so my hatch hydraulics finally crapped out on me. originally i had perfect ones. but when i went to the the TSB on them (back in early 06), they replaced it with weaker ones. so for a couple months after that, they stopped lifting the hatch on its own but it would at least hold the hatch up when it was fully lifted. now they dont even hold it up! found out the hard way last week when i popped it up expecting it to stay up, and then it came crashing down on me while i was going through the trunk. my warranty is up so can't get it fixed for free :(. wanted to know if you guys tried using any other shocks from different cars. i was thinking if some of the toyo small SUV's have same sized ones, i could use those. i checked out the ones on my bro's RSX that work perfectly on his car (and his has a spoiler on it too) and have same dimensions as the on ones on my car. going to try those out once i figure out how to remove the shocks on both of our cars.

so anybody else had this problem and fixed it without using warranty?

I see you have the pedestal spoiler. Why don't you get the heavier duty struts Sparks sells?

http://www.trdsparks.com/displayparts.php?Mdl_dtl=447&Part_cat=27&parts_id=1070

oh wow, thanks! didnt even know they made different ones. maybe thats why the ones that came with the car originally were so much stronger than the ones that replaced them.

just got the replacement lifts in the mail today. real simple swap. i used the instructions on the tech articles available to the members here on the board. took about ten minutes total, and works like brand new again. found that my left hydraulic lift was actually blown (oil leaking out of it). the right side was fine, but i replaced both anyways. thanks for your help!

lol! You're welcome. And thanks for the update.

Question: I don't have a spoiler but I feel the oem struts are slightly flimsy sometimes esp. in cold weather/mornings. Do you think the heavy duty struts would be too much/overkill for hatches w/o a spoiler? I'm wondering if upgrading them will be beneficial or just make it too hard to close the hatch since it's lighter.

Thanks!

yeah, on those cold mornings, the struts are pretty limp. i dont think it would be overkill if you dont have the spoiler. it's not too difficult to close..it's back the way it was when i first got the car! lol. but its less than $50 shipped i think, and i'd recommend getting it before it does crap out. the garnish piece on mine started to show signs of stress caused by the nonfunctional struts (it's starting to pop out of place and junk). so just keep that in mind. wish i knew about these things sooner =\

i thought those struts came with the pedestal spoiler and it was mandatory they be swapped out out when the pedestal is installed for the hatch to operate correctly?

I would assume so, but I have those struts on mine for all of my Techno lighting, and they work absolutely great!

i'm pretty sure they were on there when i got the car. a while back, there was a TSB out there ordering the replacement of the hatch struts because they thought it was the cause of the infamous hatch rattle back when the car first came out. i guess they replaced my heavy duty ones with regular ones.