[ruzbehxyz]

After one year of ownership, I realised that the Ford Endeavour tilts / sags to the left and this is an engineering defect according to me.

A typical way to figure this out is to measure the height from the wheels to the top of the wheel arches. You will notice that the left side is 10 to 20 mm lower than the right at both front and rear wheels. On my vehicle it is about 10 mm.

Front left side - 28 cm. from body to top of alloy.



Rear left - 28 cm. from body to top of alloy.



Front right / Driver side - 29 cm. from body to top of alloy.



Rear right - 29 cm. from body to top of alloy.



The appromixate difference is about 1 cm. or 10 mm., which becomes quite apparent on slopes and when a heavy adult sits in the passenger side. On some Endeavour' it is higher.


A crude way to figure this out is to drive at moderate speeds on a highway and take sharp right turn, the vehicle will tilt to the left. On the other hand, if you turn to the left, the vehicle straightens out, or tilts to the left only, depending on the speed.

Effects of this:-
1) Uneven tyre wear. (My threads on the sides have gone, while the centre has good depth remaining. One can easily see this).
2) Uneven brake pad wear. (My rear brake right pad was totally worn out while rear left had 50% life).
3) Uneven weight distribution.
4) Pulling to the left, increases after the wheel alignment is gone. Proper alignment makes the vehicle drive straight, but eventually leads to uneven tyre wear.
5) Car feels wonky to drive, if any tyre has lesser pressure.


Even when the vehicle is parked on a flat even surface, you can notice that the vehicle is tilting on the left.
While many roads in India are sloped to the left*, this aggravates the issue more and the Endeavour tilts more due to the weight.

*so that water does not collect in the centre of the road and towards the divider, and drains away from the road. If this slop is not good enough, there is a huge chance of aquaplaning.


One of the arguments is that the fuel tank is located on the left rear side of the vehicle. However on an empty tank or full tank, there is hardly any difference on the tilt.
Some owners in Australia have installed high capacity fuel tanks (125 litres, 140 litres). They initially thought this was one of the reasons, but it was proven otherwise.


This issue is widely discussed on Australian forums, but the Everest and Ranger owners have not come to a conclusive solution. Many owners have tried various solutions like:
1) Tyre alignment. (Most basic thing – does not work).
2) Shocks adjustments.
3) Replacement of shocks to performance shocks like ARB, Ironman etc.
4) Replacement of front bearings, bushing, tie rods, upper and lower ball joints.

I replaced front wheel bearings, tie rod ends, upper and lower ball joints got an alignment but the left side of my truck leans down between a 1/4 to 1/2 inch lower than the passenger side. Could this be a bad shock? The coil isn't broken. Any thoughts? My friends ranger which is the same as mine does it too. What causes this and how does one fix it?

Source: http://www.fordrangerforum.com/suspe...ning-left.html

Some threads on Australian forums:
https://everestclubaustralia.proboar...car-sits-wonky

https://www.carsguide.com.au/car-adv...#disqus_thread

https://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=427660

The issue has also been taken up with Ford Australia, but they have concluded that the tilt within +- 20 mm. is normal.

On one thread, it was noted that this tilt was deliberate to compensate for single man driving. However this is incorrect. Being 95 kgs., I tried it but it hardly makes any difference. Even if it makes a difference it will only be in the front. What about the rear? So the vehicle will still run uneven.

The US, the Rangers have this problem, but on the driver's side as in US it is left hand drive. The Everest is not sold in US, but the Ranger is and the issue exists there as well.

Overall, I can sum it up that this is a Ford inherit defect and is noted in cars right from the 90's.

Will discuss this with my service station and update. I am trying to figure this out and solve it. I would be happy to see feedback from existing Endeavour owners.

[Jeroen]

If there is no play in the suspension components as such, this is most likely to a problem with the springs and or the mounting of the springs.

I am not familiar with this vehicle but on many cars the springs rest against some sort of bushing or ring.

Either the spring or that bushing wears out, crumples etc. In some cases the springs need to installed in a particular orientation. Over time they might rotate somewhat and cause difference in height as well.

Forget about all those other components. Ride height when standing still is determined by the springs and the way they are mounted, nothing else.

I don’t buy that up to 20mm would be normal. Ask them for where that is stated in the official work shop documentation.

Good luck.

