That Galaxy Wobble

[Peter2904]

Hello everyone, please can someone help......I have a 2003 1.9tdi auto galaxy, I have only owned it ten months, I have two months remaining on the warranty. It has just done 60000. I am getting a wobble from the front of the car when accelerating, it can be from standing, or going up a hill on motorway at 70, the harder the acceleration the worse it is, and it gets worse the longer the journey is.....I also get a vibration through the wheel when I first apply the brakes. It has been to fraud twice, the discs are fine, as are the drop links as they are new, and. They even said the driveshafts were fine although I feel they only gave them a quick tug......

I tow a caravan with the galaxy and the problem is a little more noticeable when it is hitched up and towing. It is driving me nuts. It has just gone through it's mot with no reported problems. The wheels are true, I have had them checked, and the tyres are also okay as they have been checked to see if they were round......they are new........

I am convinced it is the driveshafts, and time is running out to get this done under the warranty if they don't manage to wriggle out of it.........can anyone help, if not the driveshafts what can it be........help.."............

[chrispb123456]

Hi and welcome to the forum

The only sure way of checking the driveshafts is to remove them, it has been known for the grease to dry up causing the joints to partly seize.

[Peter2904]

Everyone feels it when you pull away on an incline, you can see the front shaking........but it does stop the second you are not accelerating.

[cyborg]

hi peter welcome to the forum,

 

Have a look at your engine stabiliser bar

 

 

 

http://thumbs3.ebaystatic.com/m/m3fXGpPDLBJbPqzPoe4nXPg/140.jpg

[Peter2904]

Apparently all the mounts were also checked br fraud, and no faults found........sorry should have mentioned that....

[Bigjeeze]

It might be worth writing to the garage stating that you are not happy with their failure toi find the fault - and that you want an independent workshop to test it - and you want them to understand that the warranty should be honoured post expiry for this particular problem.

[niallsan]

Hi, try this:- Jack car up, remove under-tray, grab driveshaft at the inner cv end and try to move up and down. If there is any movement, I mean ANY, or rattle noise, replace the entire shaft or maybe just the inner cv joint. While shaking the shaft up and down there should be no movement or audible rattle. This drivers side inner cv failed on me last year while pulling a caravan. It was so intermittent that it took 6 months to become a problem i.e. her ladyship wanted it sorted!

[Peter2904]

I have just had a look under the car.....the offside driveshaft at the inner cv joint end has a little movement up and down, the nearside one has a lot more around the inner cv joint, and there seemed to be some grease but not on the driveshaft, it was on the other side of the inner cv boot, closest to the engine.

[Peter2904]

The movement is up and down, ie towards the sky and the floor, not in and out towards the engine, although it does move in and out a little.........can anyone help, have the inner cv joints gone and this is what is causing the wobble, as I have said, the nearside one has a lot more up and down movement than the offside one but they both do have play up and down......

[Peter2904]

Should have also said that the they move up and down without jacking the car up,.......

[Mirez]

The only movement should be in and out - ie, away from the engine toward the wheel and only by about 1/2 cm max.

[Peter2904]

Just been to friends garage, he had a look, and confirmed that the driveshafts have gone, at the inner cv end on both sides. The nearside is worse than the offside........

Why didn't fraud find this problem, are they actually mechanics that they employ..........just hope I can get it sorted now before we go off to France......and I have no idea what it will cost, it should be covered under a hendy ford warranty but I bet they manage to wriggle out of it.........any one got any idea......

[Mirez]

Brace yourself.... just under

[Peter2904]

Yikes, I hope the warranty company don't wriggle out of it then......if they do manage to, is this something a competent diyer could do, I have not replaced a complete shaft before but six months ago I replaced the outer joint on my Volvo s70, in lue of a workshop manual, does anyone have any instructions........

[niallsan]

It's def a job you can do.

You will need a size 12 triple-square(spline) bit. Comes in a kit normally- try ebay or local auto factors. I got mine in an army surplus shop. This is needed to remove the inner cv joint from the final drive.

Allen keys(hex keys). A torque wrench, one that goes up to 100N.

A socket set, I think the hub bolt is a size 30mm? 2 replacement hub bolts. These sometimes come with the driveshafts.

I just replaced the inner cv on both shafts. I got these from Poland- motomax.pl Not the cheapest but they work. I didn't want to replace both shafts. As it turns out its not that difficult!!

The offside(drivers) shaft doesn't need to be removed from the wheel- once the offside cv is unbolted it slipped(was encouraged) between engine and sub frame- giving access for removal.

The nearside(pass) was not so easy- I had to remove the entire driveshaft. The lower ball joint it just held on with 2 hex bolts- with these undone the complete wheel-suspension assembly pulls outwards. The cv bolts should be loosened beforehand. The hub bolt can be tapped loose with the bolt half screwed in to the shaft end.

I think there are better/alternative instructions here someplace- Try the FAQ section on the Technical Main page. Best of luck! N :)

[Sher]

If the offside shaft is gone then at 60,000 miles I would be fairly certain the intermediate shaft connecting to the offside shaft is VERY likely to be badly worn as well.