Is car terminal?

runsgrateasanut · August 2, 2020

Lucky to be alive. Car rear hub strut arm failed at 20mph a mile from our place in France. Parked it 2 days back and 2nd time removing wheel found trailing arm to right of hub. Fatal? Any views? Nearby Garage we would have passed as on way to tip. Lovely English guy stopped and took our three large bags of rubbish to the tip and drove us back home in his van. My neighbour says garage is good and they speak English. Fear car is w/off???

royoftherovers · August 2, 2020

39 minutes ago, runsgrateasanut said:

Lucky to be alive. Car rear hub strut arm failed at 20mph a mile from our place in France. Parked it 2 days back and 2nd time removing wheel found trailing arm to right of hub. Fatal? Any views? Nearby Garage we would have passed as on way to tip. Lovely English guy stopped and took our three large bags of rubbish to the tip and drove us back home in his van. My neighbour says garage is good and they speak English. Fear car is w/off???

Gosh Stuart,so sorry to read that and glad that you have escaped unscathed.

A similar thing happened to us 7 years ago in Spain, when we were overtaken by one of our rear wheels !

I hope to learn that the car is salvageable and hope that you have effected some kind of insurance cover.

Best wishes.I`d hit the Claret if it were me !!

The-Acre · August 2, 2020

Wow, be thankful you weren't on a motorway!

runsgrateasanut · August 2, 2020

Thanks john, hoping that the spar (strut) which is designed to hold the wheel in true line, can be welded. It seems the bar or pis it pipe(?) has broken away at the Bush point. May not be possible without melting the Bush if done in situ, is my thinking. You were lucky to tell the tale.

runsgrateasanut · August 4, 2020

LPD earliest supply of part Tie Rod/Strut rod part 48780-50010 is September. Can't find item on Rock as they will ship direct to France. Neighbour had a look and said part totally gone at hub end so weld not an option. Looking like carwill have to be garaged in France until. How to get home? Ryanair most prob. As can't stay here too long, ,meds running out. Doh!

Malc · August 6, 2020

so sorry to hear your terrible news

Local mechanics can often be " inventive " and hopefully they will get you safely up and running again

Malc

royoftherovers · August 6, 2020

On 8/4/2020 at 1:40 PM, runsgrateasanut said:

LPD earliest supply of part Tie Rod/Strut rod part 48780-50010 is September. Can't find item on Rock as they will ship direct to France. Neighbour had a look and said part totally gone at hub end so weld not an option. Looking like carwill have to be garaged in France until. How to get home? Ryanair most prob. As can't stay here too long, ,meds running out. Doh!

Sorry to read that Stu. Keep copious notes of events, timings and dates etc, lodge a copy with the local Police or Town Hall before you come home.

This might help you avoid possible problems when you return next year for the car and the UK/French relationship has changed.

Good luck.

runsgrateasanut · August 9, 2020

Back home - Car less. Won't bore everyone with the saga but some friends might not escape!

Thanks all for concern.

What to get as a temporary?

The-Acre · August 9, 2020

8 minutes ago, runsgrateasanut said:

Back home - Car less. Won't bore everyone with the saga but some friends might not escape!

Thanks all for concern.

What to get as a temporary?

Something with air con!

Malc · August 10, 2020

I'm devastated for you

maybe a protem Ls400 that's very cheap with a fresh or long MOT

Can you tell me/us if the failure was anything foretold in an MOT Advisory ?

I'm very concerned for us with aged cars and maybe I should create a fresh post to highlight events that could occur without MOT Advisories such as:

pas pipe at front of radiator just ' going '

alternator just going pop

you'rs too

issues that cannot be foretold but could be quite catastrophic such as your's

Malc

runsgrateasanut · August 10, 2020

Yes I'm bit miffed that it was not spotted at MOT time just over a year ago, or the previous year. I always act to replace anything needing it, but don't live with my face under the Car. Don't mind doing repairs up top but not keen to get down and dirty as Eric the Car guy would say.

