I have noticed that I was getting an odd noise over every little bump coming from the right rear of my car.

I am lowered on TRD with stock struts.

A friend of mine pushed up and down on the back hatch to replicate the noise while I tried to find where it was coming from.

After concluding it was coming from the shock itself, I put her on jacks and took off the wheel. It looks like a bit of fluid buildup around the base of the coils at the bottom of the shock. Is this normal after 9k miles or do you guys think that this shok could be blown?

The niose it would make when we pushed on the hatch was almost like an empty belching noise.

What are your thoughts?

 

does sound like the shock is blown. the only area that that fluid could be coming from is the inside of the shock. Might want to see if the dealer will exchange the shock itself if you are running on TRD's.

 

Well here is the thing. During the install the back shock was scuffed on the rod. I thought maybe the shock travel wouldn't go down to the oint where the scuff is but it looks like that was an optimistic point of view.

The empty belching sound.....does that coincide with a blown shock also?

Thanks for your help!

 

blown shock! trust me i blew my front ones being lowerd on h-techs with otu upgraded struts.(tC only has struts..no shocks fyi)

 

sounds like the scuff on the rod, caused a unsmooth surface on the rod which wore on the seals of the struts, causing it to leak fluid. So yes sounds like that's why the shock/strut has failed. Time to get a new one.

 

Yeah I know they are all struts. The odd thing is originally I was getting a rattle over bumps and thought hmmm maybe the hatch rattle?? Then I couldn't find anything loose. Looked at the shock and messed around a bit and I think the rattle over the bumps was from the shock too? Everything is tight but if it is mostly out of fluid would it cause it to rattle and be noisy too?

 

yes it could be causing rattles, as the only thing holding the car up on that side is the spring! So yes, I would expect it to be making noise. it would sound more like a shudder than a high pitched rattle, i think..

 

^^^ shudder is what it sounds like yes.

 

yup.. typical of a shock/strut failing. time to buy a new one unless you like the bouncing on the one rear side ;)

 

Actually its not bouncing at all......yet lol

 

well lucky you! yeah guess it's time to get a whole new TRD set.. always a good excuse

 

^^^ Yeah......dangit.......LMFAO. Ahhh well. I was just speaking with my girlfriend about whetherto buy TRD or replace with stock...her response?

"I think you should get the TRD that's what you really want right? So if it costs more but it's what you will end up getting anyway you should."

Always good to know your woman understands!

 

yes.. sort of like those mastercard commercials.. and then there is your quote from your girlfriend. the response? PRICELESS

seems that the TRD shocks are better equipped to put up with the demands of a lowered suspension anyway! might as well do it now and be done with the replacement. Just make sure they do the alignment correctly after they're replaced.

 

yeah and lets hope I dont jack up the rod this time.....

 

you have learned much andrew-son (using japanese voice) you shall be victorious next time (bows to you).. lol yeah come on-don't screw it up (insert sarcasm here)

make sure to get the alignment checked after you do that.. oh and keep us posted on how it goes. might want to use new original bolts for the lower part of the front strut. That can affect the front camber settings (moves from front to back to adjust front camber), hence of the recommendation of the alignment

 

^^^ explain more on the bolt issue? You think I should get new bolts??

 

there are two bolts at the base of the front struts and depending on hitting potholes/bumps, i've seen where those can get bent ever so slightly (need x-ray to measure it, so naked eye can't see it). Which can affect the camber settings. Plus you can pull the steering knuckle area in and out, which will adjust the camber in the front. That's why an alignment rack is needed to measure this after the front struts are installed.

If you get new bolts (have to specifiy the original bolts, because a different combination of other bolts will adjust the camber) they are only like a couple bucks for each. Just was being proactive so that don't reuse the old ones and then wonder why the camber isn't perfect. Hope that makes sense.

 

^^^ hmmm. The dealer said those bolts are about 12 bucks a pop. I only have 9k on my car do you really think those are needed?

 

well maybe not.. guess you can get the car up on the alignment rack and see if the camber is good.. if not, then you'd need the bolts.. there's a good reason