Suspension problem
1997 Buick Park Avenue 6 cyl Two Wheel Drive Automatic 123000 miles
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Last week, i was driving and with no warning, my rear end began to be very stiff. Went to car-x and the guy said the left air shock was leaking, and was no good, and the mounts need to be replaced with the shocks. I baught the shocks, and went to my mechanic and he installed them. he said the mounts were salvagable, and the shocks went right on. so after picking up the car, the car was still very very stiff. When i push on the rear end, its very stiff. so im just wondering, air pump maybe died when the left shock died? could the mounts really be this big of a deal for a a difference in ride from smooth smooth to bump bump bump over everything? could it possibly be a bad air hose? any other ideas?

Does this look like your suspension?



Shocks supply force towars the pavement, springs provide force away from the pavement. Get a look at the springs.

Also measure the ride height and see where it is at. IF the air shocks are not filling it will set low.

i went to the dealer today, shocks are ok, but the air pump and switche decided to die at the same time. i was told an estimate of 1500 to replace. i contacted the manufactoror and the store wherre i baught the shocks, the hikackers made by gabriel, and they are adjustable for softness and such. so im gonna contact my mechanic who put them in, and see if he can take some air out to make them softer? any ideas? i dont really want to replace the air pump at the dealer, theres one on ebay for 75 dollars, that works. any ideas?

I haven't used the highjackers, so it's hard to say for me what adjustment there will be. I doubt it will be comparable to the OEM set up...which is pricy. $75 sounds pretty reasonable to try.

what other options are there for the rear shocks? i called the local checkers, and they recommended the monroe ones. any recommendations?

Monroe is what we use almost exclusively. But I think in that particular application I don't know how much it will change. LEt me see what I can find out.

Monroe does make a replace set. I haven't used them on this particluar car, but have used the one for the lincolns and have had good feedback.

http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/search/?Ntt=171662l&N=0&uts=true


171662r
171662l

so i just got off the phone with the mechanic at the dealer, and i asked him, that with the hijackers, an attempt to keep me from buying another pair of shocks, if they would be able to releive some pressure from the shocks them selves. he said to me with the pump being dead, that the shocks have no air in them at all. i said well what is the valve on the shock for? this same guy told me yesterday that the air ride was for the purpose of leveling the car with heavy heavy loads. he also told me that it would totally fine to drive the car with the car as is. if theres no air in the shock, according to the guy today, how is there a little bump to the rear end when pushed, and wouldnt it just keep banging and knocking every bump? i called the guy who put the shocks on for me last week, and he said i could bring it in, and he said he`l try to release some of the air pressure from the shock, with me singing a waiver lol, but for a soft ride and not having a pain in my neck il try it. any advice?

I called gabriel:
http://www.gabriel.com/DisplayTab.aspx?tid=6

They said the air pressure in them should be 20 pounds...do you know what is in them?

They said don't go any lower or it will bottom out and higher is goanna be stiffer..makes sense.

ill let him know tomorrow that 20 pounds is the lowest he`l be able to go on the shocks. i know that there is an adjustment valve, there was a packet of peices that came along with the shocks, including the air hose that goes to the air pump (not needed now since the pump is bad) i discussed that a regular tire pump/compressor would be adaquate for adjusting. sounds like if i could jack my car up my self, i could do it with my compressor. might be to much to ask, but the mechanic as the peices, and if not i can always run up to autozone and say hey there were only the shocks and not peices (bad, i know but they rip me off enough) but would you know, or if could call again, find out from gabriel what adaptors, if any are needed to attatch to the valve to release air?