Shock Absorber Piston pushing up through Strut Upper Mounting Cover

Sun Dec 15 15:01:02 PST 2013

The damper sits inside the strut body, the actual suspension member that has
the lower spring seat and attaches to the balljoint at the bottom. The top
of the damper piston attaches to the strut bearing assembly which attaches
to the top spring seat with three bolts and that is where the camber
adjustment is made.

Make sure to loosen the top damper bolt first; in some cases it requires an
air tool if it's been on a long time or was over tightened when installed.
Jack up the car a little so you can get some a pipe wrech in between the
coils of the spring to loosen the cap on the top of the strut tube. Once
you've gotten this far, remove the three camber adjusting bolts, jack up the
car a little more and you can pull the damper cartridge out of the strut.
This will allow the spring to flex and the strut to get somewhat out of
alignment with straight up and down, so it helps to have a crow bar to
manipulate that while removing/reinserting the damper cartridge. I usually
use a towel to protect the wheel and just stick the crow bar into the wheel
a bit to move the strut around.

Ed

-----Original Message-----
From: Grant Lenahan [mailto:glenahan at vfemail.net] 
Sent: Sunday, December 15, 2013 3:09 PM
To: Ed Kellock
Cc: mboucher70 hotmail.com; AudiFans (Qlist) S4 Qlist
Subject: Re: Shock Absorber Piston pushing up through Strut Upper Mounting
Cover

really? Its not a strut?

How do you do that?
( i never had a what, C3)

Grant
On Dec 15, 2013, at 5:04 PM, Ed Kellock <ekellock at gmail.com> wrote:

> Actually I believe you can replace the piston shoulder washer and the 
> strut mount (strut bearing) without removing the strut assembly from 
> the car. You should only have to remove the damper itself through the 
> top whole in the engine compartment. If you mark the location of the 
> triangular top plate and the three bolts that secure it, you can 
> preserve the camber setting as well.
> 
> Ed
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: quattro-bounces at audifans.com 
> [mailto:quattro-bounces at audifans.com] On Behalf Of Grant Lenahan
> Sent: Sunday, December 15, 2013 10:58 AM
> To: mboucher70 hotmail.com
> Cc: AudiFans (Qlist) S4 Qlist
> Subject: Re: Shock Absorber Piston pushing up through Strut Upper 
> Mounting Cover
> 
> 
> The strut needs to come apart - so it needs to come out.
> 
> Grant
> On Dec 15, 2013, at 12:54 PM, mboucher70 hotmail.com 
> <mboucher70 at hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Hi guys,
>> 
>> Probably a dumb question, but assuming it's the strut mount, or even
>> the washer, could that be simply replaced from the engine bay, or 
>> would it require removing the entire front suspension/strut assembly 
>> from under the car.  I realize that either way, the camber would need 
>> to be redone.
>> 
>> I also realize that if it's the shoulder of the piston that's worn, 
>> it
>> means new struts.
>> 
>> Thx,
>> MC
>> -----Original Message----- From: Grant Lenahan
>> Sent: Sunday, December 15, 2013 11:44 AM
>> To: Cody Forbes
>> Cc: AudiFans (Qlist) S4 Qlist ; mboucher70 hotmail.com
>> Subject: Re: Shock Absorber Piston pushing up through Strut Upper
>> Mounting Cover
>> 
>> X2
>> 
>> Yes, either the mount itself failed, or, often the strut piston has a
>> shoulder and the shoulder a washer on it that fits against the strut 
>> mounting.
>> 
>> i have seen two issues:
>> 
>> 1. washer fails or shoulder fails
>> 2. someone ignores the washer at assembly time and ti works OK for
>> years, until it pokes through
>> 
>> On Porsche 986/996 the Bilstein PSS9 instructions have for years left
>> the washer out. Amazingly they don't fix the documents. Fortunately, i 
>> said "that can't possibly be right" Quick search not he internet 
>> confided it was wrong.
>> 
>> Grant
>> On Dec 15, 2013, at 11:06 AM, Cody Forbes <cody at 5000tq.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> Sounds like a failed upper strut mount. You'll want to get that 
>>> fixed
>>> pronto..
>>> 
>>> -Cody Forbes (mobile)
>>> 
>>> On Dec 15, 2013, at 11:01 AM, "mboucher70 hotmail.com"
>>> <mboucher70 at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Took the car to the mechanic last week to put the snow tires on.
>>>> Driving home, I noticed a new noise from the front driver's side.  
>>>> It seemed to be suspension related...heard it most when driving over 
>>>> slightly bumpy areas.  Not loud, almost imperceptible, but sounds as 
>>>> though something is rubbing/chirping/moving that shouldn't be.
>>>> 
>>>> With car parked, I pressed down on the driver's side front fender 
>>>> to
>>>> see if I could hear the problem.  Then I noticed that the shock 
>>>> absorber piston and nut would move upwards whenever I pressed down 
>>>> on the fender. It certainly wasn't like this in the past, nor is it 
>>>> like that on the passenger side.
>>>> 
>>>> The first thought would be that the piston nut needs tightening.
>>>> However, it's a locknut, and moreover it doesn't appear to have 
>>>> loosened from its usual position.  Before taking it back to the 
>>>> mechanic I'm going to buy the correct size Allen key so that I can 
>>>> hold the piston while attempting to tighten the nut.  I doubt it 
>>>> will tighten, but I'd be able to verify that its tight.
>>>> 
>>>> The question I had...since the problem seems to coincide with the
>>>> car being jacked up, is it likely that something just slipped out of 
>>>> position, such as a worn dampening ring or bump stop...something 
>>>> that would give the shock piston more room to push upwards?
>>>> 
>>>> Car drives fine, even at speed...no pulling or unusual sensation in
>>>> the steering....just the new noise.
>>>> 
>>>> Thanks
>>>> 
>>>> MC
>>>> Audi 100 1990 Non-Quattro
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