bad strut at only 138k?? my car wa shighway driven car didnt really hit the city until 10k ago. well i went to my mechanic to check outhe noise i had comign from the front. he drove the car around and said it was a bad strut.. therefore i need to replace both, cuz u cant just replace one said. well anyways... is it a hard job to do itmyself? i can gain access to tools i need.. he told me 250 to replace both of them with labor.. thats alot ofmoney. thanks aguys


98 accord EX
Silver(it looks faster)
5 spd 138k

 

Ride slowly over a sudden drop of 1-2 inches. If the strut slams down when the wheel rides over the drop, the strut is shot. If you get smooth response, the strut is fine.

Noise could be worn anti-sway bar bushings or worn ball jt. If you get excessive steering feedback when you drive over lane divider bumps at speed, anti-sway bar bushings may help.

good luck

 

The only main thing to look out for doing struts by yourself is to make darn sure, if you have coil overs, that the coils are compressed enough. If not, OUCH FLING BANG, time for a hospital trip.

I knew a person who lost a hand because they did not compress the coil spring at all. And yea, they found the strut mount two blocks away and their hand was about 50 yrds from that.

So don't do a Bundy

if you get a coil spring compressor, a good wrench, alen set for 3/8 drive (as 90% of the time you need that to remove the nut from the top).

better yet, get struts new, remove old ones. Take to local shop about 20 bucks a side to swap struts, then reinstall yourself.

That would be safer and not as much. $40 compaired to $250

and to remove and install them its easy. One bolt below, 5 bolts above on most, have to get the upper control arm out of the way or you will never get the strut out. 2-3 bolts strut mount, 2 bolts on upper control arm. And make sure you retork them to spec.

 

well really dont know.... it rides over bumps, pretty well. handling is perfect, no swayin to one side, the streering is tight but when i do go over bumps i can hear things might be a lil loose on the passenger side. i dont htink it slams down on 1-2inch drops. i have ridden over pot holes and uneven rodes, didnt notice anything...ima gona get a second opinion. its only got 138k on it and it runs fine..i though struts last a while thanks again

gona ride over a large bump see what i notice!!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SIMATIC &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">well really dont know.... it rides over bumps, pretty well. handling is perfect, no swayin to one side, the streering is tight but when i do go over bumps i can hear things might be a lil loose on the passenger side. i dont htink it slams down on 1-2inch drops. i have ridden over pot holes and uneven rodes, didnt notice anything...ima gona get a second opinion. its only got 138k on it and it runs fine..i though struts last a while thanks again

gona ride over a large bump see what i notice!! </TD></TR></TABLE>

wtf is he serious?

 

there is def something wrong, i hear a kinda slamming from the pass side andmore towards the middle of the car too sounds to me more like bushings. but my steering is perfect, thats what i dont get..

 

sounds like youve got something loose in there... maybe bad bushings at the top of the strut. the only bad struts i've seen are LEAKING ones. so stick your head under there and look for loose bolts, bad bushings,...etc.

 

heres one... if you can, jack the front of the car up and throw some jackstands underneath it. grab the front wheel and try to move it up & down, side to side. if youve got play, youve got problems. try to pinpoint where the movement is, i.e. strut, lower control arm, steering knuckle. if they are all tight your noise is coming from something else. hope this helps.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SIMATIC &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">bad strut at only 138k?? my car wa shighway driven car didnt really hit the city until 10k ago. well i went to my mechanic to check outhe noise i had comign from the front. he drove the car around and said it was a bad strut.. therefore i need to replace both, cuz u cant just replace one said. </TD></TR></TABLE>
A noisy strut has usually been leaking for a while, should be easy to see. And you can replace just one.

 

well guess what...my freiends father jacked it up, hje checked all the bushings, strut tryed that thing by moving the wheel...a dn what we find? the splash guards on the pass side all missing their screws. the splash gurads must be banging against the tranny and the bumper.missing many screws...my mechanic is an ***. evrything is fine, my struts are fine!!!t haniks guys for the help

if its not from the splash guards then its something else, but im gona put those screws in first. cuz the strut looks fine to him, he says it doesnt slam like a bad strut should. soo ill keep u guys posted. thanks

bushings all looked fine..around the arms, even the stabilizer link bushings too


Modified by SIMATIC at 2:10 PM 11/8/2004