Is the strut shot?

[adallak]

Jacked up the rear to apply PB blast at the brake bleeder screws and noticed some liquid on the rear right strut. Is it shut?

[Cadillac Jim]

I would go by the car itself. Push down on each rear bumper corner and see if the damping is the same on both sides, and is OK.

I've had a bit of stain on my right rear for over two yeas now and it is fine. When I do need rear shocks, I'll get two, and I will keep the electrically controlled suspension and load leveling. Mine is a 1997 Eldorado with almost 150,000 miles on it and it still has the original shocks and struts.

[Ranger]

Jacked up the rear to apply PB blast at the brake bleeder screws and noticed some liquid on the rear right strut. Is it shut?

It ain't shut, bit it IS shot.

[adallak]

Jacked up the rear to apply PB blast at the brake bleeder screws and noticed some liquid on the rear right strut. Is it shut?

It ain't shut, bit it IS shot.

[adallak]

I would go by the car itself. Push down on each rear bumper corner and see if the damping is the same on both sides, and is OK.

I've had a bit of stain on my right rear for over two yeas now and it is fine. When I do need rear shocks, I'll get two, and I will keep the electrically controlled suspension and load leveling. Mine is a 1997 Eldorado with almost 150,000 miles on it and it still has the original shocks and struts.

Right rear corner is just a little bit "softer" compared to the left one when pushed down. Will leave it alone until the left one starts leaking too.

[Cadillac Jim]

Right rear corner is just a little bit "softer" compared to the left one when pushed down. Will leave it alone until the left one starts leaking too.

That's up to you. I'm a maintenance fanatic, as you well know by now, and would replace both once I saw a clear difference. If you are more reasonable, then, I would suggest that you go by driving the car, such as, watch for a noticeable pitch to the left on a speed bump or some such and re-think things when you see something you can feel when you drive the car.

Myself, I have a high-camber driveway entrance and the road is frequently driven by tailgaters, and I habitually hit the driveway at an angle at about 10 mph. If any one of the struts or shocks gets soft, this simple maneuver will become a ride I could sell for a quarter.

[sprucegoose]

Coincidentaly, I just found the same condition on my right rear shock when I was rotating tires last night! Mine is exactly as you have shown and described, and I'm going to wait a little while to replace the set. It still seems to ride pretty decent...

[KHE]

The rear air shocks on the Broughams are around $100 each from GM unlike the insanely priced electronic shocks for the FWD cars.

[adallak]

The rear air shocks on the Broughams are around $100 each from GM unlike the insanely priced electronic shocks for the FWD cars.

Kevin, if I ever decide to replace them, it will not be electronic. The ride is good so far, so I will wait and see.

[KHE]

The rear air shocks on the Broughams are around $100 each from GM unlike the insanely priced electronic shocks for the FWD cars.

Kevin, if I ever decide to replace them, it will not be electronic. The ride is good so far, so I will wait and see.

The Broughams do not have electronic shocks. The rear shocks are air adjustable and are about $100 each which is reasonable.

[Cadillac Jim]

I've seen service people squirt brake fluid on shocks with an oil can. The stain that makes them look like they're leaking stays for years. Go by the shock action.

[adallak]

The rear air shocks on the Broughams are around $100 each from GM unlike the insanely priced electronic shocks for the FWD cars.

Kevin, if I ever decide to replace them, it will not be electronic. The ride is good so far, so I will wait and see.

The Broughams do not have electronic shocks. The rear shocks are air adjustable and are about $100 each which is reasonable.

Even better!

[Rich]

My 1997 Eldorado has also had a stain on the passenger side rear strut. It's been there for about two years now and there is absolutely no discernable effect on the damping effect while driving. The car just turned 123,000 miles this week so hopefully I can get another 30K miles out of these struts as Jum has with his '97 Eldorado. The 123K miles has been driven over northeastern US roads which we all know are far from smooth, so these dampers haven't had an easy life. Just goes to show the durability of these cars and components. On the other hand, I just had to have my rear brake calipers and emergency brake cables replaced this week. The calipers siezed onto the rotors and wouldn't release this past Wednesday morning. It's at the dealer now and hopefully I'll be picking it up tonight.

[Cadillac Jim]

I had my first brake job at about 125,000 miles. The front ones could have gone another year and the rear ones were good for longer, but hey, enough is enough.

