Hey all,


I brought my 2000 Excursion in for preventative service on the u-joints and asked for the play in the steering to be fixed. Truck has 166000 miles and other than the sloppy steering ran great. The shop replaced track bar/stabilizer - front end and removed & replaced 2 u-joints - rear driveshaft. Picked up at shop, drove about 20 miles (home & back to shop) and reported I felt a slight vibration. Owner glossed over concern. I told owner I was going to take for alignment since he did a measuring tap alignment that he felt was good enough. Within 5 miles of shop universal grenaded on highway while traveling at 50 mph. Found the drive shaft on road behind truck and slip yoke on other side of highway 3 lanes away. Took the parts to a driveshaft service to evaluate, clean & balance parts. Shop reassembled driveshaft with u-joints and told me to come get it. Surprise, I started up the truck and the whole truck was shaking/vibrating. Shop now says engine mount is broken and that caused universals to blow. They are taking no responsibility for faulty repair. They did not offer to pay me back for the tow or drive shaft evaluation. They now say they can't fix the engine mount cause they don't have a lift.
Question: can the universal joint failure cause the engine mount to break? Informed feed back is greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

when you say play in the steering wheel, what type of play do you experience? I'm getting a weird type of steering as well, it feels like the steering is loose and the slightest touch could have me in a ditch. I replaced my steering stabilizer/damper but I still feel like mine has a slight issue.

 

play as in steering feels boaty. constant adjustments while steering.

 

Like it kind of feels like you are oversteering the vehicle, but are hardly touching the wheel??


If so I have that same feeling, what is needed to repair??

 

the shop is a state inspection station. They had inspected the truck ~6wks before we brought it in for preventative service. they also said they test drove it after fixing the universals the second time and still missed the broken engine mount during test drive....

 

Is the engine mount broken? Front motor mount or rear? Request to see the parts. I don't see you having a major driveline failure due to now having an engine mount broken. I'm not saying it couldn't happen but I would think you would have noticed a lot more vibration if it was bad enough to shake your driveshaft out of the truck a day after they replaced the u-joints.

 

A shop that does a tape measure alignment and can't change an engine mount? Sounds like even if you did sue, there isn't much to win.

 

Sure sounds like poor workmanship to me. If you have the paperwork from the inspection 6 weeks prior, that may give you some leverage in getting your truck fixed. I sure would not want the same shop effecting the repairs, however.

A failed u-joint could hardly take out a motor mount.

 

Worn motor mounts may slightly decrease the driveshaft u-joint lifetime but it is not likely that it would directly cause them to fail. Most likely they were on their last legs anyway and even if the mounts were good the u-joint would fail anyway. The chances of making someone else pay for the problems are not very good IMO. With your vehicle's age and mileage the motor mounts' failing are not unusual. U-joints tend to be a little more robust but needing replacement at 166k miles is not that unusual.


I know you are frustrated and trying to find someone to blame but sometimes these types of problems are hidden and not obvious to the prior owner. With an older vehicle people often get complacent and ignore creaks, groans and other noises. Since it is working fine anyway they ignore them rather than treat them as a warning that something is going to fail.


Although this is too late in retrospect when buying any used vehicle you should expect a minimum of $2k in repairs above and beyond what is found in the pre-purchase inspection. While a PITA on your part you still should be within that $2k reserve for unexpected issues.

 

Play in steering could be caused by the steering box. I had mine adjusted once then replaced it with a Redhead unit.

 

Please, let's keep the feedback limited to the mechanical, since FTE doesn't allow legal discussions.

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Thanks.

Stewart

 

Wander, sloppy vague steering.... what have you replaced lately? At 150k miles plus, might as well plan new ball joints, steering linkage, hub bearing, front u-joints, steering box and make sure your brakes aren't frozen in any way. If you are towing, you probably need to look into a leaf spring upgrade. If everything sn't where you KNOW for sure it is in excellent condition, then you really have no way of curing what you are describing from my experience. I had the same symptoms as others are describing here, and once I rebuilt the front end and had a REAL alignment done, it drives like new, not a worn out 180k mile 4.25 ton cinder block.

 

just got pictures from the new shop I had the truck towed to...not an engine mount....lets try transmission! Shop said they saw this once before on a big truck that dropped it driveshaft on the highway.

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/136891...posted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/136891...posted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/136891...posted-public/

 

YIKES! That looks a bit more expensive