Better photo to show what the part is. I suspect its a hollow tube. Japan on Obon Holiday so unable to put in order for parts until the 17th. Nice idea the Japanese, a holiday to remember the Ancestors. All we see are stupid marches and poor carnivals in this Country.

runsgrateasanut · August 10, 2020

Just a little piece of extra info. Checking my cars history the two rear Strut bars Bushes were a fail fault in 2013. I suspect the Bushes were replaced but not the Struts as the Bushes look passable. I bought the Car in April 2014. No advisory since. Will replace all parts both sides, covid permitting a return to France in September/October.

Check your struts guys. Car was moveable but reckon it threw the steering when going very slowly (fortunately)

Razor61 · August 11, 2020

Wow....................... just read this, that is a major failure and a real shame it's happened. Fortunate you weren't batting along at a higher speed, bad enough issue but could have been worse.

Looks like it failed at the weld between the strut bar itself and the 'U' bracket which attaches to the hub/bush, probably due to the old enemy..........rust or maybe its been weakened in the past somehow and rust has then done its work. I wouldn't expect it to be picked up on an MOT check though unless it was ready to break and the tester detected this when checking for play in the bush using a prybar. Corrosion is normally flagged up but you don't really know how bad it is unless you do 'get down and dirty' and start removing the rust/corrosion to see what metal is left. I checked all the rear end when I first bought my car as it looked in pretty poor shape and removed as much rust as possible and treated it as best I could. It's pretty decent now but I did remove a lot of flaking rust especially on the rear subframe.

I'll be checking the rear strut bars (and other arms) again for any signs of cracking/movement at the weld with a long prybar to make sure. If I'm in any doubt about them I have 2 x new Lexus ones ready to fit which arrived today from Amayama along with a lot of other suspension bits ready for a rear suspension rebuild.

runsgrateasanut · August 12, 2020

Hi Paul, Did you get the Bushes and the Bolts? Be interested to know what the part numbers are for those as only show a single first code on the exploding diagram I've seen. Let me know how difficult you find the job. Thanks Stuart

Razor61 · August 12, 2020

Hi Stuart, I didn't get the bushes and bolts but I did get the nuts in case I have to cut through them to get them off. They are meaty bolts and I normally just clean them up, apply some loctite if needed and re use them if they are in good shape. I don't think replacing the rear Strut arms will be difficult, getting the bolts out will be the difficult bit if anything, and I will let you know how I get on when I do them. One of the rear strut bushes is worn on mine, the one in the hub assy, so I may wait until I do the whole rear end rebuild.

For my 96 Mk3 LS400 the Strut Bushes (the bush in the strut arm itself) are not available separately from Lexus so it's a complete Strut arm assy, £42 from Amayama. For your car they are available separately. The bushes at the other end that are part of the rear hub assembly are not available separately from Lexus either so it's a new complete hub assembly, £160 each from Amayama and I think this applies to your 93 LS400 as well, aftermarket bushes are available of course. I have new genuine Lexus rear hub assemblies as well, long story but I bought them last year from eBay along with genuine Lexus rear UCA's, wheel bearings and handbrake cables as a job lot. Just to give you an idea of the cost to replace the rear hub assy bush for the strut arm from Lexus which means replacing the complete hub and probably the wheel bearing........................£1600😱

The part numbers I've found for the bolts for your car are listed as different part numbers, 90105-14065 - body end and 90119-14035 - carrier/hub assembly end, that is taken from the site below. Just put your VIN in and away you go or choose it manually.

https://lexus-europe.epc-data.com/ls400/

Malc · August 18, 2020

Stuart ........................... how has this all panned out now with the Quarantine situation too ?

Malc

runsgrateasanut · August 18, 2020

Hi Malc, Good Question. Got parts on Order. OEM from Amayana and possible OEM (or copy) from another source. Expect to receive in a weeks time, I imagine. Wheel-less, I've bought a Toyota Corolla T Spirit 2003 to be able to ferry Wife, Son and Daughter to France when permitted, and will do the job and get the Lexus back, the Daughter returning with the Corolla. Thats the fiendish plan!

