Broken Suspension?

[K135]

So I'm driving through Glasgow's high quality city centre roads at the weekend, go over a bump and SNAP - this is the result...

dropped rear end.jpg

Not really the kind of lowered suspension I was after! AA recovery time in the rain at midnight. It's also too low to get my jack under to take a closer look.

...close-up through the wheel...

closeup.jpg

Looks like the spring's gone, but I'm concerned it's more than that. The engine will start but conks out after a second or two, so may have taken something out in the process. Things also at a strange angle in there!

Anyone seen this before - any ideas about engine coughing out? Need to get it checked out somewhere , but would be good to be armed with some insider knowledge first!

[mac]

It's the spring collar that's gone - I've heard of occassion where corrosion has been noted but most time it's caught before this stage.

At best it's a new spring collar but I would be suprised if you would be able to source such a thing so it might be a case of new dampers.


HTH


Mac

[Gourlay83]

As above for your suspension

You have probably tripped the Fuel Cut off switch, Sits on that very side. Ment to cut the power to the fuel pump if your car is in an accident.

Has a big black push button. Push it in to reset it, hopefully be as simple as that.

Best Of Luck

Alan

[K135]

Thanks a lot Mac & Alan

Corroded spring collar makes sense, given its apparent condition - maybe it worsened over the winter since the last service.

I didn't know about the fuel cut off switch - that hopefully explains the engine spluttering out - hope it's that simple! I'll go searching for it tomorrow.

Any tips on a decent specialist to take it to in the west? It's been back to MMC a couple of times but not too keen on the journey and their prices!

[jj]

For that type of thing I would recommend Gerry at http://www.performancetek.co.uk - good prices and handy for glasgow if you dont want to travel.

He did some work on my honda powered elise, but sorting that would probably be no trouble.

[robin]

Bolting on new suspension is a two spanner job; if you decide to swap for the S2 bilsteins (maybe the most cost effective way of sourcing reasonable suspension for the car) you'll want to replace the mounting brackets too, in which case it's a bit more involved but hardly major job.

If the engine cut out at the very same time it will be the fuel cut off switch as suggested above.

If you're careful you can reverse the car up onto a plank or two to gain the height to slip the jack under.

There's often old Konis floating about for emergencies - I think I have some very crap condition ones in my garage that might be useful as temporary replacements for yours or simply as donors for replacement spring collars - I'm over in Edinburgh but the SE courier system might be able to get them across to Glasgow if you want them. Let me know and I'll look them out and check that they're at least a matching set

Cheers,
Robin

[woody]

Bolting on new suspension is a two spanner job; if you decide to swap for the S2 bilsteins (maybe the most cost effective way of sourcing reasonable suspension for the car) you'll want to replace the mounting brackets too, in which case it's a bit more involved but hardly major job.

If the engine cut out at the very same time it will be the fuel cut off switch as suggested above.

If you're careful you can reverse the car up onto a plank or two to gain the height to slip the jack under.

There's often old Konis floating about for emergencies - I think I have some very crap condition ones in my garage that might be useful as temporary replacements for yours or simply as donors for replacement spring collars - I'm over in Edinburgh but the SE courier system might be able to get them across to Glasgow if you want them. Let me know and I'll look them out and check that they're at least a matching set

Cheers,
Robin

It's an s2 Robin.

[K135]

Bolting on new suspension is a two spanner job; if you decide to swap for the S2 bilsteins (maybe the most cost effective way of sourcing reasonable suspension for the car) you'll want to replace the mounting brackets too, in which case it's a bit more involved but hardly major job.

All sounds very encouraging - thanks. (Yup, it's an S2 as Woody says, so the simpler option wins!)

Not sure I'll be DIY'ing this though unless it's REALLY simple (!) but I'll take a closer look, maybe shop around for parts. I can see my attempts to fit springs and dampers going horribly wrong without the right tools (or knowledge ). I've so far only attempted simple stuff like painting up and replacing a kicked wing mirror and fixing the good old wandering indicator housing - probably need some help with suspension. Might check out Performancetek - thanks jj.

[robin]

OK - I only looked at the cracked picture and didn't spot the fact it was an S2!

[K135]

Fuel cut-off switch duly located and pressed - and engine running again, hooray!

Now for the expensive bit...

[woody]

Fuel cut-off switch duly located and pressed - and engine running again, hooray!

Now for the expensive bit...

If it is just the collar,it might not be so expensive: http://www.eliseparts.com/products.php?product=645

Easy to DIY.

[K135]

Thanks for the link woody - hadn't spotted the collars by themselves.