Front Dampers.

[Courthouse/Tom]

Hello, im going to change my front damper oil,how do i go about draining the old oil out??.
Which ,bolts do i have to unscrew,and when i have,do i need to leave the car static whilst it drains ?.I presume i dont need to take the weight off of the front suspension ?.
Thanks, Tom.

[bmcecosse]

Remove the valve assembly in the base - catch all the little bits that come out, and remove the fill screw. Then bounce away.......and then flush through a couple of times with SAE 40 oil (NOT 10W40) and then refit the valve and top up. Bounce a few times to allow air to rise to the top - and don't fill it right to the top. After a week of use - go back and check the level again. Simples !

[Courthouse/Tom]

Is the SAE40 easy to get ??.

[oddbod]

I got sae30 from my local Hire shop,£5 for 1l. When you do the Dampers,Front or rear, be aware of a spring inside the Damper,where the valve assembly comes out,it needs to come out,I fished it out with the end of the Valve cos I didnt have a specialist tool. This spring MUST go back on the valve before you replace it. Take the valve out,make sure you have a container to catch the stinky oil. Put some new oil in the top, maybe 20 or 30ml. Did you remember to put the valve back BEFORE you did this. BOUNCE the Moggie with glee for a couple of minutes, I used a large Teenager. Remove the valve assembly(again!) open the bottom nut and drain this new bit of oil which will have cleaned out some more stinky old oil,remember the spring that is still inside the damper,replace it on the damper valve then tighten it. I dont know the torque setting,but dont go mad. Refill the damper from above,bouncing the car regularly,the damper will continue to take oil even when you are sure it can't,all the bouncing releases air bubbles and makes more room for oil. At this point the damper gets stiffer and harder to bounce.Do not fear,sit on the wing and bounce some more,with gay abandon even. When you are sure the damper has released its last air bubble tighten the top nut,again dont go mad.The difference in the ride quality is,quite frankly,unbelievable. The major effort is in bouncing the car,and 1l of sae30 is £5 which flushes,and fills all four dampers and leaves a bit for topping up is not expensive. This,along with adjusting the brake shoes,is the easiest job on a Moggie,and by FAR the cheapest handling/comfort upgrade you can do. The rear dampers are a bit more involved as its easier to take them off to flush and fill,but even they only take 2 hours,including brews and siezed nuts. Give the front ones a go and it will be the most rewarding job you can do on a Moggie in under an hour!!

[PSL184]

Is the SAE40 easy to get ??.

Try Tesco's gardening section....

[bmcecosse]

You may have to go to a motorcycle place to get SAE 40 (which was Castrol XXL) - don't be fobbed off with 'fork oil' !! Or as others suggest - SAE 30 from the Tesco garden (= lawn mower) section will be almost as good. And NOOOOOOOO - leave the valve OUT while bouncing to get rid of the old stinky oil and doing the flushing through.....

[Trickydicky]

The oil can also be found in the Lawnmower section of B+Q

Richard

And also from Machine Mart with a choice of SAE30 or SAE40!!!!

[bmcecosse]

Handy to know ! I gave up looking in B&Q for anything useful a long time ago - when they turned into a kitchen/furniture shop.......

[Trickydicky]

Sorry to hijack the thread..but on the subject of B+Q, recently i needed some 8mm BZP nuts, pack of 10 in B+Q are £3.08. Upon closer inspection I noticed you could buy 10 M8*25 set screws,10 M8 washers and 10 M8 nuts in the same bag for £2.50....... obviously the mixed bag is the one I bought.

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

I know this may raise a few eyebrows, but I can wholeheartedly recommend filling the damper with clean, fresh 20/50w ENGINE OIL.

I put this in a bone dry front damper and it works perfectly well, plus you don't need to buy a ton of special grade oil which you're only going to use a few times.

I keep an oilcan full of 20/50 for miscellaneous use, like carb. damping, shock absorber top ups etc.

[bmcecosse]

Yes - 20W50 is 'ok' - the standard oil was SAE 20 from the factory, and since it doesn't get hot - the '50' rating will not come in to play. And it's obviously better than NO oil ! But SAE 30 works better - and SAE 40 even better still! I have a tin of SAE 50 I picked up last year...still to try that. I used to run my rally Minor on EP90 in the dampers - but I don't really suggest that to anyone on here - although it did work well for me !

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

Hehe - EP90 damper oil. Well I suppose it would corner as if it were on rails!

[Courthouse/Tom]

Thanks everyone for your advice------------just going out to do the job now !

[simmitc]

Always used to be the case that "proper" oil was SAE20, then 30 after a couple of years as the damper got worn, then 40 as they got more worn, then 50, then... so I suppose that after 40 years, you could get up to SAE90

[bmcecosse]

Well -I used EP90, but it's not SAE 90........

[IslipMinor]

From the Castrol data sheets, very roughly:

EP80 = SAE 30
EP90 = SAE 40
EP140 = SAE 60

The EP oils tend to be a bit thicker at lower temperatures, but not very much.

[oddbod]

Hey courthousetom, how did you get on with your "Day of Damping"? Well I hope!

[Courthouse/Tom]

I did the job at the weekend,took about an hour.I cant really notice much difference,but i do at least know that the jobs been done.Thanks to everyone for their advice !!.

[bmcecosse]

You can't notice much difference ??? What oil did you sue for the fill? And what was the old oil like........when you bounced it out? Most folks report an astonishing improvement!

[Courthouse/Tom]

I was told that my car had always been regularly maintained,and doing this job proved it.Everything came apart really easy and in fact the old oil didnt smell particularly bad (i thought it would).The point i'm trying to make is that the dampers have always damped well and given a pleasing ride,and after refilling with 20w50 oil---------------still does.
Many thanks, Tom.