driveshaft/cv joint failure?

[andrewmorpeth]

Just been out in car am and pulling away hard from lights big bang and had to be towed home.Quickly jacked it up and somethings not right in cv joint on diff on passenger side.I suspect its just a joint?What are these off ie to get a replacement.Only done 7500 miles last 900 with 180bhp from hayabusa so hardly a lot of torque?!Thanks again andrew.

[Irrelevant]

Joints are Sierra but drive shaft is Caterham.

[andrewmorpeth]

Taken driveshaft off and its definitely snapped through driver side just below cv joint spider.Is this a usual/common failure?

[F355GTS]

How old is your Car Andrew? Later driveshafts do not have the Sierra CV's and from my experience are not as robust, I have had one fail, not to the same extent as yours but serious vibration

 

Mark

[andrewmorpeth]

Its an 07 ex academy car.Its just had a different engine fitted and had started to make an alarming banging noise in 1st gear only.Thought it was fault in new engine/box ie jumping out of 1st gear but obviously was shaft.Its not a clean break its quite long about 1.5 inches along length in the shape of a spear.Quiet weird really as its lost weight and peak torque is about 100lbft and power 180bhp.

[Rob Walker]

07 car that will be one of later Rover type driveshafts made for caterham by GKN powerline. These are not as strong as the seirra type but should be well up to 180bhp and haybusa torque. Has the car been involved in an accident?

 

Edited by - Rob Walker on 8 Dec 2009 14:21:13

[andrewmorpeth]

No accidents as far as i know.Phoned cc today girl on reception said bring it down to dartford and theyd have a look?What is a driveshaft?Emailed caterham cars and they said they dont normally snap in normal use!So thats it boys and girls only normal use use for us now on,Tescos saturday afternoon and aunty meggys for dinner on sunday bloody afternoon.Can anyone tell me they bought there caterham for normal use?When was the last time you saw any vehicle snap a driveshaft especially one weighing 470kg with 100lbft of torque?Oh by the way my warranty is out!Yes i knew that but a driveshaft should last the lifetime of the car!Or am i just being unreasonable?

[Englishmaninwales]

Andrew

 

So thats it boys and girls only normal use use for us now on,Tescos saturday afternoon and aunty meggys for dinner on sunday bloody afternoon.Can anyone tell me they bought there caterham for normal use?When was the last time you saw any vehicle snap a driveshaft especially one weighing 470kg with 100lbft of torque?Oh by the way my warranty is out!Yes i knew that but a driveshaft should last the lifetime of the car!Or am i just being unreasonable?

 

Clearly, you are frustrated by the driveshaft failure. This obviously is a rather unusual failure. But I think it is only fair to allow CC to examine the driveshaft, and to determine the cause, before posting on here in such a negative way.

Malcolm

 

Edited by - Englishmaninwales on 8 Dec 2009 23:46:17

[CaterBram]

I would give CC chance to examine the driveshaft prior to judging,

 

If it's a manufacturing or design defect which could lead to a safety issue then I think they would have to probably rectify and implement a recall programme.

 

This is FOC regardless of being in or out of warrenty.

 

Few years ago had a citroen Picasso recalled for a front suspension recall.

 

Ended up having the mod done plus new springs and shocks for FOC and that was 8 years old.

 

Give um a chance to have a look and i'd also try and find out through the POBC if this has happened on any others.

 

 

 

Q469 WET 1990 Caterham 1690 Crossflow Long Cockpit in Ali except for the red bits.CaterBram on Facebook

[andrewmorpeth]

Ok yes i am frustrated but as i say would you not expect a driveshaft to last the lifetime of the car?Ok cv joints wear out and need replacing but to snap a driveshaft?All they would have to do is ask to see it replace it and hand it back to gkn driveline who would knock it off there bill.Its gkn drivelines problem.They havent asked for it back just given me the excuse that youve had a years warranty and they dont usually do that in normal useage.All i was trying to say is the problem isnt really there's.Again its a case of dont say anything bad about caterham cars!Yes im frustrated but its a free world where you can speak as you find!

[Stationary M25 Traveller]

If it is off the car and you can get it to Petrolhead by Friday morning (tomorrow), I can take it back to CC Dartford for you.

 

 

[tweeky]

andrew you did say this is off a academy car so its had a different life cycle to a standard road going car, Let them look at it and take it from there. my 2005 roadsport was recalled for the dedeon tube replacement after sombody had one let go on track.

 

 

 

Tweeky

 

In a purple haze

[andrewmorpeth]

I would let them look at it but they want nothing to do with it!Different lifecycle?From the graining in the shaft it looks more like a heat treatment failure to me than an irregular lifecycle!Ian dayson has the shaft at the moment as he is going to get an uprated one made for a lot less than the £250 caterham want for one.Thanks for the offer to take it down but caterham have said its out of warranty.