Coming out of Loblaws, while turning left, BANG!, lower balljoint just snapped (right side)
2:30 hours later, it's now sitting at a mechanic's.Lower arm seems fine, steering linkage and tie rods too.
Now my question. It's the ORIGINAL balljoint (no greasing nipple), can it be changed by itself, or do I have to have the control arm replaced too?
As usual, Haynes is useless...
Thanks a lot guys...
Your mechanic might be able to press a new OEM ball joint in their or just get a reman'd control arm with an aftermarket ball joint with nipple. All comes down to price, a reman'd control arm with an aftermarket ball joint could cost less than an OEM ball joint pressed into the original arm by your mechanic. Ask for options. And ask yourself if you really want to grease an aftermarket ball joint every six months. The OEMs are "lubed for life", i.e., no grease nipple, as you discovered.
All done...
Lower arm was OK, he put in a MOOG ball joint, and assured me tie rods and everything else were OK... (but that I needed a new battery, but that one I figured out by myself last night when I stupidly forgot to turn off the auto-lamp feature and had it die on me after only 2.5 hours :)
(besides, whenever I have the oil changed, they always grease everything, every three months or 5,000Km (ok, last one was at 6,500Km :)
I really should've taken out the Contour's *new* hi-capacity battery before trashing it :)
Overall, it will cost me 178$ CAD tomorrow, could've been *A LOT* worse. Upper arm was sitting about half an inch from my AC line :)
Quick question about the replacement battery, I'm about to go with Canadian Tire's Eliminator battery, or something equivalent...
I don't mind spending some money on it. Right now it has an 850 AMP battery. Any ideas?
Thanks...
Find a battery with a good warranty, Sears has a good deal, but ask how long before they start "prorating" the warranty claim. The one by me goes 36 months for a free replacement, after that you start paying a little more for each month beyond 36. They'll typically go after five years or so.
If I remember correctly, DieHard is manufactured by Johnson (same as Motorcraft OEM).
Thanks, I'll check it out this weekend. Cool thing, my cousin has 25% at Sears :)
(I just don't think SEARS still has any automotive parts in Quebec)
If they do, they sure don't advertise them...
I wouldn't use anything less than 900-1000 CCA on a GM or Crown Vic. Your 850 would probably do the job, but I like a bit of extra reserve.
The guy who fixed my snapped balljoint gave me a 137$ (Canadian Dollars) for a 1080 CCA (at -18C) amps battery, which sounds really good. Didn't have time to inquire more, had to go to work...
As I said, I don't mind spending money on a good battery (since I need that to start the car). Right now, I've got the standard lead-acid stuff... Canadian Tire sells one that has 6 cylinders in it, plates all rolled up together, and I've heard of *oil* batteries (I might be mistaking)
What about Marine batteries?
I want something good... (although at -24C it still started right after whining a bit)
Besides, I'm gonna get a bigger alternator (stock one right now) since I'm thinking about powering 2 or 3 10-inch subwoofers (might even go with 2 12") with something nice like a 400-600w AMP)
(Don't worry, I'm not ricing it up, it just lacks some ooomph)
Marine batteries are designed more for a steady current over a long time, while automotive batteries are designed for surge current when starting. Unless you are going to be parked using your high output sound system for long periods of time, stick with the automotive battery. The 1080 CCA should be plenty. With a sound system that may draw upwards of 50 amps, swapping the 100 amp alternator for a 200 amp one is probably a good idea. The 200 amp one is standard on police Crown Vics, due to the lights, siren, etc.
They make 'dual purpose' batteries which have the properties of both a car and marine battery. This is a compromise solution but it's worth considering when you have a sound system that needs a lot of amps, especially when the engine is off. You could also use a dual battery system with a regular battery for the car and a deep cycle battery just for the sound system. Do some Googling for more info' on how to do this.
IIRC, the dual battery system requires the use of a battery isolator, else you risk the marine battery load drawing its battery down, then sucking the life out of your cranking battery, too. Other than that, it's pretty much wire 'em up in parallel, with the isolator on the hot wire.
That's a "Marine Starting / Deep Cycle" battery - basically the deep-cycle lead-calcium chemistry, but also has heavy enough grid construction to supply limited cranking current bursts.
Kind of pointless, you can jump-start the car just fine with a regular deep-cycle if you aren't trying to spin a 454 or 460 big-block at sub-zero outside temps.
The other special battery is the 'Absorbed Glass Mat' or 'Starved Electrolyte' battery, the Optima Spiracell or Gates/Hawker wound-cell construction battery. Will take extreme vibration, can be placed inside the car because they won't leak or outgas unless REALLY abused. But they're also $150 and up. (Ouch!) Don't waste your money unless nothing else will work for the application.
The other wrinkle is on some cars you have to add a "voltage sense" lead to the alternator from the diode isolator, since the alternator output has to be bumped up about .7V to compensate for the forward voltage drop in the diodes. The added lead tells the alternator what voltage the batteries are really seeing.
The instructions come with the diode isolator, and are fairly easy.
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