turbomoose Posted February 16, 2006 Report Share Posted February 16, 2006 Here's the story gang. I bought my '97 850 GLT in March '05 with 119K on the clock. Around November '05 I started hearing clattering on the passenger side. I would estimate the car had about 130K -133K on it about that time. Now, the car has had no body work. I've had the dealers body shop go over the car with me looking for signs of body work, flood damage or paint work before I bought the car. VERY thorough inspection.To solve the noise problem I quickly replaced the sway bar link: Along with the spring seat: And of course the strut mount: The parts that were removed looked to be in good condition. The links did not seem to have any play, the boots were very good. The strut mounts looked great. Only one spring mount was damaged. That would be the passenger side. The metal tube where the strut shaft goes into the spring seat had separated itself from the rubber mount fairly clean. I thought they fixed this problem MY '97+I purchased all of the replacement parts from FCPGroton. I took the strut assembly out myself and did all of the work. Easy stuff with the right tools and instructions. Takes me about an hour each side. Right after I installed the new parts, I of course double checked my work with a torque wrench. I then took my car to Sears where it spent the day and got a 4 wheel alignment. To my surprise about a month later (December) I have a broken spring seat on the passenger side. I order another set of spring seats from FCP Groton. I replace the passenger side. The rubber surrounding the metal tube where the strut shaft goes into was torn jaggedly.I remove the drivers side, the spring seat looks fine. I don't replace it. I once again take the car back to sears and have another 4 wheel alignment done. Car handles great. This evening while driving home from work I once again hear the familiar rattle / clunk and I get angry. I get home and get out my flashlight and inspect the spring seats. Against my prayers all the way home, I find the spring seat is once again torn to shreads on the passenger side. And again, the same fashion. Jagged around the metal tube. plenty of rubber still on the metal tube however. I go to inspect the drivers side, and it too is broken in the same way.I am 100% positive I did not forget a step or a part when doing this work, I am very careful.I did not replace the struts as I have a receipt for all 4 struts, mounts, links & spring seats being replaced by the volvo dealer, with volvo parts in '02 @ 72.5K. I figured they would still be good since they were firm, returned quickly, and didn't leak. At the time of this service the prev. owner also replaced the timing belt, water pump, acc. belt, all tensioners, idlers and pulleys related. Also had two torque rods (upper & lower) and 3 motor mounts replaced. Now, I noticed in December that my passenger side strut was now not returning to the fully extended position on its own, but would now sink very slowly into the tube on its own, it was also leaking. Obviously dead struts. I am thinking of ordering this suspension kit: I've just re-read my Haynes repair manual. In Chapter 10 * Suspension section. Picture 5.5e shows the bump stop with the clip on type stop washer that I have. ...Picture 5.7 shows all of the related strut components. I am not missing any parts according to the pic. Step 10 states: Inspect all other components for signs of damage or deterioration, and replace any that are suspect. On pre-1994 models the 0.275 inch stop washer should be replaced with the later 0.118 inch version when reassembling. That 0.275" stop washer would be the picture of the flat washer and the flat topped bump stop in the parts picture posted by Steve S. So that mystery is now solved. What I think I did wrong is described in step 12. Which states: Reassembly is a reverse of disassembly, but ensure that the spring is compressed to approximately 11.81 inches before installing it. Make sure that the spring ends are correctly located in the upper and lover seats and tighten the shock absober retaining nut and strut mounting nut to the torque listed in this chapters specs. I did not ensure this exact measurement. I did of course make sure that the spring ends were in the exact correct location before I tightened the strut retaining / mounting nuts and removed the spring compressor. Do you think this missed measurement or the spring would play a part in the early demise of my spring seats? As always, thanks! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteT5 Posted February 16, 2006 Report Share Posted February 16, 2006 This is really strange, especially considering the dead strut as well. Did you by chance take any pictures of the built strut assembly? I just did this job recently and got way more familiar with the workings of the front suspension than I would've liked to, but I do know it like the back of my hand now and would certainly be able to spot any problems.On another note, have you seen the TX meet thread in Members Announcements? The more members there, the merrier . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachnut Posted February 16, 2006 Report Share Posted February 16, 2006 I really can't see where you're doing anything wrong. I think the reason they say to compress the spring to that spec is so that when you put the spring seat on the top of the strut shaft that it "seat" fully on the shaft, past the threaded portion, then of course you installed the "cross" nut on top of that to hold it down. Otherwise maybe the spring and spring seat will have too much play? Just my guess. Personally I love FCP, but I took a chance and bought their spring seats for the Weitec install I just did on the V70. They are supposed to be made by Sachs, who was the oem vendor for Volvo suspension bits. Prior to that I believe they sold ScanTech spring seats. Do you know which ones you have? The ST seats have a notorious reputation for going bad prematurely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbomoose Posted February 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2006 I do in fact have the ST spring mounts. But are they that awful they'd fail in a month? Oh and here's the link to the original thread on SwedeSpeed: SwedeSpeed Link As Im sure you can guess... Im getting a little worried, not to mention desperate. :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GT2 Posted February 16, 2006 Report Share Posted February 16, 2006 You dont say in your post if you are lowered? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the underlørd Posted February 16, 2006 Report Share Posted February 16, 2006 You dont say in your post if you are lowered?what size rims, tire size? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbomoose Posted February 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2006 The car is not lowered, and it's running the Columba rim with 205/50/16 tires. No mods have been done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the underlørd Posted February 16, 2006 Report Share Posted February 16, 2006 The car is not lowered, and it's running the Columba rim with 205/50/16 tires. No mods have been done.damn, my seats get hammered with 18's and 35 series, and they're still intact..somethin's up for sure... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbomoose Posted February 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2006 Darn, my seats get hammered with 18's and 35 series, and they're still intact..somethin's up for sure... What type of spring seats did you use? ...cause I need to get some! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the underlørd Posted February 16, 2006 Report Share Posted February 16, 2006 What type of spring seats did you use? ...cause I need to get some!I used OEM replacements.. got 'em on the bay for 40 bucks a pair.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobcat Posted February 17, 2006 Report Share Posted February 17, 2006 Im not sure if i can be bothered to type this for the100th time as no one seems to listen.get the oem spring seats, as volvo modified the design to deal with this issue of seperation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbomoose Posted February 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2006 Im not sure if i can be bothered to type this for the100th time as no one seems to listen.get the oem spring seats, as volvo modified the design to deal with this issue of seperation. The replacements at 70K were all volvo parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prasamin Posted February 17, 2006 Report Share Posted February 17, 2006 do you have lowering springs on the car along with stock struts?stock struts could be your problem...they are pretty horrible actually. mine went out in less than 2 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbomoose Posted February 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2006 do you have lowering springs on the car along with stock struts?stock struts could be your problem...they are pretty horrible actually. mine went out in less than 2 years. the car is not lowered... and they have Volvo struts on them which were replaced @70K. But it is the spring seat that keeps tearing/shreading. Im not really worried about the struts right now. Those are going to be replaced this week. Im just wondering why my spring seats keep shreading around the metal tube. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobcat Posted February 17, 2006 Report Share Posted February 17, 2006 The replacements at 70K were all volvo parts.you may have had the older ones then, volvo modified the design ive been told by putting stops on the center tube to stop it detacthing from the main seat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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