[Rich]

Jees, 125K out of a set of brakes. I wish I could say the same, but I had my front brakes done at about 55K and the rears some time thereafter. Then at about 100K I noticed that the rotors seemed warped, so I had the brakes done all around, new rotors too, along with new brake lines in the rear. Apparently, even with the original stainless lines, the rear lines corroded and burst a fitting while they were reassembling at the 100K brake service. Now I need new rear calipers. After all, this car provides service to me year round so I expect this sort of thing every now and again. Jim, I hope you're as happy with your Eldorado as I am with mine. Sorry to go off topic here.

[JohnnyG]

the rear lines corroded and burst a fitting while they were reassembling at the 100K brake service.

This sounds fishy to me. What on earth would they be doing to the rear brake lines or fittings during a brake job?

Now if they visually inspected or otherwise disturbed a fitting during tubing replacement, that would be a different story altogether. Sounds a lot like the old "squirt some oil on a shock" trick to me.

[Cadillac Jim]

A lot of times a film will form on high-performance brakes that someone will think is warped rotors. Parking with hot brakes will leave a film where the pads are and give an uneven feel to the braking action. All you need is a light resurfacing, which you may be able to do yourself with fine sandpaper.

[Ranger]

Sand paper won't work. I've tried that. They need a light skim cut on a brake lathe.

[Cadillac Jim]

Rich -- I just noticed JohhnyG's quote from your post #15:

...the rear lines corroded and burst a fitting while they were reassembling at the 100K brake service.

First, AFAIK, there is no 100,000 mile brake service, other than an inspection. Second, it's very common for someone to let a caliper hang by the brake line during a brake service -- and this will always break the brake line, causing a leak, or worse: the line may break later, causing the brakes drop back to two wheels or even the pedal to go to the floor. Sounds like they charged a tech error to your parts bill. Ask them for the old part.

[Rich]

Hey guys. Good morning and happy Saturday. The corroded brake lines were replaced just over two years ago, not at my current service. As I arrived to pick up my car back then, it was on the lift and had just sprung the leak from the D/S rear line. Upon further inspection, it was discovered that the rear lines were corroded and the techs needed to form new lines from stainless tubing. I had a very good relationship with this dealership and was completely comfortable with their diagnosis. I was under the car with them and as I recall, the lines they replaced did look grungy to the eye but I honestly didn't inspect the replaced line as thouroughly as I could. What struck me as odd was that the front lines were apparently fine. I had them inspect the fronts as well and they advised that they looked fine. Unfortunately, that dealer has since closed, an apparent casualty of our ailing economy.

[adallak]

I have noticed that the rear brake lines rust faster than the front ones, but it is quite unusual to have the rear lines fail while the front ones do not even look bad. My lines failed one after another - RL, RR, Fl ...at that point all lines were replaced. You fix the weakest part and the next to the former weakest becomes the weakest one.

[Rich]

Jim - I was unclear regarding my reference to the "100,000 mile brake service". It just so happened to be at around 100K, actually around 98 or 99K. I had already had my pads replaced and rotors shaved at around 55K and at almost 100K I noticed what seemed like warped rotors when braking from high speeds. So I brought it in for a brake check and the pads needed replacing. Since the rotors had already been cut one, I had all new rotors installed along with the new pads. I've ad no problems since, except this past Wednesday morning when my rear calipers siezed onto the rotors. The emergency cable is also being replaced as it was rusted and needed replacing.

[sprucegoose]

The rear air shocks on the Broughams are around $100 each from GM unlike the insanely priced electronic shocks for the FWD cars.

Kevin, if I ever decide to replace them, it will not be electronic. The ride is good so far, so I will wait and see.

adallak, if you ever do relace them I would highly recomend the Arnott rear shocks. I bought a set at O'Rielly for $282. It was an easy install tonight on my Eldorado other than one stubborn air line connection that didn't want to come out. Patience... patience!

They ride really nice, 100% better than the old tired out (leaking) ones! These were not electronic either. I believe the front struts on my car are, but I'm going to replace them with the Arnott ones that have the bypass resistor in them soon. I figure if I'm going to be riding in this car, I might as well be enjoying it!

[adallak]

Sprusegoose,

Glad you decided to replace the leaking struts and enjoy the ride again. Often, it pays of to spend some money and time to make your Cadillac enjoyable again!

Looks like even OEM struts are not expensive for the Fleetwood. The struts can wait, first have to remove that stubborn lug nut!