front dampers

[ronnie]

hi all , the front dampers on the moggy , should the oil be drained and filled as part of a routine service or is it a sealed item
ronnie

[mike.perry]

The dampers would benefit from fresh oil. I must get around to doing the front dampers on my car, I have only had it 34 years

[ronnie]

hi mike , in the 34 yrs you have owned the car you have never changed the damper oil ??

[bmcecosse]

BMC didn't suggest it as a routine service operation - but you will find if you take the valve assembly out and bounce the car - horrible thin smelly oil will dribble out....... Fill up with SAE 30 (or 40 if you can find it) and bounce it through a couple of times to help wash out the old stuff - then refit the valve assy - fill up with bouncing to release air bubbles - and leave a small air space at the top. Check and top up after a week or so. The difference in the damping will be impressive !

[ronnie]

thanks bmc thats another job in the pipeline cheers

[robedney]

Do the rear ones too!

[ronnie]

cheers

[bmcecosse]

You pretty much need to take the rears off to do them successfully - on a bench.

[brucek]

I did this with my convertible today - it is making slow progress to return to the road by the beginning of May and, since it has been dry strored for about 10 years there was not a lot of oil in any of the dampers. What there was was extremely smelly and in very poor condition indeed. With oil drained out of all 4 dampers and suitable receptacles under each outlet, I bounced away happily for about 5 mins. You should have seen the looks I got from the passers by! It was also quite interesting to see how bouncy the car was without any damping too - which shows that, even with a minute amount of oil in they do perform some damping function. I think I now own the only MM trampoline!

All good clean fun really