Estate hanging over

[Guest]

Hi,
My '95 2.0i Estate (only 60000km/38000 mls) is low at the rear, which makes it look tired.
It has the self levelling suspension but when loaded the car dives even deeper into the springs, is that normal?

Am I right to suspect that the rear shock absorbers are at the end of their life or could something else be wrong? If I need replacements, can anybody supply me brand/partnumbers?

Thanks a lot for any help!
Rgds
Guus

[Guest]

Certainly sounds like the self levelers have had it.

Not sure you can get new ones now as it's a pretty rare fit.
But you can swop over to standard shocks and springs if required.

[threelitre]

Does the rear get back up to a good level when being driven? In my experience even worn out self level dampers will still work.

These dampers are actually a hydropneumatic spring and damper unit (like Citroën) with a pump all in a small package. The pump is activated by the bumps the car is being driven over.

On our Montego we had two of these blow the spring inside, making them rock hard, but still working in terms of keeping the ride height. On my brother's Rover 827 Vitesse, the rear was sitting low when parked, but would level up when being driven - these seemed to be somewhat worn out.

Regards,

Alexander

PS: Have the dampers been replaced in the past? If someone replaced the self leveling dampers with standard ones, the car will sit low and sink very much with load added due to the different springs.

[Guest]

Certainly sounds like the self levelers have had it.

Not sure you can get new ones now as it's a pretty rare fit.
But you can swop over to standard shocks and springs if required.

What is needed to do the swap ?

[Guest]

A standard set up of Petrol estate rear springs and shocks.

[Guest]

what's the difference between standard petrol estate springs and self-levelling springs? length width ?

[mgdavid]

self-levelling shocks are much fatter than the standard ones, and so the springs are bigger diameter to fit around them. Therefore they will have a different spring rate, be made of different tensile strength steel, etc, the whole spec is different.

[threelitre]

Basically the ones for self leveling will be softer, as the damper contains an additional hydropneumatic spring.

Regards,
Alexander

[Guest]

I've purchased some regular estate gas shocks and the self levelling springs fit ok in the spring seats and I have slightly increased the length of the bump stop. I haven't found the time to put them on yet.
In case everything is too soft could I double the bottom spring seats (i've got some spares) to increase the spring tension ?
I'm not looking for perfection i just don't want to be sea-sick

[Guest]

Everything is fine no more saggy rear end I did purchase the bigger shocks 180mm instead of the original 160mm this might be causing the the rear axle to push down a bit more on the springs. In any case the the ride height and ride is fine and I didn't need to buy different springs.

[montegoman2]

How do I find out which seat height dampers I need for my 2.0i Countryman estate, please ?

[Doctordiesel77]

I think they'll be the 264mm ones rather than 250, safest to check though, just measure from bottom bolt to spring pan, a bit fiddly to measure accurately, but as long as you are within 5mm it will be near enough.

[montegoman2]

thank you !