The 405 is down... Driveshaft shot?

[jmurray01]

I posted about a knocking noise when coming off the accelerator yesterday, which I thought was an engine or gearbox mount which had worn, but tonight that was pretty much ruled out. 

On driving home from work tonight the car was almost undriveable (compared to this morning when it was a bit dodgy, but still OK).  I'll try and describe the symptoms as accurately as possible.

With the car stationary and in neutral (I.E. dry steering - which I never do other than for testing purposes today) the steering is normal and noise-free, but when driving it is a different story.  Off throttle, or when coasting it feels OK, but has a lot of clicking/clunking/knocking noises coming from the O/S/F wheel area when going over bumps or steering around corners (mainly turning left, putting pressure on the O/S/F). 

Now, the serious issue enters when the car is under acceleration.  I noticed this when pulling out of the car park at work tonight.  I was in 2nd gear and accelerating, with the wheel turned right as normal.  What wasn't normal was that when I went to straighten the car after pulling out of the junction, the wheel was practically FROZEN and I had to forcibly pull it straight.  As soon as I took my foot off the accelerator it immediately "clunked" (and the steering wheel itself moved forward slightly, towards me) and loosened up again. 

It was the same the whole drive home.  When coasting or with no acceleration it steers fine, but as soon as you start to accelerate the steering goes very tight and can barely be moved.  As soon as you take your foot off the accelerator to steer again, it goes "CLUNK" (you can also feel the steering wheel being knocked by something) and the steering suddenly loosens again. 

Now, before all this happened the 405 had an occasional issue whereby the same wheel (O/S/F) would randomly vibrate quite aggressively (felt through the steering wheel) which would then go away and not come back for days or weeks.  At the time I asked on a Peugeot forum what that could be, and it was suggested it could be the driveshaft.  As it was only very occasional I thought "OK, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it", but somehow I think that we may have arrived at that bridge now, if it is the case that the driveshaft has completely gone.

Obviously the car won't be driven again unless it is to the garage for repair, but I'd like to have an idea of what will need done when it goes to the garage - and from the symptoms I think it must be the driveshaft. 

Thank you for reading and any advice given.

P.S.  As you may remember, the car passed its MOT only a couple of weeks ago - so would it be a fair argument that if it has failed, it is due to some interference caused during the test?

[TomsFocus]

Lots of words...  

If its a driveshaft you can buy them for £35, a long way from £200 lol.

I'm not sure what it is from that description though, not an issue I've come across before!  You seem to have a reasonable understanding of how stuff works so maybe jack it up and see if you can play in anything yourself?

[jmurray01]

5 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Lots of words...  

If its a driveshaft you can buy them for £35, a long way from £200 lol.

I'm not sure what it is from that description though, not an issue I've come across before!  You seem to have a reasonable understanding of how stuff works so maybe jack it up and see if you can play in anything yourself?

Yeah, but I'm looking at worst case scenario - and all the things that could need replaced in the process of getting to the driveshaft.

Unfortunately I don't have any off-road space and no longer even have a jack so will just leave it to the garage.  Even if I found out exactly what it was, they would still need to fix it so there is little point.

I'm trying not to get too irate about it, because I knew what I was doing when I bought a 20 year old French car, and comitted myself to keeping it on the road for as long as there is breath in my body. 

[jmurray01]

Well, it turns out both my guesses were wrong.  The garage just phoned to advise me that the problem was the O/S subframe moving due to one missing bolt and another hanging off.  God only knows how it got like that, especially when it was fine two weeks ago when at the same garage for its MOT, but it did.  It's a bit worrying that the car was being driven like that, but a relief that it has been caught before it was too late and that it means the repair bill will be for labour only (and a couple of bolts), rather than any expensive parts.

[jmurray01]

And she's fixed!  Just new bolts required, and a bill of less than £30 which is very good.

[TomsFocus]

Lol, well that's a new one, not seen a subframe fall off before.  

 

[jmurray01]

29 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Lol, well that's a new one, not seen a subframe fall off before.  

 

Neither have I, but I may have done had I driven the car for any longer!