scrubbedexpat141

Just picked it up from Ford this morning.

Drove round the block. Noise still there.

Took it back in, told them to sort it. Took a guy out on a test drive, said it was just to do with the AC unit etc. Told him that was rubbish.

Sat around waiting for a while, then big apology, won't get it back until later today.

Still clueless as to what the noise is.

nonthaburi

I had something similar happen recently. There was a strange whistle at 2200 to 2500 rpm. I also had a grating sound doing hard turns very slowly in car parks and that was the reason I had it checked out. Anyway, turns out it was the wheel bearing.

Now whistle and grating noise free.

Millhouse

Deffo a bearing. I'm still putting my bet on waterpump.

Wheel bearing was also on my original list, although I'm still dismissing that a bit.

scrubbedexpat141

Interesting. I have exactly the same sort of thing in the car park. Like a loud creaking / grating noise just as soon as I touch the accelerator.

Ford rang this morning to say they are waiting for a part. Yet to discuss whether they want to charge me for this.

They seem to be saying it's a vac / air hose to do with the AC. We will see.

shiva

ford like to pull this one.

once took the focus in many moons ago for regular service, get the standard your ac is broken call....bollocks leave it alone.

collect it and yup the ac is now broken, 8000 to fix it, took it to um ramoul, ac pipe has hole in, custom made one replaced it in 30 mins for 200 chips. day later al tayer call and offer to buy the car at a discount due to the huge cost of the ac repair.

**** right offf.....

scrubbedexpat141

Well so far the extended stay my car has been enjoying has never had any quotes or prices discussed. expecting to get it back today.

Got a call yesterday afternoon asking how long this problem has been here, told him since I last had it 'fixed' by Ford so roughly 5months?

He laughed.
I didn't.

He said they would take the dashboard apart because some hose had a leak and something else and something else and I can have it back today.

Fingers crossed. Never going there again, but experience of Max Garage fixing this was identically shit first time round.

shiva

ive yet to find a garage here that ive had a good experience with.

Even ones run by people I personally know have been a pain in the arse. They've fixed issues etc extremely well but i've paid for it financially.

Millhouse

I recommend Rage Performance in Al Quoz. The owner is a true car enthusiast. Nice guy too.

shiva

so problems get fixed properly but costs go through the roof as does time!

cant win

scrubbedexpat141

Running nicely now.

Only thing is, when it's all warmed up and going very slowly in car park for example there is the groaning/creaking nose previously mentioned.

I'm assuming similar fix - wheel bearing?

I'm going to, perhaps stupidly, assume that it's an easy and cheap fix?

spannermonkey

Hi Scamp,

I've not got much experience with fords, but have owned plenty of 4x4, form Landrover, various Jeeps model sand Jap types.

From my experience, and its always hard to diagnose a fault from a description - actually hearing/seeing is the best thing, but not always practical here I know.

I've found that a bearing, especially a wheel bearing tends to fail over a period of time. its starts with a very subtle rumble that becomes progressively worse, often over several hundred, if not a couple of thousand K's. Then what you may start to experience is as you corner and the bearing that is wearing out becomes worse, you may get a sort of 'whump whump whump' sound as you corner on the side with the failed bearing. You may sometimes get a creaking noise when turning the wheel when not moving or only very slowly.

To rule out a CV joint, turn your wheel to full lock and slowly drive in a circle, if its a CV joint you should get a clicking noise from that side.

As a final check, if a bearing is failing and its getting bad enough, you can try jacking the car and grabbing the suspect wheel at the top and bottom and try to move it. If its a bearing and its bad enough you will feel some play in the wheel, as well as if you rotate the wheel you'll possible feel a slight 'grinding' which would indicate 'brunelling', which is when the actual bearing surface is starting to break up.

Hope that helps.

BTW, Jap 4x4 (older types) are certainly more reliable. the LR's I owner have been awesome off road and on road, but totally hopeless for reliability and very expensive to repair. The Jeeps (Cherokee and Grand Cherokee) were a halfway house between the LR brand and Jap models. I recall may years ago my dad used to drive an old Patrol diesel, that went on for year after year with practically no issues at all.

nonthaburi

Easy to fix, done in an afternoon. 1400 SAR poorer. Don't know if that was cheap or expensive, but the guy knows what he is doing and he tunes everything up while he's there.