Jeroen

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Is it because of more kerb weight on the left side?

You can find put by visiting a weigh bridge. Take both the left wheels (if that isn't possible, take both the right wheels) on the platform and record the weight. Then take the entire car on the platform and again record the weight. Both the times, let it be an empty vehicle (without you). Typically, a weight bridge will charge around Rs. 50 - 100 each time.

If the weight recorded with the entire vehicle on the platform is twice the weight recorded with one side on the platform then the weight distribution is symmetrical.

If there is more weight found on the left side, then it is by design. Depending upon the weight distribution, we can see what to do.

[PrideRed]

I see this has already been reported by many elsewhere. But for measurement sake, shouldn't the tire wear impact too? I mean 1CM extra wear can also cause car to tilt? This can vary the flex of suspension. I will check same in my Endeavour too.

[sagarpadaki]

If possible swap the coil springs left to right and right to the left and see if the tilt shifts to the other side. If so, the coil spring on the drooping side has weakened and sagging more compared to the other one. In this case, replacing the weak coil spring should solve the problem. You can try this at front or rear first and depending on the outcome you can chose to do it on the remaining end as well. Usually fronts are more time consuming to replace since they are wound around the strut. To remove them you have to remove the whole strut assembly. This is how it's on most road cars. I do not know about how it's on the the truck! Select the end where it is easy to remove.

[Jeroen]

Not sure if this is exact, but your front suspension should look something like this:



This also shows you any and all parts that can affect ride height. The shocks themselves have no bearing on ride height. The bushing on the bottom trailing arm does of course. But when they show wear, you usually start hearing them knock about and your tires wear unevenly.

The first thing you should do is to compare the right and the left shock/spring assembly. Try and take some measurements and see if you can find any differences.

Good luck

Jeroen

[haisaikat]

Can this be a common issue in BOF cars? I see this in my Crysta too although I have not measured the height of wheel arch from the ground while at rest but I have observed the car pulls to one side while driving over roads that have a lateral slope, on proper flat highway this does not happen more of a city road issue.

I have showed this to the Toyota service center and they told me BOFs are very sensitive to road angles, not sure how much of that is true.

In your case, may I suggest that you also measure with a spirit level if the road is really flat (place it at 3-4 places on the surface below the car) and then once on the car floor.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by PrideRed

I see this has already been reported by many elsewhere. But for measurement sake, shouldn't the tire wear impact too? I mean 1CM extra wear can also cause car to tilt? This can vary the flex of suspension. I will check same in my Endeavour too.

Ford has a different tyre pressure mandated for the front and rear in the Endeavour. 32 front and 35 rear if my memory serves me right. Many average out and fill say 34 all around. Would that have something to do with it?

[Tgo]

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

After one year of ownership, I realised that the Ford Endeavour tilts / sags to the left and this is an engineering defect according to me.

Just quoting myself from an old thread. I too had this illusion of my car (Figo) sagging to one side. I ended up concluding that the car has no sag. The drive is uneven and gives the illusion of the car sagging to one sde.

Originally Posted by Tgo

I didn't measure the difference as I was too disappointed to see it there in the first place. Guesswork says its close to 1.5 ~ 1.75 cm. Can experts suggest what could have caused it? What to do now?

[abhishek46]

The engine & gearbox on the Endeavor is mounted longitudinally, aligned with the center line of the car.
So, it is not likely that this tilt is cause by engine/gearbox weight.

It could be due to the suspension design/springs.

[hserus]

I seem to have the exact opposite issue. Is there a slight jerk or tilt towards the driver's side when accelerating or even gunning the engine while the car is stationary / parked?

[1.2TSI7DSG]

Measuring the centre itself is a variation so can you take this to a wheel alignment person and repeat the measurement on the stand? It will give you all 4 tyres on a flat plane to measure on. Do bounce the car a bit to release any braking compression stresses in the suspension.

1. Ground to fender both sides
2. Ground to the centre of front bolt of the lower control arm


These two measurements will help sort out whether the ride height setting itself has changed or there is an issue with the spring/spring mounts.

On other note do check for the following:
1. Damage to bushings
2. Damage to top/bottom mounts damper/spring assembly
3. Anti roll bar links and bushes

Usually this difference is within acceptable limits. But as you also observed tyre wear, brake wear and the "wonky" feeling which I think would point towards a drop in stiffness of the anti roll bar mechanism.

