Upper ball joint caused my wreck.

[JeffBoyette]

Yesterday on the way back to work from lunch, i was driving 65 in a 55 with the flow of traffic. Although not raining the roads were wet. Seeing a little stream of water running across the road in a corner I slowed gently through the curve as i did not have time to brake before it. Having no spare tire and no gas in the tank the rear was light. The braking only made it lighter as the truck slowly and gradually started drifting in oversteer. Countersteering, off the brake and gas, it only got worse. Sliding 90 degrees down the road and i was slide hoping it would slow to the point it would straighten up.

It didnt. The rear of the truck goes off the side of the road, catapulting my truck, spinning it the other direction. Sliding down the road backwards at 50 mph i did the whole hollywood cop car drive reverse then spin it forwards. Ya that shit dont work in a truck. I managed to keep the truck going around the long curve spinning over 6 times. When i finally came to a stop, my engine was hissing and knocking and it sounded like a diesel. Traffic was comming to i pressed the gas to get out of the center of the road, and the truck just bogged. I smelled fuel strong through the vents. I held the clutch in and rolled onto the grass down the hill.

When i popped the hood all my vacuum lines were blown off the intake. and gas was dripping out my k&n. Evidently the engine reversed direction and was still running. Pumping all my air and fuel out the intake. I reattached all the hoses and fired it up. It smoke a second then idled fine with no check engine light. Cont........

 

[JeffBoyette]

When i got it home i washed the grass and mud off it and realized there was sticks and grass in my tire bead. So i go to the tire shop to have it cleaned out. When they jacked it up myself and the manager saw the passenger tire sag. After further investigation we learned the upper ball joint was worn busted and had a ripped boot on it.

My tire pressures were off on the good tires 3 over 6 under and 4 under. My more worn but not bald tires were in the rear not the front. And the ball joint through off my alignment.

Dealer estimated cost for control arm installed $585 Plus $200 for alignment $130 for oil change and $85 dollars rotate and ballance. $1000 plus tax.
Firestone out the door price using all mopar dealer parts, including "viper" oil filter and lifetime alignment $454.63

 

[JeffBoyette]

While inspecting the hoses we checked the oil and it wasnt touching the stick. 4 days prior it was right on. So somehow i lost 4 quarts of oil or more during the incident. Any idea how that happend?

 

[attila]

$1000 for all that you went through is cheap! Reading the title of your post I thought you totaled the truck!

Thanks God you didn't.

Carry on man!

 

[Stanimal]

:bs: a 4 stroke gas engine will not run backwards EVER!!!!!!


:bs:


no way really to lose 4 qts oil in htat scenerio.........

and if it did that and the rear spun out it was not your front ball joints fault. it may have been bad but that was poor driving not a ball joint.........

 

[Stanimal]

let me explain FURTHER on not running backwards. it is a 4 cycle engine. one stroke down sucks air and fuel in from INTAKE, the following upstroke compresses the air/fuel, the next downstroke is firing, the next upstroke is exhaust being pushed out. if it was turning backwards, it would suck the air/fule in then push it right back out of the exhaust............................there are valves that open and shut on each exhaust and intake stroke.. just after the exhaust closes, the intake opens, so if it were to go backwards, the exhaust would open ion the stroke atfter the intake thus no compression to fire the gas, and also no spark..........

 

[attila]

here in Italy there was a moped in the '80s which if you pushed it backwards is started on reverse, but of course it's 2 strokes engine

it was damn fun hahaha

 

[Stanimal]

here in Italy there was a moped in the '80s which if you pushed it backwards is started on reverse, but of course it's 2 strokes engine

it was damn fun hahaha

2 strokes will run backwards, because they do the firing, intake, compression and exhaust in 2 strokes instead of 4

 

[ViperJeff]

Well, if you spun your motor backwards...........

