YorkshireSimon

I have got a UK MY00 with the Prodrive Bilstein/Eibach (Silver) combination.

Juts in this past week I have been experiencing a heavy thumping sound whenever my N/S rear wheel goes over the slightest of bumps or pot holes in the road.

Had the car up on the jack last night and checked for play in the bushes and the likes and cannot see anything that looks out of the ordinary. Will have to wait till the weekend before I can remove the strut and check the shock out for leakages.

Question is, I know these things are supposed to be bullet proof, but has anyone out there had any similar problem with the strut failing?

Any comments I would be very grateful for!

Regards

Simon

andyp

Simon,

yup, I've got the same problem too
Mine doesn't seem to do it too badly with just me in the car, but with one extra person it does it quite a bit and with four up it's a nightmare!

Took it to my local garage and they said they could find any problems with it. The trouble is that it IS consistant - but you have to find the right bumps for it to occur. Unfortunately, the roads adjacent to the dealership don't cause any problems!

I think it's the dampers that have failed, but the garage said that if the dampers had gone then there would be signs of oil leakage. Which there isn't.

I hope you find a solution, but please can you keep me informed of any progress?

Cheers,

Andy

YorkshireSimon

Hi Andy

I have had my father-in-law out in it today, and after 500 yards, he said shocker gone. It is very distinctive as the CD player stops for 3 seconds (which has never happened before).

Had the wheel off today in daylight and had a look at the strut. Bottom is clear of any oil leakage, but the the top is very oil, dirt and water mixed covering the top half of the strut.

I am going to report it to my dealer tomorrow morning and hopefully get it sorted on the warranty. Just hope these things are covered on the 3 year/60000 miles warranty.

Will let you know how I get on, but I must say, mine is very easy to replicate, and there are plenty of roads around my dealer which will show it up, over the other 3 corners.

Cheers

Simon

Ricky

Hello mate !

Just for the record, I have a MY2000 car and I had the same problem. Went into my dealer and complained that the car had started to "bottom out", something which it had never done before ! I suggested that the shocks had become a little soft. They are covered under the 3 year warranty and I got a brand new set yesterday. Dont see you having any problems.

Ricky !

YorkshireSimon

Yeah

Booked it in for yet another big service on the 18 December. Mentioned the strut at the same time and they said they would order one in for then

It seems to be only the one that is giving the problem but I have taken both of the rear struts off for the time being and put standard ones back on with the eibach springs.

Cheers

Simon

pnebbs

Hi

I had a similar problem with my Legacy with the bilstein struts last year.

The Bilsteins are inverted, with the main part sliding up and down into the strut housing, what had happened was that driving through puddles/floods had caused water to enter the struts, this stopped the strut from moving up and down as far as it should.

I drained the struts and then drilled a 2mm hole in the base to allow water to drain out in future

Paul

YorkshireSimon

Ouch,

Don't want to start drilling holes in mine

Sounds a bit too, let's say, warranty sh4fting.

The one on mine shows a hell of a lot of oil leakage from the top of the strut, and around the piston itself. Maybe the same problem causing it though.

Cheers

Simon

pnebbs

Simon

If its an inverted Bilstein, just undo the nut on the bottom of the strut housing, unscrew the shaft of the strut, pull it out and see if you have any water in there, My Car is well past its warranty date.

Have a look at the legacy Suspension page on my website, you can see why water in the housing would cause a hydraulic lock

http://www.nebbs.com

Paul

YorkshireSimon

Cheers

Will have a look later this evening.

Simon

mutant_matt

Friend of mine has an RB5WR MY99 and has had two sets of Billie dampers replaced within 5000 miles

Matt

BugEyed

If they are still under warranty, take it back to the dealer and make it there problem! You paid for your warranty, so make use of it.

Duncan

Ricky

Have to agree on the warranty issue. They cost quite a bit to buy so why start messing with them yourself. You will get a brand new set so let it be at that. Bet it was the front left thats leaking. Thats what I was told when I went in and enquired about mine. They said they only had a couple of shocks returned, and of all those, all tended to be the front left for some reason.

Ricky !