Shocks and Struts

Well, I wouldn't change shocks at all unless the ride was rough or the shocks were visibly leaking. Check them out. if no inherent problems, 75000 miles is usually recommended.

bad coil springs

Hydraulic and gas charged shocks have the same amount of oil, the difference is the gas charge.

A hydraulic shock has equal amounts of dampening force in both directions. Gas charged shocks usually are pressurized with Nitrogen. Hydraulic shocks have a tendency to fade as the oil heats up and gets agitated by the shock, creating air bubbles. These air bubbles cause the shocks dampening ability to fade. The nitrogen charge keeps the air bubbles under control, so they can not affect the shocks performance. A gas shock will extend on its own due to the gas charge.

General rule of thumb is that hydraulic shocks ride better, nitrogen charged shocks are stiffer, but last longer and don't have shock fade problems.

The prognosis of an individual patient in shock depends on the stage of shock when treatment was begun, the underlying condition causing shock, and the general medical state of the patient.

you just recover your mom

New shocks, rear sway bar, front strut bar. On most car a camber kit is recommened. Also need to get an alignment after it's lower If you have about one grand you can get some coilovers.

I t can cause a shimmy in the front end while driving if it is wore bad enough. It can cause your tires to wear abnormally. If it completely breaks, it can cause you to loose control of steering on the tire that it broke off of.

120,000 miles. Denso SK20R11

After some negotiation, I was able to get a Nissan dealer to replace them for about $600, including parts and labor.

Go to this link to learn all about shocks and struts.

http://free-auto-repair-advice.blogspot.com/2007/05/shocks-and-struts-what-they-do-when-to.html

Rick

I'm a retired ASE Master/L-1 Technician. I still keep current with the latest automotive technology. Visit my blog for cool articles and TSB's: http://free-auto-repair-advice.blogspot.com

In a nutshell, they recommend replacing struts about every 80,000 miles depending on your driving conditions. I replaced mine at 135,000 on my 1999 Grand Prix. It started bouncing too much on the bumps and making a creaking noise on bumps.

On my 1989 Town Car Sig Ed I replaced front and rear shock absorbers. The trick to the rear ones was to place jack stand under the frame just in front of rear tire right before the frame starts to veer off around the tire well. Then remove the rear tire (do one side at a time). Okay now get a light and look up under the tire well you'll see the top nut of the shock absorber with just enough clearance to get your wrench on to it. Now the fun part. You will most likely be turning the the shaft of the shock absorber as you turn the top nut. By the way with that small clearance you'll be making only very small turns on the nut and repositioning the wrench a lot. So back to the fun part. To prevent turning the shaft of the shock with each turn of the nut you'll probably have the best luck by placing a locking vice grip around the shaft very, very tightly or it will not make a good hold on the shaft and just slip with each turn. Now on my shock absorber the shinny shaft of the shock was concealed under a plastic dust tube. Darn. But with a hack saw blade (blade only - no handle) I was able to make small cuts as I hand turned the plastic dust tube and also a needle nose pliers to mangle the plastic enough to get the vice grips around the shaft - get that vice grip tight enough so that the teeth will leave a mark on the shaft. You won't be needing that dust tube or shaft anyway and my Monroe shocks did not come with a plastic dust shield - it was all metal concealing the shock unless you fully expanded the shock only then could you see the shinny shaft. So just start removing the top nut until is off and you will be able to compress the shock by hand enough to pull the top shaft out of its rubber and metal washers. Try to keep those rubber and metal washers just in cast your new shocks don't come with them - make note of how they are orientated at the least. By the way don't worry that your suspension will fall apart with the removal of the shock. You could and probably should place something under the suspension for added safety before removing the top and bottom nuts of the shock. Now remove the nut holding the bottom of the shock absorber. This part for me was easier to do by socket wrench with a very long bar as this nut will most likely be very tight and rusted on. I also used some oil and wire brush to clean the exposed threads. I also made sure the car was very safely locked into position with the parking brake and tire chocks and the remaining three tires and also put the tire I had removed next to the jack stand flat on the floor and under the frame just in case of an accidental movement of the car as I was under trunk with by big ass breaker bar and socket doing all sorts of jerking with the tools until the nut came off. After the nut is removed you should be able to lower the shock through the suspension and depending how high you jacked up the car you may have to compress the shock by hand so that it will slip out the bottom. Now clean up the shaft and threads where the bottom of the shock is attached. Also try to clean up around where the top hole for the shock goes. Follow the instructions to install the new shock. Basically just exercise the air from the new one and slide it in from the bottom (you may have to hand compress it a few times until you're able to get it into place). Hopefully your new shocks came with the upper rubber and metal washers. Be sure to orientate them like the old ones (one metal & rubber on bottom with the raised circular part facing up and one rubber on the top side with the raised circular part facing down and one metal washer to go on top of that. I used a magnetic tool to help placing the metal washer and top nut into the confined space. Start tightening the nut in what ever means works for you. Just make sure the rubber washers are centered in hole before you start to compress them as you tighten the nut. There are usually certain torques required but without specialty tools you will want to tighten the top nut until the rubber washers start to squish and get bigger in diameter than the metal washer. Use your best judgment here or take the car to a mechanic after you get it all back together or better yet have a friend who is a mechanic stop by to check your work. By the way I had no problem with the shaft on the shock turning as I tightened the top nut - I just held the metal tube with one hand while tightening the top nut. Again put the bottom of the shock on the shaft (my new shock came with a metal spacer to put on before or after the shock) and torque it down to spec. Put your tire back on and do the other side. This was one of the best things I ever did to the twenty some year old car. I can drive over the rail road tracks now with barely any vertical bounce. By the way, while you working back there you might as well check the level of lube in the gear thing in the center of the rear axle and inspect the brake lines where they attach to the back of the tire mounting hubs for leaks. May as well look at the gas lines too. By the way, I'm not a mechanic and have never done anything other than a couple of oil changes in my life. But when I saw this awesome car for sale I could resist from buying it. Here are a few of the things I had to figure out how to do on my own. Remove the upper and lower manifolds to replace gaskets. Install new radiator, water pump, and all the rubber hoses that antifreeze goes through. Replace almost all vacuum tubing. New alternator. New power steering. New fan clutch. New battery. Have the Transmission flushed. New spark plugs, wires, distributor cap and rotor. Leak in air conditioner fitting. A/C recharge and leak test. Complete antifreeze system flush and leak test. New belts. Fix cruise control. Replace about twenty dash and interior light bulbs. Replace a couple of exterior running lamps. New stereo system complete with new amp, speakers, power antenna and all related wiring. Installed some awesome blue neon lights under the dash and front seats. Fix the automatic trunk opener. Install remote starter. And lots of cleaning and an oil change every 3 months. Now it basically runs and looks new again. Not bad for a car with over 170,000 miles and about 20 years old. I'm about 45 years old and don't like to get grease under my finger nails but I had lots of fun getting this car back in shape and love to drive around town knowing that I did this all myself.

