hi all just a quickie

I went to look at a 51 plate octavia 1.9 tdi manual today and overall i was very happy with the car but there was one thing bothering me.I had done an mot check and it turns out that in the last mot it has got slight movement at the upper attachment of the macpherson strut.Is this expensive and how much would i be looking at to get this sorted?

Cheers

Gary

hi all just a quickie

I went to look at a 51 plate octavia 1.9 tdi manual today and overall i was very happy with the car but there was one thing bothering me.I had done an mot check and it turns out that in the last mot it has got slight movement at the upper attachment of the macpherson strut.Is this expensive and how much would i be looking at to get this sorted?

Cheers

Gary

anyone please ?

what do you mean by upper attachment of the strut, there is but one attachment which is the top mount, which is a common part to have to change, best practice dictates change both sides at the same time (as you prob will have to soon after anyway as new one will put stress on old one), this is the part you need(if it is top mount) http://www.vwspares.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=120 which is not expensive and would take me about 45 mins to change (a side) so factor a couple of hours labour at a garage. I will let you work out what garages charge as it depends where you are and who you use. I suspect about £100 is would be about correct.

I shouldn't think that it is much to worry about. It is tested by jacking up both sides of the front under the body so that the suspension hangs and vertically levering with a bar under the front tyre. In this condition the suspension is not in its natural state and slight movement in the upper mount is considered not unusual, some Ford models will show around 5mm of movement and will move laterally and vertically and still only get an advisory.

I got this on my last MOT, I was planning on leaving it for now until I get around to changing the lower wishbone bushes when they fall to bits more. According to Mr Haynes it looks quite straightforward to do the top mounts.