Argh... Emergency in France...dragging noise

[janieh]

Hi all

we've just got to st Malo on the ferry, driving off we've noticed a weird dragging/ scraping noise. It's not there when we run the engine and don't move. It seems to be something tiwards the rear left wheel. However we can't see anything and the wheel itself is tight.

We're currently waiting for a call out mechanic but any ideas on possible causes gratefully received! This isn't a good start to our holiday!

Cheers
jane

[purpletony]

hi
is there a lot of travel in your handbrake i so it could be that your rear brakes may need adjusting
fairly easy to do
hope this helps

Tony

[toomanytoys]

Most likely a brake shoe has come adrift/spring broke/backing plate rusted.. did you ragg the handbrake on on the ferry??

I am still in France but a long way south of you.. (dept 23) if you manage to get this far... will be back on later....

[Ian Hulley]

Like Si say's but could also be the brake shoe adjuster wheel retainer, we had one break and it fell between the drum and the shoe ... that made a scraping rotating sound.

Ian

[janieh]

Thanks for the advice everyone. We've got the van in a garage now and are killing some time in st malo while they investigate. Hopefully we'll be able to pick up the van at 3pm and still get down to la rochelle today! For now though having a nice coffee in he sun and trying to stay calm.

[janieh]

Hello
been back to garage and he said it's the brake. There were meant to be twosprings but there is only one and it's dangerous. Eek. Anyway, he's trying to get the part off another guy and if not he may be able tofix it with somehing else (his imagination!?) so a bit more waiting to see if he can do it. Fingers crossed we'll be on our way later.

JAne

[toomanytoys]

May have some spares here (will go check..), could post, but would need address and do it before post office closes at 16:30......

[janieh]

May have some spares here (will go check..), could post, but would need address and do it before post office closes at 16:30......

ah, thank you! That's nice, but I didn't get back on here till just now. The saga is ongoing... I'll put details below.

[janieh]

The saga continues...
We went back to the garage. They couldn't get the part so had done a bit of a bodge that they think is fine. It was a proper garage/ dealer so we trusted them on that. The brake does feel a bit juddery though when I put it on at speed. Worries me slightly!

Anyway, so they did that and we left st malo at about 5pm. After about 3 hours driving we were fortunately on a slow bit of an A road when the van started making a weird noise.( A different one). We stopped and checked the rear wheel they'd been fixing and the nuts were really loose! We tightened them loads. Then we got going again and about 10 minutes later it sounded bad again! The nuts were so loose that they could be unscrewed by hand. A nice French man has nowgiven us the use of his drive for the night! We've had the emergency pickup guy out and he's ihtened them more and is convinced it'll be fine tomorrow.

I'm just a bit worried that there's something more inherently wrong with the nuts or thread that means it'll happen again tomorrow! Aargh. They are BBS alloy wheels (White edition) 15". We have actually had this happen once before and they were ok after being tihtened properly. However, they looked a bit funny as if some of the wheel was a bit shredded when they were loose.

Sorry this is very long! We're so far having a bit of a saga and not quite the relaxation I wanted. We still need to get to la rochelle tomorrow and eventually down to the Mediterranean. Hope we make it!

[docklad]

get some locktight on them for the immediate and then think about a day in the sun checking for faults. Oh and don't forget to chill. These stories are history in the making. I've got one or two of my own. It'll all be over by xmas

[simoncummins]

Hi have the wheel nuts got collars on for alloy wheels as steel wheel nuts dig in to the alloy. Not sure this is the case with vw's but it is on fords.

[Ian Hulley]

It's the Fjord ones that people use on their alloys.

Another example of why it's bestest to stick to std steel wheels imho.

Ian

[janieh]

Thanks for the advice about the wheel nuts. I'm not sure about the collar as it was all like that whenwe bought the van.I think we're going to change the wheels when we get home!

Anyway, we headed off this morning, stopping several times to checkthe wheel. It didn't come loose at all this time so we were being wimps or the guys wheel wrench had a lot more leverage than ours! So we arrived safe and sound at the campsite at 10:30 this morning! Very relieved to finally get to la rochelle and relax for a few days. Hopefully the next leg to carcassonne will be less eventful!

Jane

[Ian Hulley]

We may see you down there, we're heading down that way departing Saturday and should be in't South by Tuesday

Ian

[toomanytoys]

Well we are still here.. but we are about 4- 5 hours due east of you now.....