202 Broken Spring (or not??)

[stevesey]

Posted a while back about a slight knocking from the rear on gentle bumps. Anyway problem has been getting worse and I have noticed that the suspension is down on the corner where the noise seems to come from (diagonally opposite corner is up slightly compared with the others as well - to be expected I suppose).

Anyway had convinced myself the spring was broken at one end. Just had a look and can't see anything wrong. Powder coating is peeling away a lot on the top and bottom coils, which as a result are quite rustly, but other than that all looks fine (suspension wasn't compressed at the time of course).

Thoughts? If it's not broken has it just sagged - is this a known problem?

Plan for tomorrow is to slither under the car with the wheels on and compare the coil gaps side to side to see if perhaps one coil has gone "soft". Then I'll check the opposite corner - just in case it's that corner getting pushed up that is causing the opposite rear corner to go down (you never know). Otherwise I'm at a bit of a loss.

 

[Alps]

it could be a dead shock ?

 

[grober]

Broken anti roll bar link item 20 http://www.detali.ru/cat/oem_mb2.as...GM=717.464&CT=F&cat=44V&SID=32&SGR=180&SGN=05
or roll bar mounting broken? spring is the most likely. there are also all the 5 link rear suspension arm bushes to check. the top one the camber strut item 53 http://www.detali.ru/cat/oem_mb2.as...GM=717.464&CT=F&cat=44V&SID=35&SGR=075&SGN=04
is one that goes frequently

 

[stevesey]

I have checked the roll bar links/mountings they look fine.

Shocks should not affect the static ride height (although they and roll bar/link bushes are both possibles for the knocking if it turns out to be two separate issues).

 

[grober]

Is the toe in or camber slightly different from side to side. This would point to failed bushes. The only other possibility would be a problem with the subframe-mounts or mounting points? http://www.detali.ru/cat/oem_mb2.as...GM=717.464&CT=F&cat=44V&SID=35&SGR=075&SGN=04

 

[stevesey]

Just popped out side and tried sticking my finger between the coils, little finger goes between the coils on the low side and is quite tight to pull the knuckle out (heart missed a beat!) Each gap is the same, so it doesn;t look like a weakness in one particular coil. On the other side my ringer fing will fit in. Checking my knuckles with a caliper that equates to about 2mm difference (per coil, so 12mm overall). Tool box is on that side of the boot - can't believe it weight that much!!

Seems to suggest the spring has sagged. Will check some more in the light tomorrow.

N.B Any fellow 202 C240 Sport owners care to post/pm the wheel arch ride height at all 4 corners, just to check I'm low on this corner, not high on the opposite front!