Wanted - 2 front Shock Absorbers please

Buy or sell parts etc. Please put 'Wanted' in the title if it is a request for parts.
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MULLEY
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Wanted - 2 front Shock Absorbers please

Post by MULLEY »

Gti is in the garage & they have diagnosed the crap handling as 2 front shockers totally shagged. They tried GSF etc.. no one seems to sell em, the contacted citroen who only want £190 each. Fuxxme, are they made of gold.

I would therefore be grateful if anyone knows of anyone who sells new one's at a fraction of citroen prices please?

or is there anyone who can service the old units?

or is ther anyone who has any spare one's lying about that i could buy?

Question - are all the shockers the same on all the models? & why so expensive? (no wonder cars get scrapped).
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Ian_Fearn
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Post by Ian_Fearn »

They're not shock absorbers, they're hydraulic struts.

They are damn expensive, GSF used to sell them.

Try Pleiades, they sell them, I seem to remember them being 90quid a piece.

Why are they attributing to crap handling though? Do they creak and are they stopping suspension travel? There are ways to lubricate them.

If you nip it round one night we could have a look before you chuck a load of money at it.
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Post by jeremy »

Interesting!

BX don't have shock absorbers as such. They have hydraulic struts at the front and suspension spheres which provide the springing and damping functions. Change the sphere - and you automatically shange the damper providing you use the correct spheres.

What is happening?

Bouncing continuously - and new spheres - could be someone has fitted accumulator spheres which outwardly look the same but have no dampers in them (damper makes neck look flat with a small hole in a jet - not like a tube.)

Wrong spheres - unlikely

Hard jerky ride - flat spheres.

Jerky strut action, creaks and groans as it rises and falls, poor ride - siezed or worn struts - can be rebuilt if you can get the bits, lubrication may help - machine oil or grease on the shiny bit and LHM for the internals - full instructions are written out by Tom on here.
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1988 CX 25 GTI Turbo2 - SORN
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Post by MULLEY »

Er my mistake, not shockers, but as you have kindly pointed out front struts. Unlikely to be the spheres as the car handled like a whale when i bought it, i then changed all 5 spheres & the ride & handling improved but it still felt crap.

My understanding is that if the spheres are knackered then it goes stiff, this is the complete opposite, soft as mush, no creaking, just general soft front end handling & grip, i can get the beast into a drift @ 40-50mph by taking a corner fast, this shouldnt really be happening.

Anyone got any struts? i dont really want to pay £90 to be honest as i am planning on selling her very shortly. Suggestions?

Thanks so far.....
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Post by jeremy »

Can you read the codes on the spheres - then compare them with the codes in the table on this site.

I repeat - if the struts fail - the they sieze - and the ride is very hard. If they are really bad the usual sign is that they leak and blow off the return hoses. The car does not float with worn or damaged struts.

This sounds like a sphere problem - like accumulator spheres - which as I have stated above - have no damping at all!
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2002 Mini Cooper S - SOLD - i miss this car
1992 TXD - Scrapped in March 2014
1988 CX 25 GTI Turbo2 - SORN
1996 - AX Memphis 1.5D - Dream - SORN
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Post by MULLEY »

Hmm, spheres or are they spheres, i got them from Westroen who seemed to know their stuff, so will contact them tomorrow & give them symptoms to see what they think. They have a 3yr warranty so i am covered.

One of the struts has been leaking, but they arent hard as suggested, so perhaps the spheres are at fault. Trouble is that the car is now not insured so cant drive over to manchester & get them re-fitted.... bum!!!
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Post by Toddman »

Has this car been lowered at all?
Sounds to me as if it is eithe rthe wrong spheres or the height is too low - these cars become very spongey if lowered too much without changing the spheres to compensate

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Post by jeremy »

Never heard of that one Toddman - my car just goes rough if it doesn't attain quite the proper height.
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1990 Gti 8Valve SOLD - looks like it's been scrapped
2002 Mini Cooper S - SOLD - i miss this car
1992 TXD - Scrapped in March 2014
1988 CX 25 GTI Turbo2 - SORN
1996 - AX Memphis 1.5D - Dream - SORN
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Post by MULLEY »

Correct spheres were fitted & to my knowledge it hasnt been lowered, hopefully the mystery of poor handling Gti will get sorted.....
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Post by Way2go »

The ride is normally stiffer when you have the suspension at intermediate height, does this happen?

