Stupid accident (long story)

[dieselnutjob]

Yep, crashed my car. And it was entirely avoidable

 

Don't worry the 607 not the 604 and it's not too bad.

 

Saturday night I was out and in torrential rain. Suddenly the car started misting up.

Still, I was in crawling traffic on the A41 trying to get out of London (A40 and A4 blocked) and so I didn't need to see further than six feet to the bumper of the car in front.

The next adventure was that the A41 just before the north circular totally flooded. It looked a couple of feet deep on the left so after an hour of queueing everyone was going from three lanes to the right one where it was shallower.

Just as I got to the front a car a couple of cars ahead broke down in the flood and we all just sat there and looked and thought what the f do we do now? So I decided to try the middle lane.

It must have been maybe 10" deep and probably not a good idea in a diesel 607 but was I gonna sit there all night?

Anyway I got through that.

Then I turned left onto the north circular and straight away I knew I was in trouble because it was dark and no other lights to follow so I couldn't see a damned thing.

There was a layby or bus stop or something so pulled in and had a look at the manual. Thought maybe it's a fuse or something.

A 607 has two fuse boxes, one under the dash and one under the bonnet (it's still torrential raining).

According to the manual there is a fuse F4 40A under the bonnet for ventilation but it doesn't say which one is F4 because it's "dealer only" to change it....

Got totally soaked having a look but can't find F4.

By the way it was now nearly midnight and my 11 year old daughter was also in the car.

So I thought, fu!# it the road looks clear and maybe with a little speed some air will be pushed through and it will clear, after all it has AC and the heater matrix is hot..

Pulled back out onto the north circular.

At that place it is 5 lanes wide with two going down to the A5 and M1 and three going west over a flyover. Except it's also three down to one over the bridge as there are roadworks on the bridge.

Because it's three down to one none of the few cars there are want to make room for me and I can't see out the front, or the mirrors because it's so misted up.

I didn't make it. There was an enormous bang and the car jumped up and then came down on the M1 lane.

I got out and had a look.

I had hit the piece of concrete that is seperates the two from the three and is the start of the bridge. I never even saw it.

The bumper hit it then the inner wing then the front wheel. Wheel arch liner ripped off (but still in one piece).

Pulled into another layby not understanding why there isn't more damage as its a huge piece of concrete though I suppose it has a bit of a slope which I luckily rode up rather than stopping, but noticed that the right wheel is now about 1cm nearer the wheel arch than the left.

Called AA and waited two hours for the van.

While I was waiting I started to strip the dash to look at the fan motor and found it to be very wet in there.

I suspect that rain got into the fan and shorted it out or something.

Got towed home no questions asked from the AA but a shity phone call and abusive text from the wife.

As the car was reversed off the dolly the ventilation fan started working again

Got to bed at 4am

I took the car to a garage today because I really don't have time to fix it and the bottom ball joints needed changing anyway which I previously tried to do and failed (five foot breaker bar, heat and a lump hammer wouldn't shift them).

No damage to the body shell at all except a small crease in a bit of thin sheet that only really holds the liner on. Looks like a pair of moleys wil straight it.

The subframe has some very small kinks where the lower wishbone pivot is welded on. I mean really small.

Not sure about the lower wishbone as they are a bit curvy anyway.

Hub carrier and strut okay (well leaking oil just as before).

Alloy not perfectly quite round anymore but looks repairable.

Big scratch in the bumper which is 10 inches off the ground.

I suppose I got off lightly as if it had gone underneath I guess it would have hit the subframe or even ripped the sump off.

In fact I can't beleive that I've hit a 10 inch high block of concrete and have no bodywork damage at all. The bumper isn't cracked and only has a gouge / scratch in it.

All because I was too pig headed to stop when it really wasn't safe to carry on.

Current plan is to buy a wishbone (okay track control arm) and fit it with the new balljoints it needed anyway and see how it lines up.

I suppose if the wheel is still too far back I can use the old arm plus heat plus a winch plus a sledge hammer to move the pivot point on the subframe back to where they should be. It really can't be more than 1mm out looking at it.

Driving the 604 to work this week...

Sorry about the length of the story.

[chaseracer]

As long as you and the little princess are OK, that's all that really matters. The car is metal*, and can be fixed.

 

 

 

* Well, it's Pujo - but you get my point!

[warren t claim]

Firtly I'm glad both you and little 'un are safe and well.

 

What is the parts situation like with the 607? Is it still dealer supported? Is it worth claiming on your insurance? It will probably be written off but you will at least get to keep the salvage and bodge/repair at your own expense and maybe turn a profit.

