North American Turbocoupe Organization



Suspension drop when I drive. Any ideas?
Mblue97 Offline
Junior Member
#1
Hi - I have a bone stock 88 Turbo with 37k miles. Yesterday, I noticed something didn't seem right with the suspension. When I got out of the car, I saw it was sitting a good inch lower than usual.  After the car sat about 20 minutes I noticed it was back to the normal ride height.  I didn't think these cars had any type of self-leveling suspension so I'm really confused.

Now I don't know if this is related or not, but I was getting a PRC code of 4 blinking lights then a pause and repeat.  I switched the front actuators and it stayed with the same code.  I checked the little rod on top of the left front shock and it was slightly stiff where the right one had virtually no resistance.  I tried oiling and rotating the shaft back and forth to free it up some more.  Anyway, I don't know if this is related or not but does anyone have any idea why my suspension is dropping?  

Thanks in advance for any help.
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Kuch Offline
Senior Member
#2
Maybe the struts or shocks have an internal leak in them? Is it the front only, front and back, back only? You are correct as they do not have any form of self leveling. some of the code gurus on here should have a good answer for your blinking lights, but my guess is your 32 year old struts are done.
1988 Turbo Coupe, Black/Black, 5 Speed, Moonroof,  T3/T4, ported E6, 255LPH, Kirban, Stinger Exhaust, MGW shifter, K&N, Gillis valve, BP1.5, PIMPx, Koni's
1964 Ford Galaxie 500XL, 390 6V, Big Solid cam, Headers,3.89's, 4 Speed, Vast and fast
1960 Ford Starliner, 292 Y Block, 312 4bbl intake, headers, 3 Speed, slow and low
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Mblue97 Offline
Junior Member
#3
Thanks for the reply and confirming there is no self leveling.  What's really strange is that the drop appears to be from all four, and it happened all at once.  I'm going to go for a drive today to confirm if it's actually all four and measure the amount of drop from each corner and will report back.
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Entropy1988 Offline
Junior Member
#4
Your strut is worn out. I have the same problem with the one on the left front. It compresses but won't return all the way until is sits for about 20 min or more. Its a shame there is no way to rebuild or recondition it.
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Mblue97 Offline
Junior Member
#5
(06-06-2020, 11:01 PM)Entropy1988 Wrote: Your strut is worn out. I have the same problem with the one on the left front. It compresses but won't return all the way until is sits for about 20 min or more. Its a shame there is no way to rebuild or recondition it.
Thanks for the reply.  I've come up with the same realization and ordered a new set of KYBs all around even though I think my problem is the front left as well.  It's a shame considering my car only has 37k actual miles on it.
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Mblue97 Offline
Junior Member
#6
So I'm putting in new KYBs today.  On the front struts, the top plate where the actuator motors sit doesn't fit over the strut rod.  Just wondering what people do?  Do I just drill it out or just get a thick washer?  Thanks.
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vegas_ss Offline
Senior Member
#7
(06-08-2020, 03:34 PM)Mblue97 Wrote: So I'm putting in new KYBs today.  On the front struts, the top plate where the actuator motors sit doesn't fit over the strut rod.  Just wondering what people do?  Do I just drill it out or just get a thick washer?  Thanks.

Sounds like you are trying to reuse the strut mounts?  If so it may be best to get new strut mounts too...  I did replace the mounts on the PRC struts several years ago but don't recall anything unusual.
1987 TC, 5sp, Boport Stage 3 Head/2.1 Cam
1996 Impala SS, DCM, Borla Cat Back, too much other stuff!!! (SOLD)
2009 Pontiac G8 GXP 6M, 6.2l LS3, Kooks Long Tube, Hi Flo Cats, Mild Cam
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