A body lift does just that, lifts the body and gives more tire clearance( stock suspension). A suspension lift gives more clearance but also give more suspension travel for off roading.

Replacing struts can in some instances be a dangerous job if you don't have the proper tools or skills. Purchase a repair manual at most auto parts stores and then decide if you wish to tackle this job.

have the front swaybar links replaced

I just replaced my trunk struts on my 97 contour. It looked like an impossible job until I saw in my tool box two tools I had bought at a flea market.

Each one had a 5 inch long hex handle and one had a straight end like a skinny ice pick.

The second tool was like the first except the point was like the beginning of a corkscrew.

The corkscrew tool works by inserting the point in under the spring clip and twisting, I had to add my skinny vice grips to get enough twist but it makes it easy to snap the strut out of the ball.

The straight tool works perfect to hold the spring clip up thereby unblocking the socket so it can be snapped on the ball. Pull the tool out and with your finger make sure the spring snapped back in place to hold the unit to the car.

PS

When I snapped off one end of the first strut, the trunk snapped closed and it was dark and cramped but I thought I was the Houdini but after 10 minutes of battle I decided to just relax and wait. In one hour and 20 minutes my wife rescued me. Sometimes all you can do is to remain calm.

It has gas pressurized shocks in the front and rear.

Air shocks should not be used for lifting. They are used to maintain the correct vehicle height. The shock mounts are not designed to hold the weight of the vehicle.

Shocks and struts are more for the ride not the alignment. Tie rods, ball joints and how the front end is adjusted are the alignment. Jack the front end of the car off the ground. Grab the wheel at the top and bottom and see if it wiggles. If it does, that is the ball joints. Grab the sides and do the same. That is the tie rods, idler arm, pitman arm or drag link on rear wheel drive. Tie rods or the steering rack on front wheel drive. Having someone wiggle the wheel while looking at the steering linkages should let you see which part is worn.

76 coins

It is probably the heat shield that is between the converter and the bottom of the car. It does what the name. They can be a pain to fix properly. I have always tried fixing mine but the "rattling" noise would always return sooner or later. I ended up taking mine off. Plus these heat shields get old and tend to vibrate relentlessly. Best best is to have someone you know take a look and see what they can do.

Yes it is, and it can cost anywere from $80.00 to $200.00 to fix.

It is also possible that the ceramic compount "honeycomb" in the catalytic converter is breaking apart and/or broke loose inside the converter. If this is the case, you *might* fail emissions but it shouldn't hurt anything (other than failing emissions).

http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?UseCase=S001&UserAction=viewSimpleDiagInfo&Parameters=info

just buy a clamp for your heatsheild.. its the cheapest and easiest fix.

I fixed my heatshield with a screw gun and some self tapping screws . The shield is spotwelded in place. Find the areas that have came loose and screw, I used 3/8 inch panheads that where galvinized, they hold up to the heat very well and I hav'nt had anymore problems. I did this 2yrs ago and have had no problems.

It has 4 struts. The front uses a regular strut assembly. The rear struts have replaceable cartridges.

A strut link, also known as a sway bar link, is a component of a sway bar that is used to help the automobile take safer and faster corners. One can typically find these links in race cars.