407 binding on full r/h lock first thing

[jdrsmith]

Hmm..

In your opinion what's the likehood of this being anything that could be dangerous ?

If a frip joint fails when you're doing 70 in a straight line on a motorway would this cause a serious loss of control ?

Would it be likely to fail at 70 in a straight line ?

Or would it be more likely to fail at low speed during tight cornering ?

What is a frip joint anyway ? a bottom ball joint assy ?
That plate thing with the three bolt holes ?

To be honest there are so many things that spring to mind that it could be, suspension strut, wheel bearing, brakes, steering linkage, I'll bet you could add a few more..

Would you be interested in listening to a recording of the fault if I were to post to the internet or mail it to you ?
If I connect my iPhone which took the recording, to the in car stereo and turn up the volume it sounds exactly as it does when the fault occurs.

BTW have you ever seen this thing called Peugeot Service Box ?

Seems anyone can get a login..

[frank]

i have a loging for servicebox, i also still have my official log in for the peugeot service system. a frip joint is what holds the whole of the front suspension on each side in one place, if it does fail at 70mph it would be diasterous. if it failed at 5mph it would rip half the car apart.

[jdrsmith]

OK, I've found a large exploded diagram.

How do these frip joints fail then ?

[frank]

the seals are rubbish which then lets water in, rotting out the roller bearings letting them flap about. if they get that far you can get about 10mm of play in them at the joint, at the wheel then exagerates to about 3-4 inches

[trem1]

can you tell which is the worn one

[504V6Ti]

!!!! How much time/mileage did it take for the worn one to get to that state?

[frank]

ive seen them get like that within 6-8k less then a year

[jdrsmith]

Yeah I saw that over at Peugeot Central too..

I've had a look at mine...well what you can see..I can't see any signs of any rust..

Mind you there is something on the end of the steering rod (track rod?) the bit that joinds onto the bit that the bottom balls joint assy is attached to..it looks a lot like grease or could be oil...its not runny but then again it was very cold, could be grease..it's kind of carbon black. I rubbed it and it came off on my fingers

There isn't any on the other side..

It's weird because turning around in the snow, we've had about three inches in the last couple of days, produces pretty much exactly the same noise/experience, I even had the power steering juddering this morning.
Is this just all about traction/rubber tyre under stress when turning and transmitting this up through the suspension strut or something ?

Other than that how does one go about protecting the wing mirrors when they are frozen up in the mornings ?
They make a god awful cracking noise when you unlock the car.
This morning they got stuck half way so I got some luke warm water and poured over them. Seemed to do the trick.
Does Peugeot sell these cars to folks in northern europe ? (sic) There's obviously room for water to seep in on the mounting somewhere and I guess that it then freezes.
...and if Peugeot can make diesel engines for Ford...then why can't Ford let Peugeot have a few of those newfangled self defrosting heated front windscreens...god I miss mine in the mornings..if you've had one you'll know what I mean.. :-)

[jdrsmith]

..there's a scary thing...those ball joint assys' are sat atop my front wall by the looks of things !

I recognize it anywhere !

[504V6Ti]

You really won't like this Peugeot car, will you?

[jdrsmith]

..you're starting to repeat yourself..

[jdrsmith]

..as I do about 2-3000 miles a month, a lot of that high speed motorway travelling, I'd like to think that things were working soundly..at the moment I'm not that confident that they are..

[407ownersdotcom]

I get a binding problem in a morning but mine is down to the pump.
It goes after 2 mins but i noticed when im driving that the steering goes heavy in random places like the power to the steering pump got cut...

Dont know if this is related to your problem but I get binding....

Geoff
www.407owners.com

[jdrsmith]

You wanna head over to Peugeot Central, there's a shed load of people with the same problem over there..folks are suggesting that it ought to be subject of a recall..

Fills you with confindence doesn't it..

Mines a sort of pinching or rubbing noise/feeling in normal temperature conditions.

This turns into a full blown grabbing or biting noise/feeling at low/freezing temparatures, makes the front nearside of the car jerk down two three or four times until I straighten up.

Certainly makes the passers by point at me when it does this in the mornings.

Dealer hasn't managed to get to the bottom of it yet.
I've shown them some video and audio clips.

Scheduled to take the car back in to them soon for another stab at it.

[jdrsmith]

OK, my 407 is back at the dealer as of yesterday for them to keep for a while to see if they can get to the bottom of my problem.

I was going to let it carry on and see if it got any worse or more obvious, but I was in a car park yesterday and when I reversed out of a parking space and then started to pull forward straightening up at the same time the front nearside wheel did a sort of hop, it kind of hopped twice.

I get the impression that when I'm turning the steering at low/no speed the front nearside wheel is getting stuck several times and not turning in line with the offside wheel and then suddenly jumps back into line.
This then causes something on the suspension to creak which is the noise I am hearing.

This was the worst I had had it so far, the front wing of the car moved a fair bit during these 'hops'

I guess that when I'm starting to move a bit quicker the tyre gives a bit more on the road surface but at very low speed or whilst stationary the weight of the car and the grip from the tyre is causing the wheel to somehow not move when the steering it trying to push it into position.

Steering problem ? Linkage ? Hub ? ...or these flaming ball joint things..

I can't see any rust anywhere on the bottom ball joint assy.

There seem to be quite a few people on this and other forums having issues with front ends on 407's as far as I can see. Hopefully the dealer will locate the problem this time.

Meanwhile I'm back in one of our works Partner vans !

..unless I can pinch my own 207 Sport back off the wife for a few days..

Any suggestions are very welcome..