Failed Rear Left Suspension In Switzerland

[silasthesailor]

Hi,

 

After a long trip in Europe I had my rear left suspension set fail in Switzerland from all possible places. Could anyone give me a ball park figure of the cost to repair it back in the UK?

Over here they are asking for the equivalent of 1000 pounds, ten times the cars worth. (2002 c5 hdi hatchback 90 bhp)

 

[silasthesailor]

Hi me again , they showed it to me and there seems to be leaking from where the cylinder meets the sphere due to corrossion, they insist to change the whole kit, sphere cylinder bushes o-rings and the whole kit. Could it be that only one part needs to be changed?

[paul.h]

Maybe just the seal between the cylinder and sphere is leaking. However, to guarantee a repair a garage may want to replace the cylinder, seal and sphere. A rear cylinder (strut) in the UK is about £150, the seal not much and a sphere at a guess £50 plus you would need about £20 of lds fluid. Labour time to replace these bits is up to 1 hour so you ought to be paying about £300 for the job - I had a rear cylinder replaced 3 years ago at a Citroen dealer and it cost £244. So it would appear the garage you are using is hoping to rip you off since the parts prices will be the same across Europe but maybe their labour charge is about £800 an hour.

[silasthesailor]

Thank you Paul for your comment.

 

I ended up scrapping my C5 in Robbersland because 1000 £ was the price.

I am in the market for another one, spoiled by the ride quality unmatched by any other car except the old Lexus 400. 

 

Thanks again,

 

[ESL57]

Those units can be repaired by filing away the corrosion to flat and then fitting a Dowty washer.

  It is getting the correct size washer that is difficult.