good lad.

I would have thought if it was cv or shaft it would have developed more slowly but it came on remarkably quickly. At the moment the problems are coming faster than I can fix them
Wifey is dropping strong hints about changing it but I am quite attached to the car and don't want to think about that yet. What I might do is get a runaround and take the Xm off the road for a while and treat it more like a project.

Any thoughts?

[demag]

Found it!

Front wheel falling off!!

Warning if the indie has your wheels off, check them!

[techmanagain]

A recent thumping when going over uneven road was diagnosed as exhaust on undeside of chassis. On further investigation it turned out to be a badly adjusted tailgate catch, allowing it to move in body slightly. You seemingly cannot trace many noises from first suspicions!

[DerekW]

Hi Dave,

Well done for a quick, accurate diagnosis. Lucky though, I know Cits can run around on three wheels, but it has to be a rear one that's missing.

Derek

[demag]

It's worrying really because I am an engineer and realised something was obviously wrong.

Say that had been a woman's car, would she have known there was a problem? There could have been nasty consequences.

[bigjohnh]

What if that woman was an engineer too?

John

[demag]

Women engineers are usually terrifically brainy so I think she would have diagnosed the fault extremely quickly and ordered her slave to tighten it up!

[rowanmoor]

The dad of one of the chaps I work with used to have a Pug 605 (I think this was back when they were a current model, so worth a fair bit). Took it to the local Pug stealers for a service. They are located on a roundabout over a dual carriageway junction.

He picked up the car. Drove it out of the garage, round the corner of the roundabout and one of his front wheels flew off, onto the road below and left him throwing up sparks on the road above. Lucky he wasn't going fast enough to go over the edge himself.

Not sure what the bill came to or if the stealers footed it.

I used to have a BX which had a locating pin on the hub - with corresponding hole on the wheel. Local garage put the wheel back on without lining the 2 up. Took me a while of driving round with my head out of the window to work out what they had done wrong. Made for an interesting sensation when driving