struts leaked / replacing soon

[John105]

Over the lives of the cars I've owned, usually a leaking shock or strut became known to me during a state inspection.

When I was having my front/upstream 02 sensors done last fall, the indie shop showed me my right front strut had begun to leak. 2006 LS430. 133k

I actually asked the tech if he could wipe it since I was having a state inspection literally when the 02's were done, he said sure. I discussed with the owner about replacing all 4, and he said yes, I would do them sooner than later, because the sooner you do them, the more you'll enjoy the ride. meaning the logic is the car is old, so maybe these will be the 2nd set and last set for the vehicle. Before the state inspection, I pulled the wheel to look, and saw no oil at all. Passed inspection.

Flash forward, I noticed an oil spot under the car, and curiously, rear right. Jacked her up, thought oh no, rear diff? Rear axle? No, rear strut.

I bought 4 KYB Excel G's for the car, and will get them installed shortly.

Question: Since there is no longer any oil being left on the driveway etc., has "all" the oil leaked out?

The ride does not seem to be any worse off, why?

I remember in the old days, if a shock failed, the vehicle would seemingly bounce forever, because the springs are not dampened any longer as they should be.

From the above, I want to say that all of my cars have had shocks/struts fail, none have had rides deteriorated in a noticeable way, and all were replaced due to a state inspection.

I wonder if this has anything to do with the ride seemingly to be unaffected?

"an internal, anti-rollover spring (may cause extended length to appear shorter)"

I googled it for some sort of explanation....

Internal Rebound Springs & Strut Length

Learn why some Monroe replacement struts have a slightly shorter length that may require a minor change in installing the coil spring and upper mount.

www.monroe.com

What do you folks think?

 

[atikovi]

The struts control the motion of the springs. If the up and motion is well controlled, I'd leave them be. Had original struts on a 292K mile Hyundai and new ones made no significant difference.

 

[Escape08]

The struts would leak small amount of oil every time you'd hit a bump. If the car is full of passengers to it struts would leak even more. Changing struts the old fashion way (with compressor tool) will take me half a day. Easy job

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Just be glad you don't have the air suspension

 

[doitmyself]

Changing struts the old fashion way (with compressor tool) will take me half a day. Easy job

Half a day for one strut for me. What can I say? I'm beyond slow. Last struts I did I was not only wearing safety glasses, I also wore one of those hard plastic face shields.

 

[Lubener]

Half a day for one strut for me. What can I say? I'm beyond slow. Last struts I did I was not only wearing safety glasses, I also wore one of those hard plastic face shields.

You forgot your hard hat.

 

[edyvw]

The struts control the motion of the springs. If the up and motion is well controlled, I'd leave them be. Had original struts on a 292K mile Hyundai and new ones made no significant difference.

It depends on the car and suspension. On LS430, it won’t last that long. On performance cars especially. Regardless that struts are of higher quality.

 

[Fsharp]

If one shock fails, there’s three others to pick up the slack to a certain extent. That and there’s usually a decent amount of oil left in them even if they’ve been leaking. Once the internal pressure is gone, there’s nothing to push the rest of the oil out.