how do i check front shocks for leaks

BlackJack · Post by **BlackJack** » 20 Apr 2012, 04:18

ive checked the rear shocks and found one leak and all i have is a trolley jack and axle stands, would i be able to see a leak from the front shocks by just looking under the car?

Post by **jimmy57** » 20 Apr 2012, 09:54

No, the place where shock would leak is above the spring seat made on to shock tube and inside the coil spring.
If it is a huge leak you could have oil on shock tube below spring seat but usually a smaller leak will wash away by road water spray and get absorbed by dirt.
IF the car has over 100K miles on anything but the smoothest of roads it will benefit from front struts being renewed.

BlackJack · Post by **BlackJack** » 20 Apr 2012, 11:12

ok cheers.

Would one leaking shock (rear driver side) be enough of a problem to cause the car to slightly sway and bottom out when going over bumps?

Post by **jblackburn** » 20 Apr 2012, 11:16

Yeah, it'll throw off the rear trailing link and the whole back end of the car will flop around.

Mine felt super clumsy when I had a minor accident that knocked off the alignment of one of the back tires. It felt like it was driving similar to the first time I ever went skiing.

BlackJack · Post by **BlackJack** » 20 Apr 2012, 11:22

jblackburn wrote:Yeah, it'll throw off the rear trailing link and the whole back end of the car will flop around.

Mine felt super clumsy when I had a minor accident that knocked off the alignment of one of the back tires. It felt like it was driving similar to the first time I ever went skiing.

Cheers.

What happened is my garage replaced a broken spring, rear driverr side, but thats all they replaced and im pretty sure when they replaced the spring, the shock was leaking and since then when driving around town, any bump i go over is pretty severe so ive stopped driving it for now and want to get as much work as i can done at once, because of the labour costs so am thinking to replace both rear shocks, also get a new spring for the passenger side and shock mounts.

Am not sure if i can afford to also get the front done as that seems to be a bigger job then rear.

Post by **MoVolvos** » 20 Apr 2012, 15:59

The leak can be seen where the Chrome Shaft goes in and out of the Black Strut Housing. Amazon unit is Not your Strut but for illustration only! Unless it is a catastrophic leak and goes everywhere there will be an oil stain overtime on the Black Strut Housing once it starts to seep.
https://www.amazon.com/Gabriel-G56802-Ul ... &carId=001

http://www.eeuroparts.com/Main/PartsRes ... egory=1033&

Struts do not have to leak in order for it to be bad and the bounce test do not always work as the internal valving can be shot as the case with my car.
https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... =1&t=47158

You if plan on doing the work yourself it maybe cheaper and much easier to go with a per-assembled unit and then an alignment. As far as I know there are only 2 of us so far on the forum have these units and they are working out besides the lifetime warranty.
Fronts
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005XH ... 06_s00_i00
Rears
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000E8 ... 05_s00_i00

Blessings,
BKM

BlackJack · Post by **BlackJack** » 20 Apr 2012, 16:45

Thanks for the info BKM