Coilover woes.....

[andy-integrale]

In attempting to unsieze a seized adjuster on an RSR (Intrax) coilover I ended up 'removing' the knurled adjuster knob at which point oil seeped out of the centre of the spindle obviously under some pressure. Luckily I have put it back on and it's stemmed the flow but being a completely ignorant about the workings of coilover units wondered whether this is oil from the damper itself or whether it's something separate to do with lubricating the adjuster mechanism as it influences whether I drive on it or not. Currently that corner is jacked up to relive any load on it.


Perhaps someone could enlighten me!


The whole set needs service / rebuild so it's no great problem.

[andyiley]

It is damping fluid, there is no lubrication for them, the fact that it was under pressure proves that you had opened up the main damping chamber, which is nitrogen pressurised.

[andy-integrale]

Ok, thanks. Sound like its bu*%ered then. The knurled adjuster wheel has a small shaft with an o-ring round it so clearly not designed to take the pressure of damping oil. Assume I must of fractured another seal somewhere :-(

[PhillipM]

The o-ring will be the upper seal, most adjusters up the centre of the shaft are deliberately designed like that to allow oil all the way up the rod, to try to stop them sticking.

[andy-integrale]

PhillipM said:

The o-ring will be the upper seal, most adjusters up the centre of the shaft are deliberately designed like that to allow oil all the way up the rod, to try to stop them sticking.

Thanks Phillip - seems to be just a push / interference fit. Does that sound right? Just wondering whether to trust it to make the trip to the garage to get the unit off the car.

[PhillipM]

Was it a push fit before, or have you snapped it off the thin shaft down the centre that alters the bleed?

[PaulKemp]

You can drive a car without dampers
You can't drive a car without springs
That said there are some very lowered cars running purely on bump stops

If your damper has badly leaked it will be bouncy on that corner so if you do drive it, drive slowly with great care

[andy-integrale]

PhillipM said:

Was it a push fit before, or have you snapped it off the thin shaft down the centre that alters the bleed?

Difficult to say as it was only out of the car a short time. I suspect the latter but am pretty certain the end of it was clean / machine - didn't look sheared.

The difficulty is it was suspension that was specifically developed for the integrale by RSRacing Nurburg thats no longer available. I think it may have originally been Intrax manufactured. I have been in touch with them to try and find a bit more info as there is no tech drawing / spares list readily available on the web.

[andy-integrale]

PaulKemp said:

You can drive a car without dampers
You can't drive a car without springs
That said there are some very lowered cars running purely on bump stops

If your damper has badly leaked it will be bouncy on that corner so if you do drive it, drive slowly with great care

Many thanks Paul - my main concern in driving it is that if the adjuster comes out whilst driving there is oil behind it under pressure then it will make a mess of a beige alcantara interior!

[PhillipM]

Can you get a couple of good photos?

[andy-integrale]

PhillipM said:

Can you get a couple of good photos?

Hi Phillip - can't photo the shaft as I don't want to remove it again. The cars off the jack now and I am checking to see if there is any loss of oil which there doesn't seem to be. I am going to run it over to the garage that set it up in the first place and see what they say.