We have the air suspension on our Jeep. Seems you are not having much luck with rear suspensions?
One spring in 57 years of motoring isn’t too bad a record. The Disco was all covered by warranty, so inconvenient but not costly to me. It’s springs were okay just the ancillary air kit was very iffy. That’s when I sold it and bought God”s Gift to Caravanners.
It's not air suspension on a Subaru - it's "self-energising self-levelling" dampers, a principle used by many mid-market models including the Rover SD1
Air suspension is best avoided on JLR models - as you say, great when working but known for their issues which other brands with air suspension seem to avoid
From my experience, the self levelling shocks are brilliant and reliable. I suspect they are not fitted very often will be due to cost.
John
John
We did have a Vectra at one time and that had the front springs go. Been driving for over 55 years and that was the only one with that problem. Roads are far worse now and I do believe this has made the problem worse though.
Only ever had to change one coil spring in 36 years of car ownership. Of course it was on my old Freelander 2. What a bag of poo that car was
I`ve changed enough springs to have paid for my spring compressors several times over. The last one to go, on my 5-series BMW. actually snapped one morning when I opened the drivers door.
Springs should ALWAYS be replaced in pairs (as per dampers), apart from the fact that if ones goes the other will have had similar punishment a new spring will behave differently to one which has been compressed millions of times.
Springs should ALWAYS be replaced in pairs (as per dampers), apart from the fact that if ones goes the other will have had similar punishment a new spring will behave differently to one which has been compressed millions of times.
I’ve had a Pedders coil over kit arrive today and when I get back home at the weekend I will arrange fitting. Like you it wasn’t sensible to fit just one spring as that would restore ride height on one side and the nearside spring would undoubtedly have some “sag” so there would be asymmetric positioning as well as dynamic response. And since I did not know the condition of the dampers it was an easy decision to include their replacement. The car spent it’s first years in Croydon/Wimbledon where there’s lots of mini islands and speed humps far tougher than off roading.
1999 I had a Renault Laguna Estate with SLS. The on board computer repeatedly told me I had SLS failure. After changing the hydraulic pump and shocks it turned out to be a 50p piece of wire from the sensor to the ECU. Not good!
The Sachs SLS shocks on the Mk1 Sorento were bullet proof . Very clever design , not complicated and worked perfectly.👏
The Sachs SLS shocks on the Mk1 Sorento were bullet proof . Very clever design , not complicated and worked perfectly.👏
Strange though that the mid life upgrade dispensed with them. Probably cost measures.
Trade off was the extra power of 30 bhp approx. A fair deal even though at 138 bhp for the original Mk 1 it would tow most caravans where you wanted to go to.
On more than one occasion I have been told that there is no longer any need to charge dampers or shocks in pairs. The Jeep dealer and also our local mechanic told us the same.
Strange. I have always been told to replace springs and shocks in pairs.
see this https://eu.monroe.com/en-gb/blog/always-install-new-shocks-in-pairs.html
Agreed. Mind you the LR air systems were often replaced because of premature failure rather than wear.
Ours is a Jeep and may use the Mercedes system as Jeep is manufactured by Fiat and they may have bought rights to use the system? TBH I don't really know as I am not a mechanic but have to take their word for it.
In 2020 the MOT inspection had an advisory that a shock was leaking. On the service report from the dealer no mention of it. Service done after MOT. In 2021 no mention of MOT although same inspector regarding leakage from shock? Dealer mentions leak and sends video and also quotes price.
Jeep taken to local mechanic who is also a MOT station and lifts vehicle does an inspection, calls me over and shows me area where leak is supposed to be happening. No discolouration on shock?
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I would always replace in pairs. As was said in an earlier post the springs and damper will have done a large number of cycles. The nearside being affected more by road imperfections than the offside. Highly likely that over time ride height may have reduced. On my Pajero a 40 mm lift actually gave a 50 mm lift. It regained 10 mm of “sag” plus its designed 40mm of lift. So in my mind it’s better to replace the axle pair. I’m replacing both springs and dampers as one spring broke and left no support that side. Plus I’ve no idea of how it may or may not have affected the associated damper. After 48 k miles the other side are hardly brand new, and Subaru had a spate of spring failures fir a couple of years. But my contact with Subaru hasn’t got me a good will payment whereas in other countries such as Oz, North America or Japan there were recalls.
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I have now had Pedders suspension coil overs fitted as the Subaru OEM replacements were more expensive to purchase and as they were unassembled fitting charges would have been higher. Fitting cost me £72 at a local garage. I had recovery truck take me from home to garage and that was a part of my Britannia breakdown and recovery package. Took the car for a short unloaded run and it felt no different to the normal ride. The ride height has gone up back to manufactures figures. The new parts do not include self levelling so one less thing to potentially go wrong.
Prior to the recovery arriving I thought that I might turn it around. Zilch no battery after 10 days of non running, but the CTEK saved the day. So tomorrow off on a battery hunt.
NB. I will notify the insurers on account of the new parts not being to the same specification as the OEM ones, namely no self levelling.
Prior to the recovery arriving I thought that I might turn it around. Zilch no battery after 10 days of non running, but the CTEK saved the day. So tomorrow off on a battery hunt.
NB. I will notify the insurers on account of the new parts not being to the same specification as the OEM ones, namely no self levelling.
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