Double rear-end strut "blowout"

[DLM]

I've just complete a couple of days replacing both rear struts and supply pipes on Tom's TZD which I'm about to take on.

On Tuesday night, the car was sitting, stopped, and with engine off on a mild slope - rear end pointing down the hill. It started spurting lhm at high pressure from first one and then the other rear strut. Neither strut was visibly holed (though there was some external corrosion to be seen).

As part of the legacy was a pair of new rear struts and supply pipes, I fitted them - the supply pipes were welded onto the old struts.

Nrmal service has been resumed, but I'm still at a loss as to the precise exact failure in the first place. The rear end has recent spheres (thank god - they came off very easily despite lack of pressure), new height corrector and new doseur. Perhaps this was all too much for the original strut seals?

[jeremy]

All rather strange - I'd expect them to go when checking the LHM level or some other time when the car is raised to its max and subjected to full pump pressure with the height corrector open.

After all - when stopped the car will only drop gently at the back and the struts and seals will only pass over the surfaces that are always used.

[DLM]

Most definitely a weird one.

I wasn't there myself when the incident occured - Tom's neighbour noticed a hiss and trail of lhm from the car and went to tell him. All I could see after the event was leakage from the strut area, not the spheres or pipes. It had soaked the area around the boot and bottom of the rear subframe "bells" where the spheres locate, but not sprayed around or inside the "bells".

I've still got the cylinders, and will give them a close look later. The pipes seemed intact, but I had to use a hacksaw at the base of the unions in order to free the struts due to zilch grip on the rusty union nut faces. Possibly some pipe corrosion could have occurred inside the unions, but unfortunately I destroyed the evidence when snipping/cutting away.