Ok so I was driving home from work tonight and I got literally three houses away from mine when I heard a loud pop and the passenger front side of the iero dropped. Ok I figured it was a blow out and I wasn't really concerned I got out and looked and my tire is fine but the passenger side front is sitting on the ground and its harder the heck to turn the wheel. I am clueless its to dark to look and see the damage but I have very little knowledge of cars and was wondering if anyone here has had this happen or may know what it could be thanks for all the help!

Year of the Fiero?

Without knowing the year - I am just guessing here but it sounds like the mount for the upper A Arm has broken off or your coil spring broke and collapsed?

[This message has been edited by katatak (edited 05-22-2010).]

Its an 85 gt

ball joint

quote Originally posted by phonedawgz: ball joint

Mike

yeppers its most likely a ball joint that has failed and popped out of its socket

The same thing happened to me last summer, same side. I'm really grateful it happened as I was pulling up to my house at a low speed as I had just gotten off the interstate doing 80mph!

Definitely sound like a ball joint, no question. It'll be real obvious when you jack the car up. If that's it, REPLACE THEM BOTH WHILE YOU'RE AT IT and check the tie rod ends as a precaution. Borrow or rent a ball joint press tool from one of the parts stores and you can get the job done in an afternoon.

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[This message has been edited by Doni Hagan (edited 05-22-2010).]

If it is a ball joint how did pass your last state inspection? Also you're very lucky it did happen on the highway.

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quote Originally posted by Francis T: If it is a ball joint how did pass your last state inspection? Also you're very lucky it did happen on the highway.

not every state has them year/biyearly inspections, like md, we only need to inspect the car when you buy it, after that, its all up to you to makesure its not broke.....

~UPDATE~

OK! I got everything fixed lol I woke up this morning and jacked her up finds out you guys are pretty darn smart haha, it indeed was a ball joint it busted off right before before the threads and the front end fell out lol thats what happened. Sorry I didn't get pictures of actually working on it and before i took it out but i did take a couple pictures of the broken ball join so you guys can see what i mean here they are. And once again Thanks for all the help!

that's scary ..I would have figured it was the ball joint itself ..wonder if it was over tightened

I remember seeing a couple people now posting balljoints broken in that manner, scary part is that failure would probably have little to no warning.

Do you happen to know the source/manufacturer of that joint? Or perhaps just how old it may be?

[This message has been edited by Xanth (edited 05-22-2010).]

quote Originally posted by Francis T: If it is a ball joint how did pass your last state inspection? Also you're very lucky it did happen on the highway.

I don't know how well they do things up near you, but down here the state inspections are a joke.

No state inspections will look for a problem like that... NY, maybe PA, use inspections and they look under car on lift but they look for bad brake, bad/missing E brake parts, bad/missing catalyst. NJ, DE, and most of the rest, never look under car Except maybe looking in a mirror for the catalyst converter.

Lower ball joint... The spring has all weight on it. Not surprise it fail.
What is a surprise, how it fail... Usually ball is split from it's socket.
Very rare the stud is gone... 1 of 2 problem...
Metal fatigue from constant spring try to split the joint, hard hit on a large bump, and etc.
Over torque on nut cause metal fatigue.

dejulio, PM sent

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[This message has been edited by theogre (edited 05-23-2010).]

i live in central illinois and we have no vehicle inspections what so ever. that ball joint is scary. i have never seen one break like that. i've been a mechanic for 45 years