Technical Siezed O2 Sensor

[koalar]

Front

Looking at the rust flakes on the
Font offside suspension arm. I wouldn’t be at all supprised if it’s rear bush hasn’t gone

If you jack the wheel off the ground and push and pull hard at on the wheel at the three and nine position

I suspect you will see movement on the rear bush

 

[ReadySteady98]

Knocking at low speed on full lock - I'm thinking this is suggestive of a worn CV joint. I suggest you check the driveshafts for excessive play. While you're down there, check all the front suspension/steering joints.

How long ago was the car's last MOT?

Cars last MOT was July 2022

 

[ReadySteady98]

Knocking at low speed on full lock - I'm thinking this is suggestive of a worn CV joint. I suggest you check the driveshafts for excessive play. While you're down there, check all the front suspension/steering joints.

How long ago was the car's last MOT?

 

[koalar]

Closest angle I could find online

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Getting back to that rear suspension. If it is indeed the suspension arm failure that it rather looks like, I would have thought the car would be virtually undriveable? Need a better resolution picture, from several angles.

Closest angle you could find on line? so are these pictures of someone else's car? If so that's not telling us anything?

jrk's suggestion to check CV joints is a good call. Turn the steering on full lock, hold it there and drive off. As it starts to move the joint will "click/knock" rapidly as the worn balls traverse the grooves in the joint. If noise happens with the car standing still, just with the steering wheel being turned, then it's going to be another problem.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Closest angle you could find on line? so are these pictures of someone else's car? If so that's not telling us anything?

Sorry Koalar. For some reason I thought this was posted by the OP. Put it down to a "senior moment" and disregard

Oh, I just "got it" you're illustrating what it should look like in the top picture and comparing to the OP's bottom picture? In which case the OP's does look disturbing doesn't it?

 

[koalar]

unfortunately because of the angle and lighting of the original photo it’s inconclusive

Fingers crossed it’s okay

 

[koalar]

I did spot the new brake pipe which is on the last MOT fail

To me the front arms (ductile cast iron) look at least 5 years old. Of cause if he car lived on the coast or similar it possible to “age” quicker

For a knocking noise this would be my first check. Especially as a drop link was needed for the last MOT

Could even be the new part wasn’t tightened up correctly

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Drop links are always a favourite.

 

[DaveMcT]

Knocking - probably drop link(s). Our 1.2 developed the trait of following white lines. When I changed the arms, one had the rear bush fall out. The rubber was torn and split. But there was no knocking and the steering felt fine at town speeds. Drop links are still ok.

 

[DaveMcT]

A CV joint makes a loud clicking at 3x the rate of the wheel rotation. Easy to test. Find an empty space, open the windows and turn on full lock. If it's worn you'll hear the clicking. I'd not describe it as a knock.

 

[ReadySteady98]

Took the car to a Tesco car park that was mostly empty and drove on with the steering wheel full lock doing 360’s no clunking noise was happening. Only happens at low speeds turning and parking up.

Anyways here are some photos I took of the back and front hopefully they are better than the last ones.

 

[koalar]

Back looks fine

Rust will need some preventative measures if you want to keep the car

 

[ReadySteady98]

Back looks fine

Rust will need some preventative measures if you want to keep the car

What can I do / use to prevent rust?

 

[timmycm850]

has anyone fitted an O2 Socket over the sensor then tightened a hose clip round the socket to reinforce it before use then slid it up the cable to protect the wires while then heating the sensor with a torch in prep for removing when hot.

Tim

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Took the car to a Tesco car park that was mostly empty and drove on with the steering wheel full lock doing 360’s no clunking noise was happening. Only happens at low speeds turning and parking up.

Anyways here are some photos I took of the back and front hopefully they are better than the last ones.

Ok, that rear axle looks good, better than mine in fact! The 3rd picture from the left shows that the plastic cover is missing but that's not a big problem. Second and third pictures show the N/S cover is still there.

So no clicking driving on full lock, probably nothing to do with driveshaft CV then. You'll just need to jack it up and work your way through all the front suspension and steering joints/bushings. Remember the drop link ball joints can fool you if there's any tension still on them - The antiroll bar is very strong so can load them up so you need to have both front wheels off the ground to relieve any differential forces side to side and even then it's sometimes difficult to be sure. disconnecting either a top or bottom drop link joint from either the a/roll bar or strut - only needs to be done on one side - will ensure there's not tension in the system but can be a bit difficult as the joints securing nuts are often corroded to their threads and sometimes even have to be cut off.

Regarding rust treatment, I was going to use this stuff: https://www.frost.co.uk/fertan-rust-converter-spray-1l/ however I think I've left it too late to be worth trying to save what's left on mine and a new axle will be the best solution.

 

[koalar]

has anyone fitted an O2 Socket over the sensor then tightened a hose clip round the socket to reinforce it before use then slid it up the cable to protect the wires while then heating the sensor with a torch in prep for removing when hot.

Tim

No

If you heat them up probably no force is needed

If you force them it will require a bigger repair such as a new boss welding in


The two parts will have grown together. Once the bond is broken and it turns a few degrees you can then work some penetrating oil in

Here’s a repair boss

Here two part that have grown together. You can’t swing hard on these

Might take a few reheats but there’s no point in pulling until something breaks

 

[koalar]

Only happens at low speeds turning and parking up.

Still sounds like a TCA rear bush to me



Needs a proper investigation as someone could have fitted the drop link badly for the last MOT

There’s a couple of easy tests

Such as



Although not a great video as the example car isn’t faulty

Or



These cars are dirt cheap to run as long as you only change what necessary

Diagnose the problems is the way to go

 

[koalar]

What can I do / use to prevent rust?

Any tips for rust-"proofing" the back axle? | FIAT Panda (Mk3)

Hey Jimboy; thanks; I'm doing away alright. If you've got the car laid-up; have you got the battery disconnected...? No Jim, with all that's going on I just locked up the garage & didn't think.

www.fiatforum.com

May help

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Here's a video which makes quite a good stab at showing you what to check and how. At around five and a half minutes in it looks at bushings and the rear control arm (bottom suspension arm) bush on ours tends to be a common failure point.