There is motor failure in your future

As far as your front end causing the wreck, I would be more inclined to believe the damage to your front suspension occured very similar to the way my front suspension was damaged

better be happy the wheel stayed attached, mine didn't

Cheers!

VJ

 

[JeffBoyette]

Do you have an explination for the lines blown off my intake, the fuel dripping out of my filter and the hissing and dieseling sound the engine made, the truck shaking when the throttle pressed and the engine stalling? What about my oil level being fine sunday and not touching my stick now, and the smoking when i started it back up. Please tell me your not calling B.S. to accuse me of lying. To do so would be ignorant. What would be to gain from lying about a foolish mistake.

And your saying busting a ball joint would not make it more difficult to regain control of a sliding vehicle? Thats ignorant. And arrogant of you to waste your time to insult me.

 

[JeffBoyette]

Well, if you spun your motor backwards...........

There is motor failure in your future

As far as your front end causing the wreck, I would be more inclined to believe the damage to your front suspension occured very similar to the way my front suspension was damaged

better be happy the wheel stayed attached, mine didn't

Cheers!

VJ

The reason i mentioned it is to find out what damage it might have done. I got my truck back at lunch today, and it idles fine, runs like it did, and the viper tech didnt notice anything different about it. Am i or the Tech overlooking something?

What happened to your ball joint?

 

[Stanimal]

your ball joint did not cause the rear of the truck to slide out, and YES, a gas engine WILL NOT fire in reverse direction, WILL NOT. NO POSSABLE way. it may have TURNED in reverse, then when you were rolling fowards again RAN in NORMAL rotation, but no possable way to run in reverse direction. i will stake my LIFE that your motor cannot run backwards in any way. so yes, i am calling BS that it ran backwards...... also, there is no way to push the fuel into the intake when it is turning backwards..... when the intake valve opens, wether engine is turning normal or in reverse, the piston is moving DOWN, causing SUCKTION NOT PRESSURE OUT. I am not being nasty but stating it cannot be done.


and if you BURNED 4 quarts of oil in that time frame, kiss the engine goodbye soon.......

4 quarts to burn in that timeframe means a SERIOUS problem.

 

[JeffBoyette]

How did my hoses blow off the intake? That could explain the running ragged right?

 

[JeffBoyette]

Ok OK OK... for those that play semantics. My upper ball joint, hindered my ability to regain control of my truck. :congrats:

 

[Stanimal]

no, none of those hoses are vaccum, they are only the crankcase evac, they will not affect the way it runs.... i have no idea why they blew off, but are not linked to anything but the crank vent and the air inlet for the iac (idle air control) and only reason the iac is attached is for clean air. i COMPLETELY removed my iac on mine and it idled fine....... it may have been flooded with unburned fuel. but again, highly doubtful as fule injection will not flood 99% of the time unless a bigger problem like a bad tune is involved.....

 

[Stanimal]

Ok OK OK... for those that play semantics. My upper ball joint, hindered my ability to regain control of my truck. :congrats:

id preffer to say speed, bald tires, and wet pavement were the reason. if the wheel was still on the truck and still turned it would not change your ability to regain control.


what if the guy (who had the exact same predicament as you) that wrecked my truck said "the passenger ball joint that broke during my stupid accident impaired my ability to regain control...."


maybe the fact that your wheel was going sideways down the road putting IMMENSE pressure on all suspension components broke it :dontknow:

 

[JeffBoyette]

Hoses attatched to the intake. IE... Brake booster Is a vacuum line. Please correct me if im wrong.

 

[Stanimal]

intake MANIFOLD? or intake pipe? also, the vaccum lines are attached with clamps, for the booster at least. if they blew off you have a serious problem bud. they are a PITA to remove without taking the clamp off....

 

[JeffBoyette]

So what your saying is your bitter your truck was wrecked, and your taking the opportunity to vent on my mishap, and are a little partial to blaming the driver.

 

[JeffBoyette]

My intake pipe did not blow off..... a few hoses attached to my intake manifold were off