[dieselnutjob]

It needed two ball joints anyway for the MOT and then means only two more bolts and the wishbone comes off.

Wishbone is £100 for a new one on ebay or £200 from dealer.

Wheel can be straightened for £30.

So probably £130 and half an hour labour more than what I would have spent to get through the MOT anyway.

I have £300 excess and 10 years no claims so probably not worth claiming.

Parts availability is fine from main dealers.

Lesson learnt that safety comes first not pig headed-ness and impatience.

[dieselnutjob]

what I hit

 

it doesn't slope all the way. It has a flat front that must be 4" high.

I'm not exactly sure how far up the slope has caused the scratch in the bumper. Maybe it's even higher than 10".

[myglaren]

That damned thing is barely visible anyway - I'd be making whingeing noises to the crew that dumped that in a motorway carriageway

[autofive]

if your in the AA why didnt you just stop and ring em to start with?

 

(esp. with apron grabbers in the car)

[dieselnutjob]

1. I knew it would be a long wait and wanted to get home

2. Because I was an idiot

[RedSparrow]

Glad you and your daughter are ok.

 

Blimey that concrete lump must be near invisible at night anyway, I suspect some research will show that you are not the first to hit it...

[steve austin]

Sounds like you got off lightly thank god. And that lump "dumped" in the road seriously needs reporting in case the next person isnt so lucky...........

[seth]

Glad to hear you're OK. A bit of a nightmare journey.

 

I blame TFL/the council or whoever it was that did such a shoddy job of resurfacing the Brent Cross flyover about seven or eight years ago that it immediately started breaking up and has been undergoing almost constant repair since. Hopefully by starting all over again they might do it right this time.

[scooters]

don't beat yourself up too much - conditions were atrocious and with that amount of water around short circuits are inevitable...

it was good news that you walked away, must have been terrifying

I would not bother trying to repair the car - hitting a lump like that at speed could have done damage to the car only a micrometer would pick up - you could spend 00's of quid chasing the problem only to fail.

 

My advice would be to buy the Volvo 940 for sale on this site - £350 so in reality it will cost you £50 - it will be safe, reliable and comfortable for the winter and they are big cars and when the insurance comes through you can get yourself another £607.

 

the 940 is MOTd till May but needs tax so you will only in real terms be £150 out of pocket

[Andrew353w]

As everyone else has said, you and daughter are OK & that's the big thing!

 

The weather WAS bad. I had a panic phone call from a friend, who was sitting on Regent's Park Road in Finchley, just north of the N.C.R. (North Circular Road) with failed wipers in her Seat. I was happy to help her, and eventually got there, although we live only about 5 miles away, and changed a fuse, which sorted thing out, but she's spent so long with the hazards on that the battery was flat! I jumped the car and made her wait until the car was: a/ warm, b/ de-misted, and c/ she had calmed down a bit. After about 15 minutes I was happy to let her get going on her way.

What a night for rain! It was PERSISTING down, to say the least!

[garethj]

I used to commute into London and I know that bit well, flooding there is unbelievably common, considering it's a main route into the smoke and they really should know better.

 

Glad you and the sprog are ok, can't say I'm too surprised a big old Peugeot suffers from electrical glitches

[Claypole]

That should definately have one of those plastic light/bollards on the end of it I'd have thought?

 

They've spent millions of quid (almost certain ) on the M1/M18 that I use changing all the barriers to the ones with ends on them so you can't launch off the run up ends along with concreting a shedload of the central reservation.

 

I did once witness a MK3 Golf on the M1, blown out tyre two cars in front of me, went across all 3 lanes, ran up the barrier where it went into the floor, along about 20feet of it on top then back off onto the hard shoulder but fortunately back onto all 4 wheels.

[dieselnutjob]

if there had been a barrier "with ends on" I'm sure it would have totalled the front of the car instead of just bending a suspension arm though

[dieselnutjob]

car went into a local garage yesterday.

Normally I would do something like this myself but both bottom balljoints were shot before the accident and I already had a go at removing one of them and failed (five foot pole over the spanner, lump hammer and heat wouldn't budge the offside one).

By lunchtime I was able to compare the old wishbone with the new one and the old one is clearly bent about 1cm compared with the new one, and I estimated that the offside wheel was about 1cm out compared with the other side, so it looks like I just bent the wishbone and slightly warped a wheel, which is a remarkably small amount of damage.

Unfortunately the mechanic couldn't separate the ball joint from the knuckle/hub carrier either, so I had to order a new hub carrier, wheel bearing and ABS sensor which is nearly £300 just for parts. But that's nothing to do with the accident.