You say spheres are correct so presumably you knew of the differences when you fitted them and they are all in the correct place?

What is the condition of the LHM, is it green & clear liquid or is it Yellow & foamy? If the latter then you possibly have water and air contamination in the LHM which may be affecting as the air will compress in the pipes but in truth I dont think you would see as much as an effect as you are saying.
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Post by jeremy »

Way2go has a good point. Have you got a lot of new LHM? - If you have you could be suffering from new LHM syndrome - for some reason putting some (like 2 litres or more) new LHM in these things makes them feel wonderful - nice soft ride, rapid response to raising and lowering, plenty of roll on corners and for and aft pitching. Sadly it doesn't last and after a week or so it will feel normal.

I don't know why - its probably the molecules getting mashed up or something.

The other possibility is an air leak before the pump - LHM is not compressible, gas/LHM mix is. You may be able to see a green milky trace in the reservoir with the engine running. This often happens when the reservoir-pump hose has been disconnected - the ends must be good and the pipe securely clipped. As its under vacuum it lets air in and often doesn't let LHM out.

Have you done your Citroebics? (raise and lower fully a number of times to circulate the LHM and expell the gas?)
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Post by Toddman »

jeremy wrote:Never heard of that one Toddman - my car just goes rough if it doesn't attain quite the proper height.
It is a common problem - most people who lower these cars on th elever have to let the car raise to normal position before then slightly lowering he lever.
I beleive it is the reduced suspension travel that results in bump and rebound occuring so you need to uprate the damping to stop the suspension getting to the ends of its travel.

As mentioned above though setting the lever to intermediate position should help to prove this point and worth vhecking how it behaves in intermediate as well.

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tim leech

Post by tim leech »

My 16v has been lowered at some time and it does bump quite hard over potholes etc, am changing the spheres as they look old anyway.
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Post by Way2go »

tim leech wrote:My 16v has been lowered at some time and it does bump quite hard over potholes etc, am changing the spheres as they look old anyway.
Changing to good spheres also cures bouncing headlights! 8)
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2016 Mercedes A180D Sport - Auto refinement
1992 TZD Turbo - Bluebell - SORN
1992 TZD Turbo Estate - SORN
1991 Gti 16V - Blaze - crash damaged, will get repaired - SORN
1990 Gti 8Valve SOLD - looks like it's been scrapped
2002 Mini Cooper S - SOLD - i miss this car
1992 TXD - Scrapped in March 2014
1988 CX 25 GTI Turbo2 - SORN
1996 - AX Memphis 1.5D - Dream - SORN
x 8

Post by MULLEY »

Thanks for all your posts so far. I contacted Westroen (they fitted them for me). They said that it would be very unlikely that their spheres were duff, especially both front one's.

When i mentioned that the ride isnt hard, its soft a wallowy they said it must be the front struts. I mentioned that most people seem to think that its rare for struts to wear out, they said actually its quite common & infact citroen did many re-calls on the struts as they failed quite frequently.

I think i had mentioned that there was leakage from one of the struts (as per the mechanic's diagnosis). The car has always been like this, with the original spheres which had lost most of their pressure & even with the new one's. The ride did feel better damped & a bit more controlled, but still felt soft.

Westroen asked if the suspension goes up smoothly or in jerks (this is at idle) & then if it drops a bit & then goes back up. I said yes it does have those sysmptoms, again from memory its always had it. This can be attributed to the struts again.

I think that without an expert/specialist having a look at the car there will be all sorts of conjecture on what the likely problem is. Either way i cant afford to get new struts & i dont want to buy spheres just for the sake.

Anyone able to come & take a look at the old gal for me, happily pay travel costs, food & beer.

Thanks so far.
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