Thread: Broken coil springs are common

I own a Citroen Berlingo van which has done about 42,000 miles.
Turning out onto the road there was a loud thud from under the front of the vehicle followed by a definite tendency to steer to the right.
Luckily there was an open space off the road nearby where I was able to run the steering through the full lock range thinking that something had caught in the steering rack.
The mis-steer cleared and there was no further problem.
This last weekend I asked my local garage if they had time to put the van on their vehicle lift and examine the steering.
The garage owner found that the offside front coil spring had broken near the top.
He told me that over the last 3 or 4 years it has become common to find broken springs on vehicles coming for MOT, or customers having their vehicles immobilised by a broken spring.
This was the case with a customer who was backing his BMW out of the drive.
Unfortunately the diameter of the coil spring was larger at the top than the bottom so that the broken top part dropped and skewered the tyre!
He told me that replacing broken coil springs is now a weekly event.
I live in mid Wales, which has a low population density, so this is an alarming failure rate, and for me very annoying on a vehicle which has done so few miles.
Normally I would expect the coil spring to outlast the vehicles' usability.
My LandRover is 49 years old and still perfectly servicable leaf spings!

I had the same problem when I had an M3 (2002 model). Was told by BMW it had been a common problem on the 3 series range for the last 10years, when I asked if it had been going on 10years why hadnt they done something about it he looked a bit stumped....!

Yorky

More common problem since introduction of these ridiculous speed bumps.