Sigh. Same as ever with a used car, you end up spending time fixing all the bodges the previous owner (or their "specialist") has left you with.
I had the front of the car up in the air yesterday to give the brakes a once-over and purely by accident I stuck my finger up the tube that one of the front subframe bolts sits in and the the bolt wobbled about
I tried tightening it but it just span round and round. Same thing when I tried to remove it. I loosened all the other subframe bolts to give some wriggle room and with a bit of encouragement it dropped out. The first ¼" of the thread was completely mashed
Judging by the oxidation on the bolt it's been like that for a
long time. Someone must have cross-threaded it and then just left it in the hope that nobody would notice.
It'll be no problem to buy a new bolt but the thread in the chassis is damaged too - I tried installing the bolt from the other side to check, and it wouldn't go. The design of the subframe means I can't easily get a tap in there to clean out the thread, so my main question here is: how far can I drop the subframe without running into other problems ? Seeing as the engine is attached to it I'm guessing "not much"
Also, looking on the ETK
HERE, I don't seem to have item 3, "reinforcement plate", or even anywhere obvious that it would attach to. Has anyone got a photo of the underside of an E53 (2001, 4.4i) that shows what's supposed to be there ? I have no undershield or anything below the engine.
FWIW I also discovered that the driver's side CV boot is split, and the passenger side one has been replaced, but is held on with zip ties instead of the correct metal clamps. More jobs on the list...
Steve.
04-02-2011, 02:14 PM
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