Q&A

If you had not noticed any handling or ride problems before, this sounds suspicious. I would get a second opinion, before I opened up my wallet.

i had a 1997 acura in my bay for an oil change,when i racked the car to change the oil ,the strut go to full extension and if your strut are old,they will lock up.the dealer might just be right,if your strut are orignal.

From a customer standpoint it seems totally illogical that the car could drive seemingly normal just prior to service, but then ride horribly only after picking up the vehicle.

I manage a repair shop and the exact same thing just happened on a customer's 2004 RL with only 78K miles on it. We did a routine oil change while the customer waited, and she called us after driving away to tell us it was riding rough when it wasn't just prior to the oil change.

Sure enough the front shocks have "locked up" and have no visible leaks of any kind. My belief is that she is being truthful about the ride quality before and after. I also believe the front shocks were probably on their way out anyway, and by simply lifting the car and allowing the shocks to fully extend it was the deathblow for them.

Hardly our fault as the shop since we simply picked the vehicle up to service it, but she insists that we must have "dropped her car" or something when we in fact did no such thing.

I offered her the regular price for fixing the problem (replace front shocks) and she seemed offended. It's a touchy situation because if I offer her a discounted rate it may be seen as an admission of guilt, which we absolutely are not guilty of any wrong doing.

2002 Acura RL Shock Failure - Shop Owner's Perspective

First consider how a shock absorber works. The shock tube (outside) contains oil or gases that are compressed by the shock piston (plunger). The piston head has seals that prevent oil/gases from passing between the head and shock tube inner wall. The shock tube cap has seals preventing oil/gases from escaping past the piston shaft to the exterior of the shock assembly. Valves contained in the tube wall or the piston head regulate the amount and the speed of the oil/gases as they pass from one end of the shock absorber to the other. Managing this movement creates the ride quality and eliminates bouncing after hitting a bump. With this basic description we can understand how lifting the vehicle with a hoist can cause shock failure.

When the car is on the ground there is a “normal” range of travel of the piston inside the shock tube. This “normal” piston travel never fully collapses nor fully extends the shock absorber assembly. However, when the vehicle is lifted on the hoist for service or repairs the shock assembly is extend past the “normal” range of travel to full extension. Now consider that at 70 thousand miles a considerable amount of wear has accumulated in the shock absorber. You may not realize it, but the absorber doesn’t eliminate shock and rebound as well is it did at 30 thousand miles. The piston shaft, shock tube, and seals are all changed from wear. They still work, but not exactly like they did when new.

As your vehicle is lifted on a hoist the shocks extend past the normal range of travel. At some point the accumulated wear from use can create one of the following situations:

At full extension, like an old style bicycle pump, the piston and shock tube lose alignment. Once that alignment is lost the piston cannot go back into the tube causing piston seizure.

At full extension, the valve system orifice in the tube wall or plunger head becomes blocked by the plunger head. Oil/gases cannot pass from below the plunger head to above the plunger head. With all the oil/gases on one side of the plunger head the piston is seized and cannot go back into the tube.

At full extension, the plunger head disturbs scale on the inner tube wall. The loosened debris is pulled into the valve system causing the piston to be seized in place. Or the debris can damage the internal seals and the shock will no longer dampen shock or eliminate rebound.

Your vehicle manufacturer gives guidelines for when certain items should be replaced because those parts are designed to last a specified amount of time or miles. Once you have reached that suggested life expectancy every additional mile is a bonus. While it may be difficult to digest, lifting the vehicle for service isn’t the cause of the shock failure. The shocks are past their life expectancy and already need replacement.

no the struts should be damage after oil change

acura is going to tell u something is wrong just to get u to fix it on a 96 nothing is new i have one