Accountants !

[Lennart Sorth]

It annoys me when I find solutions on my car which obviously were selected because they were cheaper. The poor wire quality of the Murena comes to mind, but now I've found a yet another similar stupidity on the Espace.

I just fitted new OZ alloys, and they look cool - except when I came home yesterday evening, and discovered the lefthand front was dirty on the inside... yes, probably a gaiter had gone, as I have seen numerous times on my Murena.  The Espace is a 2002 model, so I though it was a bit early.

And it *wasn't* the gaiter either, - it was the hose-clamp holding it onto the CV joint ... the hoseclamp is simply a band, which is "micro-riveted" in place. Probably a nice, fast and before all - CHEAP solution :-(

With the word of Roy Gillard:  "Accountants!"   :-)

I have attached a picture, and a scale, so you can see the 5 small goosebump-sized humps, which makes it out for "rivets".

I suggest JE owners (and others?) go check their hose-clamps.


PS: dammn, I got dirty cleaning that mess off - but the alloys are shining again now, so I can see if my emergency fix (using ordinary strips) lasts - while I find a better solution.

/Lennart

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[Anders Dinsen]

Oups, this is a serious problem. You should have the gaiter fixed and bearings greased properly as soon as possible or the bearings will wear out quickly, and a new drive shaft is quite expensive (and needed - as far as I know, they are not restorable.)

Thank you very much for the hint and illustrative picture!

[Lennart Sorth]

You should have the gaiter fixed and bearings greased properly

heh - being a Murena owner, I have the Elf CV molybdene grease (MoS2) at hand!
so I gave it a good handfull before fixing it temporarily with strips. Will have to find a real hose-clamp though.

/Lennart

[Anders Dinsen]

Be prepared!