Offside Coil Spring

[Dave63]

Hi my ford Galaxy 02 plate failed its Mot and one of the fails is that the Offside Front Coil Spring Is not situated correctly, I ve never changed the shock spring etc so don't know quite how to put this problem right. So could someone please advise me how and where to situate the coil correctly and do I need to strip the lot or can I just compress the spring and turn it into place. ( the same garage has done my mot for the last 4 yrs so don't understand why it hasn't been picked up b4)  Thanks for your time and help.

[insanitybeard]

Welcome!

Chris wrote an article regarding changing the front suspension top mounts which involves removing the strut from the vehicle here which outlines the procedure, but I'm not sure what they mean by the spring isn't situated correctly- they don't normally shift from their mounted position unless something else like the bearing or top mount has failed.

[sasquartch]

When I did my top mounts the metal cups that locate the ttop of the spring were badly worn, the hole that the strut rod went through was worn distinctly oval and wouldn't locate the spring and top mount very well

Perhaps that's whats happened here ?

Unfortunately it's a strut out job but other than needing a decent spring compressor isn't a hard or expensive part to replace

[Chrispb]

Hello and 

Situated sounds an odd word to use here.
Not seated correctly makes more sense.
Springs don't normally move when in position they can't but am wondering if the lower coil has broken but then the tester should know that.
Have a look at the lowest coil the end should be contacting the stop peg on the strut.
Green arrow shows end of coil
Red  arrow stop peg
[attachimg=1]

[Dave63]

Thank you all yep its because the spring isn't up flat against the block so really looking forward to stripping that all down, thank you again .

[insanitybeard]

If the issue is simply that the spring needs rotating within the cups then I'd try jacking up the offending side, taking the wheel off and seeing if you can get a couple of compact spring compressors on the spring and then compressing it just enough so that you can rotate the spring slightly, not sure if there's enough room in the wheelarch to this but it might be worth a go before going to the trouble of taking the strut out to do it.

[gregers]

wonder if you could try using a ratchet strap if room is at a premium?

[bigdave982]

Big moles grips on spring and knock it round😊😊

[sasquartch]

Think you need to determine why its out of alignment - a spring shouldn't move on its own

If you're sure it was correct (ie because it's the original or was correctly assembled when last replaced) the only thing that can really cause  the spring to move is a failed or seized top mount.

Id definitely be inclined to take the strut out and check

Im assuming its only one side that has the problem ??

[Dave63]

I think before I brought it some work was done on the car and hadn't been checked the car itself has been through  an mot at the same place 4 yrs on the trot and the mot tester I had this time must have gotten out of bed the wrong side he was picking points which the previous yrs weren't mentioned but got it done with out stripping everything down just used 1 spring clamp and put it where its meant to have been, I ll keep a check on it and see how we go thanks for the pointers and to all who have pointed me in the right direction thanks PS the reason I say that work was done prior to me having the car is that the mot guy said the joints on the exhaust were missing well I've never touched the exhaust all the time I ve had it and its passed the mot 3 yrs on the trot so that makes me think the previous owner never placed it properly. Just going to put a new one on anyway as its getting a little well worn.