I have got the now infamous 40 wobble . Reading the various threads I knew what it was but have been through the cheaper options of switching wheels etc and i must say putting the unworn rear ones on the front has made a difference but the wobble is still apparent just not as pronounced. My local independent garage then had a look-see and immediately found that the drivers side inner cv gaiter had worn loose- not split- and all the grease had been deposited onto the inside of the engine undershield. There is significant up/down movement when compared to the left side one and of course being "bone dry" the bearing is worn. I was interested to read in an earlier thread about "6yr Design life" as mine is an 06 prestigio with 36000 only on the clock it seems to me that mileage is not a factor in parts wearing!!

I also have had the drivers side front spring break recently and as a retired metallurgical technician I looked at the broken face of the spring and saw that it had a brittle fracture . It seems to me that the way the spring is made will lead to this , when the rod is heated and coiled in the machine one end has to be held while the other is rotated to form the coil. This size of bar will lose heat rapidly at the ends due to being clamped and this leads to localised hardening due to quick cooling if this is not "tempered" out by subsequent heating and controlled cooling it will remain under the extra stress of the localised hardening.
Mine broke on the bottom coil where it fits on the tray. Has anybody else found it has broken in the same place?

my osf spring has broken in exactly the same place last friday, 2006 prestigio mjet 150 with 84k. being replaced under warranty but i will have to replace tyre, cv boot and droplink as all damaged. i also have the 40mph wobble which has only recently started, i have not looked into causes yet.

My 2.4 N/S front spring broke last year at about 36000, bottom turn, it looked as if it was thinner but coiled tighter at the bottom. Unfortunately the day after new springs were fitted the LH shocker leaked, so the job had to be done again. It went just as I steered right through my gate the tyre was OK. Fiat produced a kind of gaiter to put round the springs of the Stilo, so I suggested they might do the same for us. A reply took 3 weeks, surprised I got one, and would not recognise a problem.

All my springs broke, all at the bottom 'Pig tail coil' I put it down to corrosion as all had the powder coating missing in that area. the front ones went without any indication but both rears made a loud bang when they broke.

I didn't notice that the back springs had gone, the garage told me when it was in for something else.

Not so lucky with the front though - the nearside one went and ripped apart the sidewall of the tyre. Luckily while manoeuvring in a car park, not on a motorway.

I got new front shocks at the same time, as a precaution. The garage said the new shocks have a revised design for the cup that holds the bottom of the spring. I forget the details, but I assume it's down to all the Vectra springs doing exactly the same.

bobbyblue said:

All my springs broke, all at the bottom 'Pig tail coil' I put it down to corrosion as all had the powder coating missing in that area. the front ones went without any indication but both rears made a loud bang when they broke.

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I`m "glad" to get some feedback from other owners with the same probs, my broken bottom coil had the paint missing as well. This helped me diagnose the stressing, as any ferrous metal that is under stress will corrode much faster. Ally that to the amount of water that is about that area not to mention salt!! you have the perfect conditions for failure.

cricklewood said:

my osf spring has broken in exactly the same place last friday, 2006 prestigio mjet 150 with 84k. being replaced under warranty but i will have to replace tyre, cv boot and droplink as all damaged. i also have the 40mph wobble which has only recently started, i have not looked into causes yet.

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Mine has settled right down now the inner boot is packed with grease, but is still apparent when accelerating on a bend/uphill so I will be getting a new drive shaft Eurocarparts do one at a nett £152 when exchanged so I may plump for that. Cant find just the inner CV anywhere, HAS ANYONE FOUND ONE !!!

Be glad if anyone has

tarquin1867 said:

Mine has settled right down now the inner boot is packed with grease, but is still apparent when accelerating on a bend/uphill so I will be getting a new drive shaft Eurocarparts do one at a nett £152 when exchanged so I may plump for that. Cant find just the inner CV anywhere, HAS ANYONE FOUND ONE !!!

Be glad if anyone has

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Have you tried Mangoletsi in Cheshire, this is were we got ours for our first 05 plate Croma.

Thanks for that , Eurocarparts are the only ones near me who even show one as "gettable" but since I left it with them to get me a Price& delivery , its all gone quiet over there!!! I have filled in the online request @ Mangoletsi so I await developments with bated breath. The car seems fine since I had the inner CV packed with grease so I`m not in too much of a hurry but like most drivers i cant stand my "steel baby" being out of sorts

Can anyone please tell me what this wobble is?

My other half complains that our steering wobbles. I'd just put it down to the 18" wheels and low-profile tyres. It's just a bit of a rumble through your hands - I hardly notice generally. It's the same at all speeds.

Just wondering whether it should be doing this or not.

Doofer said:

Can anyone please tell me what this wobble is?

My other half complains that our steering wobbles. I'd just put it down to the 18" wheels and low-profile tyres. It's just a bit of a rumble through your hands - I hardly notice generally. It's the same at all speeds.

Just wondering whether it should be doing this or not.

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If you have a "wobble" at all speeds it is not the same as the drive shaft wobble Mine only occurs @ 35/45 mph and goes away on driving through it to a higher speed or braking/ decelerating. Your prob may be a tyre problem or a wheel damaged. A friend of mine once had an alloy wheel which was on the car when he bought it and had a vibration caused by a crack in the centre of the wheel which was through one of the spokes which was causing the problem.

18" wheels, all the way. Mine turns into a tank when I change from my 17" winter wheels to my 18" summer ones

Suddenly I get kickback, tramlining, a 'bobbly' ride and know intimately what sort of road surface I'm on

Might still be a tyre issue though, try changing the backs to the front and see if it makes a difference.

