how can you tell if shocks are blown?


let me know thanks.

can you tell by pushing down on them?

 

yes, that would be one way. Being able to push down on them, and the strut not coming back up (or coming very very slowy back up) is a sign of bad..uh ness

 

if you push down on them and they dont go back up then theyre blown. usually lots of oil everywhere is a good indicator too. hope that helps

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hcivic02 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yes, that would be one way. Being able to push down on them, and the strut not coming back up (or coming very very slowy back up) is a sign of bad..uh ness</TD></TR></TABLE>

yep...

 

so if they come up slowly theyre blown or just bad?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hcivic02 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yes, that would be one way. Being able to push down on them, and the strut not coming back up (or coming very very slowy back up) is a sign of bad..uh ness</TD></TR></TABLE>

I've never seen a bad strut that wont come back up(when the car is pushed down). The shaft would have to be seized in the strut housing pretty badly.
If you push down on your car and it doesnt come back up, you most likely have a spring problem. Not a strut prob.

Usually, when you bounce a car with bad struts, it will continue to bounce after you stop pushing on the car.
A car with good struts should settle very quickly once you stop bouncing it.

Also, bad struts can make alot of noise when they are jounced(but they dont always).

 

yeah but the shocks arent installed on the car yet.

so if i push them down and they slowly come back up whats that mean?

 

Back with my RX7 I took off mine and pushed them down, took them a good 3-4 minutes for them to come back up all the way

 

so what does that mean? good? bad? okay?

 

yes that is how its done go to all the corners of your car and push down several times then just see how many bounces after that it takes for the corner of the car to settle. im not 100% sure about how many bounces means its blown or bad but any more then 4 then u should replace the shocks.

 

If the car bounces alot the shocks are blown. If the car oscillates after going over a bump the shocks are blown. The signs are leaking oil, wear marks on one side of shock shaft, smashed bump stops, ripped upper mounts are all signs of worn shocks

 

i understand. <U>but my situation is i havent mounted it on the car yet.</U>

so im just pushing it down if it slowly goes up what does that mean?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CivicProject97 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i understand. <U>but my situation is i havent mounted it on the car yet.</U>

so im just pushing it down if it slowly goes up what does that mean?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Means they're probably fine.
Thats what new struts will do.

 

bolt each strut to a pogo stick and see if you can then go pogo... if you can't pogo then the strut is good.

Nah jk


But for real I think if the shock resists quick movement (i.e. you try to extend it fast or compress it fast) it's good. If it doesn't pose much resistance to the quick movements such as a sudden comression or extention then it can't possibly absorb the oscillations the spring will attempt to bring about when used on a car.