[pgoyal1996]

I'd like to bring across a problem which has recently started to unearth in my inherited MS Alto 2005 Lxi which has run upwards of 1.5 Lakh Kms.

What once happened was my father was driving it on Delhi Haridwar highway on the Roorkee Muzffarnagar stretch near to Manglaur. In earlier days, when the roads were quite narrow and people preferred to use canal roads to save some time, the traffic at junctions was commendable.

Courtesy of that mess; the FR LH wheel landed in a pit which was was considerably deep for an alto and its apparently smaller tires.

The car though came out of that pit in a single piece, developed stresses at inner areas of body and chasis.

The result: We had a broken shocker mounting area which can be seen when you open a bonnet [In newer cars one would only find a screw mounting, while in earlier cars it was a screw plus two other screws fastened on the body.

This was later on repaired, when he came to know, via me that, the mounting part can be independently sold and doesn't require whole of the FR LH area to be replaced.

Fast forward two years, and when I drive on this stretch now [Noida - Meerut via DME - Muzffarnagar - Roorkee] it hardly takes me 2.5 Hrs to complete that whole stretch. Thanks to the exquisite DME stretch which has cut down the 2 hrs time earlier wasted in Modinagar - Muradnagar strecth.

The car started bobbling at speeds above 80 Km/h[More regressively above 80 Km/hr and noticeable if minutely observed at lower speeds] - Firstly I though that there was some bend in Rim, which certainly wasn't the case.
Then, I got the balancing checked and tyres were actually out of balance - so much so that one tyre on the RR LH required upto 30 gms of weight.

I was relived that the problem is now solved and I can drive in peace - this was Saturday 5 PM.

Came Monday morning - regular ordeals of leaving from hometown and going towards work town(Noida) - the car started bobbling again - it was more disturbing this time. Did not switch on AC and my precious songs time was also lost - only in efforts to figure out problem.

I got the tire inspected again but to no gains. The following day i.e. Tuesday, I requested my manager for sometime around lunch break citing the seriousness of the issue with car he allowed me - and I went to the MASS close to my company, M/s Rahul Motors, Sector 81, Noida.

There, he inspected the vehicle, drove it, there was also a new observation that the FR LH tyre was interfering with the body panels upon normal breaking (This was new and a shocking revelation). He opened the job card - put the vehicle on lift. it started to fly in air(not literally) and what I saw was disastrous. Cracks in FR End member of chasis and Wheel Well, Inner, LH - courtesy of the incident wherein the vehicle got caught in a roadside pothole, deep enough to engulf Alto's tiny tyre.

Attaching pictures - Should be of help.

Thanks

[Tgo]

Originally Posted by hserus

I seem to have the exact opposite issue. Is there a slight jerk or tilt towards the driver's side when accelerating or even gunning the engine while the car is stationary / parked?

The internals of the engine rotating in one direction have a counter-acting torque on the engine block which is transferred to the chassis through the mounts. It should be absorbed by the mounts. In older vehicles when the mounts are bad, it gets transferred to the chassis. Also the case in high powered engines.

You can get the mounts inspected if it is bothering you.

Originally Posted by pgoyal1996

Attaching pictures - Should be of help.

Wow!! This looks like a case of shoddy repairs done after the incident you mentioned. Which could have led to further cracking in other members of the chassis.

Do share with us what you plan to do about it and how it is going to be corrected as per Maruti.

[veedub89]

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

After one year of ownership, I realised that the Ford Endeavour tilts / sags to the left and this is an engineering defect according to me.


Will discuss this with my service station and update. I am trying to figure this out and solve it. I would be happy to see feedback from existing Endeavour owners.

I don't think it is a defect to be honest.

Do you do a lot of highway runs? Almost all highways are banked to the left slightly so as to allow rain water to drain off to the side of the road.

Under these conditions, even when you are driving straight the car is actually tilting to the left due to the banking of the road. Left side suspension and its components "carry" the weight of the vehicle and can tend to wear out faster or sag, so to speak.

In a car like the Endeavour you won't notice the banking while you drive owing to the fact that it is a heavy vehicle. Take a lighter vehicle on the same stretch and you will notice the slight correction in the steering that you have to make to keep the car in a straight line.

I could be wrong but it could be worth looking into.