Left front suspension knock

[jt racing]

Hi all, just hoping someone can help me here. My brother has a 1990 xj6 2.9 and the front left suspension is giving a very bad knock. After inspecting it i can see the top of the shock has pushed up into the engine bay so after pulling off the wheel i can see that the bushing at the top is down the shock. I've had a good look and there seems to be that there is a little ring that holds the top pushing up is gone and therefore allowing the shock to go through. Is there a way to fix this or is a whole new shock needed. Thanks in advance!

[richw_82]

Be careful. On the XJ40 I'm pretty sure the shock absorber provides an end stop to keep the road spring located.

[Jaguar steve]

Top shock bushes are a weak spot on the XJ40 - If you're getting a kind of clattery rattle over bumps that's the most likley cause. Replacements are about £7 a side from British Car Parts.

You can change the bushes easily enough but the shock when fully extended acts as the limiter on the lower wishbone travel, so you'll need to either support the bottom wishbone very securely or better still use a Jaguar spring compressor up the inside of the spring to hold everything together before you undo the top shock mounting.

Please don't take any risks with suspension springs - you could easily loose fingers or worse if it goes tits up on you.

[jt racing]

Thanks lads. Its definetely the top mount so? Is the a spring clip that retains it on the uppr part of the shock to stop it from going and pushing through to the engine bay?

[Jaguar steve]

No, not definitely but that's the most likley cause of the rattle you describe. If you're not sure what you are doing then get hold of a Heynes manual or workshop CD and make sure you are confident you know how it all fits together before you undo anything.

[jt racing]

I know what the cause of the rattle is. Its that the top of the shock has pushed through into the engine bay. And that the bush, that is shock side of the engine bay has fallen down the shock pipe causing it to fully extend and go through. There is a small ring like thing that i presume is to hold the bushing up thats missind. Now my question is is this replacable, or do i get a new top mount, or new shock altogether. I've looked at the hayens manual and that just shows me how to remove the shock. That fine, i've done this on several cars. Thanks again.