I'm in a tight spot!

[mranlet]

Alright, it hasn't even been a week since I got the CRX back from DOF and I had to pull off the road becuse there was an asshole cop sooming down a back road that I was on, and as soon as I pull off - GRUNCH!! I pull back on the road, the steering to the right is heavy and there's a grinding noise coming fron the front left. I make it about a mile to the road I live on and as soon as I go over the change in pavement the steering goes out and there's no resistance on the transmission as I feel the chassis grind to a halt on the ground.

I get out of the car and see that my front left LCA ball joint has completely let go becuase the stud broke in half, leaving the nut (with stud still attached) laying in the road a few feet back. Not only did this happen but I also have a left axle laying on the road, still attached to the spindle at the CV joint...

My dad and I manage to push the car about 500' to in front of my house after jacking the entire front end up by the crossmember.

This *Censored**Censored**Censored**Censored*ing sucks - I havent even gotten to put in my new suspension and I have to leave in about a week to go back to FL.

Although I enjoy sharing my grievances with all my buddies here on DGTA, this belongs in tech becuase I need to know whether the repairs - axle, since it's one piece into the trans, maybe some trans work, LCA ball joint (x2?) and maybe CV joint - would be worth doing on a car that probably has $1000 to $1500 blue book value with about $500 worth of stuff that I could pull off of the car and sell (plus $500 in EF8 suspension), or if I should start looking at other cars....

If I need to get another car I'm thinking BG Legacy (93+) simply because they're hot, they're AWD, they come in a wagon, they're affordable, and they're reliable, but all that is besides the point. If you don't understand why a BG Wagon, you will when you're older (or just look at my "I love wagons" post in multimedia) .

I had it towed away yesterday mid day but the shop is crazy busy and may not even get it in to look at it until the weekend

Thanks for any advice or help!

-MR

[Ichi-Go]

That sucks. I would fix it though. It will be worth it. Go to the Junkyard and try to get parts. Yeh Subarus are tight. But I would want a 98- 99 Impreza (but probably cause im young).

[mranlet]

Well, the hard part is that I need to leave here in like a week and I have to work that week, so I'm going to HAVE to have a shop fix it, if I fix it.

I love the car but it's old and if I ever really wanted another one I could buy one. Hell, you can get a B-swapped EF for $3500 in FL - you can't get Subaru's at all in FL.

By "Understand when you're older" I mean like this:


I'm only 21

-MR

[Parry]

The CRX is just like the mk2 VW...it's the kind of car you have to turn all your own wrenches on or else you're going to pay and pay and pay.

The ball joint replacement and all that is no big deal...what would worry me is the axle coming free of the tranny. What holds them in the tranny in a crx? VW's there's 6 bolts...if you tore an axle out of the tranny, you *Censored**Censored**Censored**Censored*ed up hard. The CV's let go first. Did it seperate at the inner CV?

Sucks you're so far away. We could get 'er done in your driveway no problem.

If you have to have a shop fix it, consider ditching it. You can always come back to a CRX later, you need something that will run for now. Do you go to school in florida, or what?


Actually....where in CT are you? You're really not that far away...depending on what happens this weekend I could come down midweek of next week and help you put this POS back together.

[blargonator]

you have to remember i am a little slow.

"I need to know whether the repairs - axle"

axles are not that bad to replace. we replaced my brother's axle because the cv joints were bad. well good luck because i like CRXs.

[SilverGhost]

wagon. Wagon. Wagon! WAGON!!

i say this because your car is old (like mine, dont take offense) and it sounds like its banged up pretty bad....i had the same type of thing happen to my car, and i kinda wish i had ditched it for an AE86 or a B4 Legacy...the only reason i kinda wish this is that my car hasnt run well since last november, and thats a hella long time to wait....i bought my car for 3k, and by now i have spent about 9k fixing it and *Censored**Censored**Censored**Censored*, from the time i slapped a curb, alway up till now with my sr20 swap...and like you said, you can get another CRX for pretty cheap.

[mranlet]

Originally posted by Parry
The CRX is just like the mk2 VW...it's the kind of car you have to turn all your own wrenches on or else you're going to pay and pay and pay.

The ball joint replacement and all that is no big deal...what would worry me is the axle coming free of the tranny. What holds them in the tranny in a crx? VW's there's 6 bolts...if you tore an axle out of the tranny, you *Censored**Censored**Censored**Censored*ed up hard. The CV's let go first. Did it seperate at the inner CV?

Sucks you're so far away. We could get 'er done in your driveway no problem.

If you have to have a shop fix it, consider ditching it. You can always come back to a CRX later, you need something that will run for now. Do you go to school in florida, or what?


Actually....where in CT are you? You're really not that far away...depending on what happens this weekend I could come down midweek of next week and help you put this POS back together.

The frustrating thing is that I KNOW that I can fix it - I've done much harder things with fewer tools and less space - but my problem is having the TIME to do it. I have to leace CT in about a week and a half which has to be spent working at my day job and then I have to move apartments and practice up before my band goes on tour, so I have no time.

The inboard-side spline collar on the U-joint tore off, leaving the U part connected to the X-stud on the outboard side U. Hopefully this means that it probably didn't shred any bolts in the transmission if it's bolted on and not just squeezed on to a splineshaft. The lower ball joint isn't a problem, it's just $60 more I'm going to have to spend.

I don't worry about having to wrench on a car to keep it going - that's part of the reason I bought this car - but I don't like having to worry if suspension parts are going to fail while I'm driving across the country (yeah, I go to school in Tampa).

I think that if I had more time to deal with it (ignoring the fact that I could fix it myself for cheap), I would find a BG Legacy wagon in 5-speed with not a whole ton of miles. Scouring Autotrader I've found a bunch of wagons in my price range but it seems that they're either high mileage or auto with the exception of one 5-speed one with around 120k, but it's 200 miles away in VA. I did find an S13 5-speed with good miles though, so maybe I'll wind up getting something like that and fall onto the bandwagon by virtue of having little choice.

Of course, I still haven't heard back from the shop (it's the 3rd day now) as to how much the estimate is, but I expect that it will be worth more than what the car is really worth.

BTW - I live in the Danbury area (almost in NY).

Thanks for the support!

-MR

[Parry]

Hrm, I hear ya.

Now might be a good time to suck it up and buy something really boring for a little while that you know will run, and then you can come back to interesting cars later. That way you can park the CRX, not get raped by the shop on the repairs, and still get around.

What's your band's name/what do you play?

[mranlet]

That's what I was doing with the CRX until I could get another Legacy Turbo but maybe you're right, the only thing is that I need SOME car to get me back down to FL, and if I go to the expense and trouble to find a car it'll need to be reliable and have a lot of room, and at least somewhat fun (or else I'll do something rash).

It sounds like maybe I'll have to play the waiting game and see what it'll cost me... ...the waiting game sucks...

I've got some friends who have leads on EF8 parts, and one who works at a Honda dealer. He said that axle and ball joint would run me around $400 with his discount, but shipped to me. If only I could put them in myself >

My band is "Bleed Them Dry" www.purevolume.com/bleedthemdry
I play guitar, and we play tech-metal along the lines of At the Gates and Unearth and God Forbid - enjoy!

-MR

[Parry]

For 400 don't bother. I can't believe it's that much. An axle and a ball joint? Christ.

Just get something else, lol.

[spccowboyMATT]

mr, nice band btw. the sound is nice and tough.