Nearly Died

[Marky B]

A month or two back I noticed one of my rear shockers had begun to leak. nothing major, but I like to get things sorted so I ordered a second hand one an fitted it the same weekend, all was fine untill about 2 weeks ago when the same shocker began to leak again. this time I was lucky enough to find a pair on fleabay.I thought I\'d use these while I had a look round for an uprated setup. the guy had bought them but decided to go for coilovers so didn\'t need them. they arrived, and again I fitted them last saturday,   they were a little dusty, but hadn\'t been washed off which was a good sign. I ran them for a couple of days an they seemed fine, I checked on wed and they were ok.

This morning I was doing approx 60 -70 mph on the m60 ring road past stockport, I was mid way through a right hand bend when I went over a bump and the back of the car litterally bounced as it came down, the back end came round and I was looking through the passenger window to see which way I was heading, i had full opposite lock as the back end snapped back the other way. but I somehow managed to keep the car out of the central barrier and out of the way of any other vehicles (luckily traffic was very light) I pulled the car over and went straight to the back end. Both shockers had ****ed out their fluid, not by just a little, it had sprayed all over the inner arches, the wishbones, driveshafts an tyres. I\'ve worked around cars for a long time an not seen anything like that, I\'m just happy I was concentrating at the time, an feel lucky to be alive.

So I\'m now not driving it till I have got a set of shocks an springs. I\'m only gonna buy them off here or from one of the vendors as my faith in people is a little low to say the least. I don\'t think I want to go for coilovers as the others I\'ve been in with them have been to harsh a ride and I use the car every day for work. Also coz I can\'t afford them lol.  But I would like it to look slightly lower that the stock setup.

Any ideas or advice would be appreciated on what to go for. I\'ve put a post up in the Wanted section here :

http://www.mazdarotaryclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23990

Cheers

Mark

[JamesFD3]

Glad you managed to rescue the spin Mark and did\'nt damage the car.If your using the car everyday ride comfort is paramount,I would\'nt bother lowering it as the car will handle nicer on the road at the standard ride height.Fitting two brand new Mazda shocks is the way I\'d go,give Miguel a shout at Newera Parts quoting your chassis number,they maybe cheaper than you think and delivery is fast.....hope you get it sorted.

[Grizzly]

Your a lucky chap :yes

If you are not going to coil overs i would recomend Koni yellows and some good springs (Race beat, Tein or somthing like that)

Have you got a big Ice Install or some thing heavy in the back? As you say its very rare to see back Shocks Blow there seals apart just like that?

[Marky B]

nope, nothing in the back, I\'m presuming the shock were already blown, or leaking. I\'m just surprised I didn\'t notice anything before they went. I\'ve never seen anything like it, no warning at all and both together. just showd my dad, he\'s worked with cars for over 30 years and he\'s not seen anything like it either. Just unlucky I guess (or lucky depending on which way you look at it) Cheers

Mark

[Rixio]

Close shave there buddy glad your ok though and car is unscathed

[dj_dee99]

Well, the most important thing is that you (and the car :Giggle) are o.k! But that is pretty mad what happened. You really haven\'t been having much luck there! Hope you get it all sorted quick.

[Martiny]

this sounds really strange to me. 3 shocks all leak within a few days?? I think maybe something is wrong with the car, though I cant really imagine what.

[Marky B]

this sounds really strange to me. 3 shocks all leak within a few days?? I think maybe something is wrong with the car, though I cant really imagine what.

No mate, the original off side rear started leaking a while back. I replaced that an the replacement started leaking a few months later . I then replaced the two rears together with the set i got off fleabay. I\'m presuming they were already knackered, and I just got no warning. Just goes to show be carefull what you buy off ebay.

Mark

[Bobfish]

FD shocks are good for 100k miles easy..cant imagine why they both blew otu like that!

[MikeLMR]

we\'ve bent shock absorber rods, and smashed the eyelets off shocks before on the rally cars and yet none of them have exploded :eek

Is the car lowered ? and where are the bumpstops on an FD? and are they fitted ?

[rmagictastic]

marky send me a pm i might be able to help you out in the interim...

cheers

Nick