The Wallet is a lot lighter after arranging Tax, Insurance, new Tyres, Water pump and Serpentine belt. Just got to use my left leg - Got a bit out of the habit - Oh well.

Malc · August 19, 2020

Best wishes with it all

keep us posted

Malc

Malc · September 21, 2020

On 8/4/2020 at 1:40 PM, runsgrateasanut said:

part Tie Rod/Strut rod part 48780-50010

Stuart hi,

How's this all going for you ?

I thought I'd quote the part number on my schedule of Catastrophic issues when I finally get around to finishing that post !

Is that the definitive part number ? for both sides too ?

Thanks

Malc

runsgrateasanut · September 21, 2020

Hi Malc,

Yes that part number applies to both sides.

Hows things you might well ask?

Its all very difficult knowing whats going/about to happen with Gov't thinking.

Only thing I can say for certain is its going to cost a lot of bunce to get the Car home. A trip out in one car and a trip back with two cars is not cheap. Shuttle is £250 per car. If I can't get it back by early January its MOT will have run out and it will be a trailer job - costly!

Daughter may not be able to drive back the Corolla I bought, as can't afford to be in lockdown so will no doubt pass on a brief Holiday. She'd fly out. (risk!!)

Wife doesn't drive. Flight to Limoges via Stansted with Suitcase full of necessary tools / parts is probably cheapest option. Have had a suitcase go astray in the past, so a bit of a worry. Also, may not like what they see in it. OK so, I put details on the outside - will they be happy with Reciproacting Saw, Blades, Battery charger, Hub puller, sockets and wrenches. Not light weight, either.

Wifes suitcase (you can't travel with only one suitcase - verbotten Ryanair) will need be empty almost, as we took over the Clothing we needed and left them over in France and came back with just the essentials.

Then of course there's the risk of Covid. Both of us have health issues. Did it once, but will our luck run out? Contracted on flight and shows up two days later when in rural France? no transport - French Hospital ( they are very good but nearest is in Angouleme 60 mile away) Not easy decision. Stuck in France for who knows how long, or even worse! I'm only semi-retired.

Question is, will things improve later in the year or get worse? Would be nice to enjoy ten days at our place as October can be beautiful, but ...............

The day the Car part failed that Morning we had seen Estate Agents to put the property on the market. Had to postpone. Still needs be done as not getting any younger.

So, Malc there you have it. Sleepless nights.- more than usual. (apols for life story)

Malc · September 22, 2020

Unless the rules have changed ...... one can drive a car ( in the UK ) to a pre-booked MOT without a current MOT ... subject to having insurance of course

I don't think there's a distance stipulation either

I might be imagining it but in France they don't annually MOT their cars ........... do they ? Just have to make sure the vehicle is appropriately safe

so that might help a little :unsure:

Might be cost effective to send your empty, and afterwards full, suitcase by DHL etc rather than pay the silly extra to the airline ... just a thought

btw I would never ever ever travel Easyjet if you thought that might be an option ........... nor Ryanair personally but there, I am a travel agent

I'm sure Boris today will decide something else to confuse the travel / quarantine issues, god bless him !

Please keep us updated on your trauma

Now, can you tell me how much the Strut Bars cost to purchase please ?

Thank you

Malc

Superduner · September 22, 2020

MOTs on private cars in France are every other year, FYI.

royoftherovers · September 22, 2020

15 minutes ago, Superduner said:

MOTs on private cars in France are every other year, FYI.

Until they are 10 years old ?

Superduner · September 22, 2020

Don't think so. My Rx is 2007 and it's still every 2 years.

Anything deemed to be "commercial" like my old Navara has to have a pollution check in the intervening year.

Motor bikes don't have an MOT at all.

royoftherovers · September 22, 2020

4 minutes ago, Superduner said:

Don't think so. My Rx is 2007 and it's still every 2 years.

Anything deemed to be "commercial" like my old Navara has to have a pollution check in the intervening year.

Motor bikes don't have an MOT at all.

I asked as Spain is annually after 10 years.