Have you ever seen a shock absorber fail by freezing up? The right front strut on my daughter's Accent has become solid, crashing hard over speed bumps. I've got new ones on order, but this is a first for me to see this mode of failure in a shock. There are signs of oil leakage at the bottom of the spring seat, so it's possible that the piston just galled up in the bore.
Several times. Always on a FWD car, always a front strut.
One of the rear shocks on my mom's Neon froze up, we freed it by heating it with a torch. It was fine until I inherited the car like 8 years later.
Yep. Seen both fronts and rears, shocks and struts.
Had it happen on a well-used Bilstein HD about 10 years ago.
Well. I guess you're never too old to learn something new.
When the seals leak, they leak in both directions, and water will get into the shock and freeze solid.
I have also seen internal bumpstops fail and plug the internal passages.
It's been a while, but I have had cars in with the suspension held completely down on one corner. Lift the car up in the warm shop, and in a while, you hear a noise and suddenly the wheel is where its supposed to be. Always with a badly worn strut.
Back in the early 80's, Volvo used a De Carbon strut in the GLT, and sometimes they would seize at full extension. No temperature element obvious, but they got so stiff they would balloon the top of the strut tower.
I remember as a kid my family had a 1995 Taurus (wretched, wretched car) and the shocks leaked water into them and then froze solid in the winter. Most jarring, harsh, spine-rattling impact I've ever felt.
They also tend to lock up when you bend the housing/shaft due to impact.
NickD said:I remember as a kid my family had a 1995 Taurus (wretched, wretched car) and the shocks leaked water into them and then froze solid in the winter. Most jarring, harsh, spine-rattling impact I've ever felt.
Since I'm in Florida, freezing isn't the issue - it's 75 degrees outside right now. This is more permanent than that, probably galling or rust.
I saw this once on a coworkers 15 year old corolla, it only had 53k miles on it.
On two of my cars I found almost seized shocks, they handle real funny with a stuck shock on one corner and a weak one on the opposite corner.
akylekoz said:I saw this once on a coworkers 15 year old corolla, it only had 53k miles on it.
On two of my cars I found almost seized shocks, they handle real funny with a stuck shock on one corner and a weak one on the opposite corner.
A wee bit off the original topic, but the weirdest feeling car I ever drove had a blown left front strut and right rear shock, with good right front and left rear. It bounced diagonally.
Streetwiseguy said:akylekoz said:I saw this once on a coworkers 15 year old corolla, it only had 53k miles on it.
On two of my cars I found almost seized shocks, they handle real funny with a stuck shock on one corner and a weak one on the opposite corner.
A wee bit off the original topic, but the weirdest feeling car I ever drove had a blown left front strut and right rear shock, with good right front and left rear. It bounced diagonally.
Yep, I'm feeling a bit of that right now, especially when going over the rhythmic bumps of a causeway bridge. Can't wait to change that tomorrow with the new shocks.
jstein77 said:NickD said:I remember as a kid my family had a 1995 Taurus (wretched, wretched car) and the shocks leaked water into them and then froze solid in the winter. Most jarring, harsh, spine-rattling impact I've ever felt.
Since I'm in Florida, freezing isn't the issue - it's 75 degrees outside right now. This is more permanent than that, probably galling or rust.
I had a GMC cute-ute in for a stiff ride after it tied up a bay for a couple days with the suspension drooped while the 3.6 got its timing chains replaced. Came back after the weekend with "stiff ride eversinceya".
Damndest thing. The rebound damping got increased by a thousand. You could push the suspension down, and it would just stay there for minutes. On the road, the suspension would compress once and then it would stay packed.
Dodge pick up's in the 80's would snap the shock mounts off due to frozen shocks
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