Thursday, February 20, 2014
How to Detect Bad Struts in a 2005 Buick LaCrosse
As vehicles age, many components wear out, and struts are no exception to this rule. Each time that you drive your vehicle, the struts are moving up and down many times per second to absorb road vibrations. This constant movement, along with certain environmental factors, causes the struts to wear out. The most common symptom of bad struts is a noticeably rough ride, especially when going over bumps or uneven pavement. In addition to noticing the ride, there are other ways that you can detect bad struts in your vehicle.
Instructions
- 1
Test drive your vehicle on the side streets as well as the highway. Purposely drive over bumps, cracks, and uneven spots in the road and take note of the vehicles reaction to these irregularities. In a vehicle with bad struts, youll notice a harsh, jarring ride when going over the bad spots in the pavement. In a vehicle with good struts, the rebound will be smooth, controlled and feel tight, as opposed to sloppy, harsh, and loud.
2Press down quickly on the vehicles bumper with two hands, and then let it up. The vehicle should lift back to its normal height without excessive rebound, or bouncing. If the vehicle bounces and reverberates, the struts are likely bad. This is because the struts are designed to minimize the rebound vibrations from the springs.
3Look at the odometer and note the vehicles mileage. The performance of most vehicle struts greatly diminishes after about 60,000 miles. If youve got more mileage than that on your car and the struts are original, its a good time to replace them.
4Inspect your tires for uneven wear. Faulty struts allow tires to wear unevenly, causing cupping. Cupping ers to the tires having intermittent, parallel worn spots across the tire, creating high and low spots on the tire.
5Lift the vehicle with an automotive jack and then support it with jack stands. Place wheel chocks behind the opposing wheels. Shine a work light up under the wheel well and look at the strut cartridge or tube; it should be dry with no signs of fluid leakage. Most modern struts are gas charged and also contain hydraulic fluid. When struts age, their seals begin to leak this fluid. Once the fluid begins to leak, the strut is already ruined and its performance is dramatically decreased.
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