BC shock blew up

[shadow191]

I was checking engine oil today and noticed a little oil residue on my drivers side BC shock by the adjustment knob. Its been weeping oil for some time now and the adjustment knob sticks a lot. So I tested it by turning it and it clicked just fine. Then 5 minutes later, I see a puddle of oil in the shock tower. It's basically gushing out the top and there was no stopping it since it's a pressurized shock. I think it's stopped now only because it ran out of oil, giant puddle on ground.

I'm going to reach out to Zebra to see how the rebuild policy works. Wondering if I can just buy the shock as I can't really deal with downtime of shipping to them and then back.

 

[StuLax18]

I thought the way it works is they send you a new shock body for the $75. Zebra will know, he's the one who told me I think.

 

[Cruiser]

Wow. How long did you have your BCs on? I had mine on for about maybe 5 years or so, so far they are holding up fine.

 

[meme405]

I think shadow is running them really low, might be extra punishing for the shocks, being run on such an aggressive setting. Also depends on how your settings are set.

 

[shadow191]

Thanks, I'll reach out to him immediately. If that's the case, my life is much easier. Swapping a shock isn't bad, done it so many times now it's maybe 30 minutes. I just didn't want the car sitting around waiting on a replacement.

I thought the way it works is they send you a new shock body for the $75. Zebra will know, he's the one who told me I think.

---------- Post added at 06:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:58 PM ----------

I think I put them on summer of 2011 so 4 years now. I did buy them used from a member so they had maybe 10K on them when I bought them and I've put around 35K miles on them. For the last 2 years or so, I've run them pretty much as low as they go and with higher rate springs. Plus I drive almost exclusively in the city so it's a lot of potholes and bad roads. Not really surprised that one failed, I've been waiting for it. That one has had a sticky adjuster since I bought them and it's been intermittent from even before I ran them with higher rate springs. So I'm guessing the seal on the adjustment knob has been causing the stickiness and today when I turned it, it ripped the seal.

Wow. How long did you have your BCs on? I had mine on for about maybe 5 years or so, so far they are holding up fine.

 

[Cruiser]

Keep us posted. I hear BC has a very good after sale customer support.

 

[Ed@TunerStore]

Just PM'd you Shadow!

 

[shadow191]

Ordered a new shock cartridge through Zebra. Unfortunately BC is out of stock so it's going to be a few weeks. Good thing is that my spring rates are so high there's not much shock movement anyways. I only notice the lack of damping going over big dips where it will top out on rebound with a clunk or over washboard roads where I can feel the drivers front wheel is less planted.

When I get the replacement, I'll post pics of the process. Not really sure how the front shock comes apart yet. Guess I'll figure it out soon. Too bad it's not a rear, that would be quick.

 

[la_fx35]

1) Take measurement of existing settings so that you know what to set for the replacement shock.
2) With the coilovers on car, lower the spring locking ring.
3) Release the spring tension by loosen/lower the spring tension adjustment ring. May need a pipe wrench to grab the shock body if the spring tension ring cannot be easily loosen.
4) Remove the coilovers assembly from car.
5) Loosen the top strut mount nut and slide the rest the pieces off the shock.

 

[shadow191]

Does the lower mount just unthread from the shock cartridge? I've swapped springs so I've taken the top off the shock, just wasn't sure how the mount attached. BC lists the shock body and lower mount as separate parts.

 

[Dracula]

if i recall with megans, yes it does but allot of penetrating oil is needed cause they usually are stuck together

 

[la_fx35]

Yes, once the spring is off of it, just unscrew the shock body off the lower mount. Be sure to take measurement of unscrewing the shock body so that you can get it back to the exact settings.

Does the lower mount just unthread from the shock cartridge? I've swapped springs so I've taken the top off the shock, just wasn't sure how the mount attached. BC lists the shock body and lower mount as separate parts.

---------- Post added at 08:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:04 AM ----------

if i recall with megans, yes it does but allot of penetrating oil is needed cause they usually are stuck together

Once you have released the spring tension, you may want to use a pipe wrench on the shock body between the spring locking ring and the height locking ring, and give it a couple of turns to start loosen it.

 

[shadow191]

Cool, that makes sense. And I think my shock body and lower mount should be ok as I've adjusted the height a lot... It was tight a few times, but I used the spring adjusters for leverage. Basically when they're locked together, put the adjustment wrench on the top one and it will turn the shock body to lower and on the lower lockring to raise. I'll still use PB Blaster since I'll have a lot less leverage when the shock is off the car as nothing will be holding the lower mount.

 

[shadow191]

Halfway through replacement process right now. Shock is on the UPS truck out for delivery and I was working from home today so I thought I'd remove everything and when the new shock arrives, just pop it in. Like everything else on this car, it's taken much longer than planned. The shock body wasn't stuck and did move, but it's very tight so I had to leave it bolted to the hub to keep it from spinning and use the spanner wrenches to turn the body. Then when it got closer to the end, I pulled the assembly and just braced it on the ground while turning (I don't have a bench or vise). There's just such a long threaded part inside the lower mount which is good since it's under so much load, but all those threads cause a lot of friction.

After getting the lower mount off, I realized that my lockrings were stuck. I haven't adjusted the preload in forever, just height so I guess they were frozen. The smaller lockring was basically rounding off from the spanner wrench so I had to put a pipe wrench on it and hammer on the spanner for the upper lockring. It finally came off, but it took 40 minutes for just this part. Add that to the 90 minutes it took to get the lower mount off plus the time to actually remove the strut and I'm 2.5 hours into a job I thought would take under an hour. Hopefully reassembly will go smoothly.

PSA for those who have coilovers. I'd recommend loosening the lockrings once in a while or they'll freeze. My lower one is basically destroyed. I can still use it, but with most of the turning points rounded off, if it ever gets stuck again, I'm going to have to cut it off. And the rear ones are sized differently than the front. They use the same wrench, but the diameter is about 1mm smaller. I thought I could replace my damaged one with a rear one I have laying around and discovered it won't fit.

 

[shadow191]

Random photo of the 2 shocks - old vs. new. Right shock is the old one and you can see the silver part where the anodizing has been worn off. That's where the lockrings that support the spring were and my lower mount was threaded up to that point. So it's a lot of threads to get the mount off.



Just took the car on a short road trip over the weekend and it's nice to have damping on all 4 corners again. The amusing thing is that my 3 older shocks have lost some damping due to use so I had to set the new one a couple of clicks lower to compensate.

And I have to say that Zebra was great to work with to get the part. I've gotten stuff from him before and his communication is always top notch. BC was on backorder for this part which meant it took almost 3 weeks. But literally I had a tracking number on the exact day he told me I would. No need to follow up with him and get excuse after excuse. This sort of thing is very uncommon in the auto parts world where usually 3 weeks means 9 and you have to call them day after day just to get an update.