Hey guys..
Can you help me diagnose?

Today, I just had replaced my passenger right rear abc strut with an arnott remanufactured, flushed abc fluid, changed filters twice, rodeo'd for over 30 mins, all by a local independent shop.

They noted that during the rodeo, the new corner didn't dip as far down as the other corners.

Now when I drive the car tonight (no alignment done yet), the car feels awful. I thought I was getting car sick. It was that bad.

Not sure if its just the rear wiggling due to no alignment yet, but I noticed the following:

-when raising the car via the console button, all four corners go up at the same speed
- when lowering the car via the console button, new abc strut lowered down faster than the other 3 and it wasn't smooth either.. kind of an erratic fast stop go stop go motion lowering.
-When the car was parked, engine off, the new abc strut also lowered a bit on its own too.. only once though and I was parked on a bit of an incline.
-I raised the car to the max tonight, and will see if it drops by the morning.

I'm thinking:
a) alignment will fix wiggling and either
b) strut is faulty or
c) install was faulty.. but they did rodeo for a long time, so there should be no air in the system.

Any suggestions on how to diagnose?

Cheers and TIA!

 

Rodeo more with with abc fluid at operating temp. If still bad, have the strut replaced. They carry lifetime warranty.

Before you replace it though, check rear ride height sensor for binding, good connection, etc.; check/read accordingly the rear accelerometer(s) with das to make sure it has not gone bad.

If the new one does the same and all of the above checks out you have introduced dirt in your rear valve block or the seals are failing and the shock replacement timing was a coincidence.

 

I replaced front left strut no rodeo just up and down a few times from console button and everything is fine

 

the rears have kinks in the line that can trap air very effectively.

 

Pretty sure it's not air trapped as they really did rodeo for a long time.

Today I noticed:
-abc fluid overfilled
-almost like clunking or twisting noises when driving of brick paved roads

The shop will take a look at it later today.. but on they phone.. they thought maybe the accumulators. Crossing fingers its more simple than that.

 

-Shop said to replace rear accumulators... but I'm not so sure.

1) It doesn't fail the bounce test

2) If its the rear accumulator, then it doesn't explain why the new right rear shock drops faster than the old rear left shock when lowering the car via button.

Is a strut hard to install? I'm half thinking the clunking noises might be that the strut is loose and not bolted up right... is that pretty much foolproof?

 

My right rear feels wiggly when I corner and when it leans and shifts the weight to the right side. When I start the car after been sitting for a hour or longer periods of time the ABC message comes on but after 20 minutes or so of driving I shut the car off and immediately right back on which sometimes clears the ABC message and I feel the car height dip. Is my right rear like the OP bad or something else?

 

No, I don't get an error message at all.

I called Arnott and they said maybe its the travel plunger but they never had any problems with it before... they sent me overnight.. will try it next week.

Great customer service by Arnott.

 

following up on this post, did the travel plunger fix the problem?
Thanks!
Jake

 

Can the travel plunger be repaired without replacing the whole strut?

 

It took a while to get sorted.. but here's what happened from start to finish:

1) Replaced OEM strut - was leaking a bit for a long time, no error codes.
2) Installed Arnott Strut via Indy Mechanic #1 and flushed my ABC fluids, rodeo. Mechanic #1 noticed that the new strut didn't lower all the way during rodeo, they didn't test drive it at all before returning it to me
3) Car drove like ****.. clunked, rocked, but no error codes on my dash
4) Brought it back to Mechanic #1 the next day.. they drove it and said was a bad accumulator, they said.. maybe in two weeks they can look at it when they had time.... ?????
5) I called Arnott and they said maybe its a bad Travel Plunger, so they sent me a new Travel Plunger overnight
6) I found a new mechanic #2 in the meantime that had time to work on my car.
7) He lifts up my car and notices that new arnott strut, seems to be falling apart. The bottom seems to have collapsed on itself.
8) We called Arnott and they overnight another whole strut to me.
9) Mechanic #2 installed the 2nd new Arnott strut. Drives it and an ABC error code popped up. Travel Plunger sensor is off. Code wont clear after several attempts and restarts.
10) Mechanic #2 notices on the system that the height calibration/reporting isn't working on the new strut (not sure if Mechanic #1 saw this or not on the first strut)
11) Mechanic #2 replaces the travel plunger only on the 2nd Arnott Strut (Thank God I just happened to have one on hand from step 5)
12) All is good and working now.


Travel plunger sensor is pretty easy to replace.. just peel back the trunk carpet at the top of the rear strut and you'll see the sensor. It's clipped in with 3 small clips.. pop them off (it will fly off and disappear into your trunk if you're not super careful to hold them in place... you've been warned) and just pull the sensor out and replace. It looks like a meat thermometer in case you've never seen one. Took only 5 mins to replace it.

Arnott has great customer service, but the quality of their remans seems questionable?.. or maybe it was just dumb luck for me to get two bad ones in a row when compared to everybody else's good experiences here on the forum.

Nevertheless.. I'll still be an Arnott customer in the future, with the exception that I'll have the mechanics purchase direct from Arnott for me. So I don't eat the bill on a second install in the case its a bad part.

 

Is the front strut plunger easy to replace? My indy said he seen many of Arnott struts with hydraulics fail, the Arnott air struts are the better product.

 

Not sure.. I won't be seeing my car for another few months now.. so I can't check the engine bay to see it. But if you can see the top of the strut in the engine bay.. that's it. (Kind of the like the bottle cap to a coke bottle.