new shock absorber problem

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T

tkitt

New Member
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16
Folks, looking for some advise on a problem with front new shocks on a 2003 td4, i installed them last week and all seemed straight forward, the only problem i had was that the bump stops were damaged and a bit short (20mm short), but i needed the car on the road so i carried on.
I also ground the face of the top mounts to remove the rust. On completion i went for a spin and all was fine until i hit some ridges in the road, the shocks are fine when compressed but make a loud bang when they extend back out after a ridge. its like some one is hitting the bottom of the car with a sledge hammer.
The problem is on both sides and worse when there is no passengers, the extra weight obviously helps.
The supplier has agreed to take them back and return them to the manufacturer, who say they haven't has shocks returned in 12 months. I don't mind sending them back but i suspect that ive done something wrong on the installation and don't really want to spend another evening putting the old ones back on (and making a b**** of them too).
the only other thing is that i didnt prime the shocks, would this make a difference ?.
This was never a problem with the old original shocks, any one have any advise on what to do next ?, im lost !.
The banging seems to come from the middle / top of the shock area.
 
tkitt said:
Folks, looking for some advise on a problem with front new shocks on a 2003 td4, i installed them last week and all seemed straight forward, the only problem i had was that the bump stops were damaged and a bit short (20mm short), but i needed the car on the road so i carried on.
I also ground the face of the top mounts to remove the rust. On completion i went for a spin and all was fine until i hit some ridges in the road, the shocks are fine when compressed but make a loud bang when they extend back out after a ridge. its like some one is hitting the bottom of the car with a sledge hammer.
The problem is on both sides and worse when there is no passengers, the extra weight obviously helps.
The supplier has agreed to take them back and return them to the manufacturer, who say they haven't has shocks returned in 12 months. I don't mind sending them back but i suspect that ive done something wrong on the installation and don't really want to spend another evening putting the old ones back on (and making a b**** of them too).
the only other thing is that i didnt prime the shocks, would this make a difference ?.
This was never a problem with the old original shocks, any one have any advise on what to do next ?, im lost !.
The banging seems to come from the middle / top of the shock area.
Click to expand...

ok,are you sure they are the right ones for a td4,they sound like they could be too short and over extending on the return.i am not certain but you might have the petrol versions fitted by mistake.:confused:
 
I have this bang on occasion on offside of my V6 but only if I'm going to fast over speed humps and stuff.
If you have only just noticed this then as others have said, the shocks could well be wrong.
 
could be short shockers . when you took them of did you take the whole leg off ,if so when you put them back ,make sure you have them pointing forward or when you tighten up it will pull to the side that they were pointing when you did tighten them up ,and that brings to mind did you tighten them up properly
 
Thanks all, The reference number on the boxes appears to be right, but they could be short, when i compressed the spring and took it off the old shock i had to press it down further to tighten the bolt on the new shock, say about 10-15mm. With regards to tightening them, that was my first thought so i went back and checked, if anything their overtightened now :).
I have another go at them tonight and remove the passenger side, check the various parts against an old one i have in the garage and make sure they are pointing forwards when tightened, i'll also prime them. If there's no change then they'll have to go back.
Ill let you know how i get on.
 
hi

i replaced my entire rear springs and shocks last year and found the springs are colour coded with a small piece of paint on them showing which model they fit on

i agree what the other guys say and also about the vin numbers, could take the vin number down to ur local dealer and at least then get the part number for ur springs

hope u get on ok

gary
 
Well i stripped the passenger side down tonight and also took apart an old strut i had to make sure i hadn't put it together wrong, but there is no wrong and right way, its all very simple.
Primed the shock, put all back together and it made no difference at all, still banging.
I also checked the length of the new shocks against the old, there exactly the same.
So it looks like the next step is to put the old shocks back on, the only good news is that i can now change shocks very quickly.
I've put a new lower arm on in the last week (bad ball joint), changed the track rod ends, the drop links appear ok, anti roll bar bushes were done 3 months ago and are ok, I've spent more time fixing it than driving it this week !.
 
were they cheap ones .also is the middle nut the pokes through into the engine bay done up ok . I had a similar problem with another car , and it was this nut on the end of the shocker.
 
Maybe the new shocks aren't filled with enough oil, this would cause it to free up as the piston neared full extension.
 
My thoughts too Nodge

I get this banging when going over speed bumps too fast - must be the shock extending fully and banging when they are fully out.
Sounds like they are shot because the damping is insufficient .....???
 
Tkitt, Did you ever figure out the issue? I also did not prime my shock absorbers and I'm having a nearly identical problem so any help would be much appreciated!
 
Last edited:
Doof324, i eventually changed back to the original shocks as the car was unbearable to drive. The supplier gave a refund but claimed there was nothing wrong with the new shocks ?.
I did remove them and prime them as well, but that made no difference.
Once the original shocks were installed that was the end of the problem, the original shocks were fairly soft so i can't be sure if they just masked a problem elsewhere in the suspension, i did put a new lower arm on before returning the shocks, but that made no difference. I also used the same springs and shock mounts for both shocks.

The new shocks were very solid, excellent for corners, but terrible on poor surfaces. Although they were the right fit for the car, they bore no resemblance to the 'damping' of the original shocks.
Ive since traded the freelander for a new tiguan and despite the many improvements in moving from a 2003 car to a 2014 car, i actually miss the freelander.
 
tkitt said:
Doof324, i eventually changed back to the original shocks as the car was unbearable to drive. The supplier gave a refund but claimed there was nothing wrong with the new shocks ?.
I did remove them and prime them as well, but that made no difference.
Once the original shocks were installed that was the end of the problem, the original shocks were fairly soft so i can't be sure if they just masked a problem elsewhere in the suspension, i did put a new lower arm on before returning the shocks, but that made no difference. I also used the same springs and shock mounts for both shocks.

The new shocks were very solid, excellent for corners, but terrible on poor surfaces. Although they were the right fit for the car, they bore no resemblance to the 'damping' of the original shocks.
Ive since traded the freelander for a new tiguan and despite the many improvements in moving from a 2003 car to a 2014 car, i actually miss the freelander.
Click to expand...

Okay thanks very much for the reply!

I figured out what the problem was and ended up fixing it this morning; turns out I'm a bit of a noob haha.

Basically I didn't assemble the strut correctly. I screwed on the centre nut as much as it would go but didn't realize that I needed to continue further by taking an allen key to the middle of the nut and turn both at the same time in opposite directions. Luckily I could tighten them up under the hood without having to take it off the car!

Thanks for the help. Maybe this helps someone else. Make sure your strut is assembled correctly haha!
 
doof324 said:
Okay thanks very much for the reply!

I figured out what the problem was and ended up fixing it this morning; turns out I'm a bit of a noob haha.

Basically I didn't assemble the strut correctly. I screwed on the centre nut as much as it would go but didn't realize that I needed to continue further by taking an allen key to the middle of the nut and turn both at the same time in opposite directions. Luckily I could tighten them up under the hood without having to take it off the car!

Thanks for the help. Maybe this helps someone else. Make sure your strut is assembled correctly haha!
Click to expand...

Sorry to revive an old thread. I have just replaced both front struts and springs. I have the bang over bumps. I suspect I need to tighten the top nut as per your thread but its difficult to do with a little Allen key. How much thread should be showing when the nut is fully tightened down? Anyone got a photo handy?


Thanks
 
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