No wobble problems but interesting to see that others have had problems with coil springs. My cars a 55 prestigio 1.9 16v auto with around 40k and I've had three springs go in total now. The first one was a couple of years ago and was replaced by the Fiat dealer. The other two were more recent and picked up at the MOT in December and replaced by a local independent. I didn't notice any of them going. My reason for posting though is the car has now started to make a noticeable creaking sound whenever anyone gets in or out, and it sounds suspension related. This is even evident when just leaning weight on the front wing. I was wondering if anyone else has experienced similar or could shed some light on possible causes. I was planning to take it back to the garage to get it checked out but any info in advance of that would be useful.

Check the exhaust heat shield. It's the shiny metal plate that's bolted to the underside of the body above the exhaust. It's only a bit thicker than a foil pie-tin, and mine had dissolved away around the bolts, dropped down and was making all sorts of noises. There are 3 or 4 sections of it, along the whole length. I had to replace all the nuts with new ones, but the bolts are captive to the car and very prone to rusting - they're only M6 standard steel. Crap really.

stuart543 said:

the car has now started to make a noticeable creaking sound whenever anyone gets in or out, and it sounds suspension related. This is even evident when just leaning weight on the front wing. I was wondering if anyone else has experienced similar or could shed some light on possible causes.

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Sounds like front anti-roll bar bushes to me. Not the most pleasant of jobs but you can do it with ordinary bi-hex spanners if required. For more info have a look on www.vectra-c.com and if you decide you need some, let me know - someone on here sold me their genuine Fiat ones a while back; they don't fit my 2.4 :bang: however they should fit the others, I can give you the part numbers if required. Guarantee you won't find genuine Fiat ARB bushes cheaper anywhere else

FiatFleetFamily said:

Have you tried Mangoletsi in Cheshire, this is were we got ours for our first 05 plate Croma.

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Just an update:-have had to plump for a new outside shaft from Mangoletsi but the cost is £300 new with no exchange or £228 recon with an exchange deposit on top!! The price for a complete new shaft is about £500

Europarts have not been very helpful, they show the part on the website as special order but they say the only way they can do it is to send mine away for recon to there suppliers ?!! How long said I, could be a few days or a couple of weeks!!!!

Anyone got any clue why they want one back for a recon unit but not for a new unit? I can see a scenario where we may be getting shafts refurbished a couple of times which is hardly fair.

To me this "problem" of the wearing spidex is being turned into an earner for Fiat just as the air mass sensor has been in the past also the ERG valve.

Ok Rant over.

Doofer said:

Can anyone please tell me what this wobble is?

My other half complains that our steering wobbles. I'd just put it down to the 18" wheels and low-profile tyres. It's just a bit of a rumble through your hands - I hardly notice generally. It's the same at all speeds.

Just wondering whether it should be doing this or not.

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Our first Croma started at 55mph - 65mph then went away. Then was 68,000 miles on clock. Yes we thought wheels out of balance but as were may of been the first to get this issue. Fiat did acknowledge it, then rejected it. It was the driveshafts as the Gearbox was a Vectra C box, ie 6 speed. and the fiat drive shafts just cobbled togethert to fit.

Our current Croma, have not had the issue yet....Only 34,000 at mo.

DoIDon'tI said:

Sounds like front anti-roll bar bushes to me. Not the most pleasant of jobs but you can do it with ordinary bi-hex spanners if required. For more info have a look on www.vectra-c.com and if you decide you need some, let me know - someone on here sold me their genuine Fiat ones a while back; they don't fit my 2.4 :bang: however they should fit the others, I can give you the part numbers if required. Guarantee you won't find genuine Fiat ARB bushes cheaper anywhere else

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You may find that the Croma 2.4 ARB bushes are the same for the Alfa 156 2.4? Reason I say, is when I changed mine on my former 2005 156 2.4Mjet the packaging box had 156 04-06 and Croma 05 -08 on the box.

tarquin1867 said:

Just an update:-have had to plump for a new outside shaft from Mangoletsi but the cost is £300 new with no exchange or £228 recon with an exchange deposit on top!! The price for a complete new shaft is about £500

Europarts have not been very helpful, they show the part on the website as special order but they say the only way they can do it is to send mine away for recon to there suppliers ?!! How long said I, could be a few days or a couple of weeks!!!!

Anyone got any clue why they want one back for a recon unit but not for a new unit? I can see a scenario where we may be getting shafts refurbished a couple of times which is hardly fair.

To me this "problem" of the wearing spidex is being turned into an earner for Fiat just as the air mass sensor has been in the past also the ERG valve.

Ok Rant over.

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They bore out original and shrink fit a new insert that will increase lifespan over original material...Thinkl that what happend to ours.

tarquin1867 said:

Just an update:-have had to plump for a new outside shaft from Mangoletsi but the cost is £300 new with no exchange or £228 recon with an exchange deposit on top!! The price for a complete new shaft is about £500

Europarts have not been very helpful, they show the part on the website as special order but they say the only way they can do it is to send mine away for recon to there suppliers ?!! How long said I, could be a few days or a couple of weeks!!!!

Anyone got any clue why they want one back for a recon unit but not for a new unit? I can see a scenario where we may be getting shafts refurbished a couple of times which is hardly fair.

To me this "problem" of the wearing spidex is being turned into an earner for Fiat just as the air mass sensor has been in the past also the ERG valve.

Ok Rant over.

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If we get this problem with the drive shafts with our 2nd Croma we will be using either of the following below :

http://www.jandrcvjoints.co.uk/index.php

or

http://www.carparts-direct.co.uk/?i=403&ModelDetail=FIAT+CROMA&ii=381469&p=1