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Knocking rear end 900 1991

1991 940GL live axle rear

I have a very annoying knocking sound coming from the rear suspension of my 940 sedan. Just before Christmas last year, I installed a new set of Bilstein shocks and I suspect the knocking is coming from these. All the bolts on the rear are tight including the shocks. I took the shocks out this afternoon and couldn't see anything physically wrong with them except that on one shock the sleeve on the bottom where the bolt goes through is not centred within the bush. I mean that the sleeve is poking out one side further than the other. I tried to even this up with no success. To me this really indicates poor quality control and I feel like taking them back to my supplier and telling them shove them where the sun don't shine.
The knocking sound is very noticeable over small corrugation and train tracks etc and is bloody annoying. I tried taking everything out of the boot to eliminate this possibility but no luck. I wish I'd kept the old shocks to compare. Is there any way I could confirm that it IS the shocks before I rip them out again?

Any tips would be welcome.

Brad








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I had the exact same problem 900 1991

Put Bilstein tourings on my daughter's '95 940 about 3 years ago. After a while there was a knock coming out of the rear. I tried EVERYTHING I could to isolate it. Tried for over 1 year to figure it out!! Finally, I switched back to the original KYB rear shocks and the problem disappeared. What a royal pain in the ass!
Phil C








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Knocking rear end 900 1991

I've had Bilstein Touring shocks on my 1991 240 and 1991 740 for about 18 months and both cars had very noticeable clunking noises when riding over normal streets. I took them off, looked for signs of damage, re-torqued them and still the same noise. So...I bought KYB Gas Adjusts for the 240, put them on and the noise disappeared completely. Then I did the same with the 740 and got the same result--noise gone. I measured both shocks with calipers and didn't see any real difference, just fractions of a mm. It's a mystery, but at least now I have an answer, don't buy Bilsteins again.








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Welcome to the Bilstein Touring Class Club (long post) 900 1991

Quick version. Mine had internal problems. FCP replaced them (Sachs Advantage) at no charge months later. Others have said it was oversized upper bolt holes. My 1st post on this is below, followed by a string of others. Sorry it's so long, but it will save you some searching.

=========X
Bilstein Touring Shock Owners—Please Read and Respond

I put BT shocks and struts on the 940 last Spring. A rear shock leaked in the first month (puddle on the floor tipped me off).

FCP promptly replaced the leaker. No more leaks evident after that. But later I began to notice rattles from the back when going over "parking lot patches". Then I read BB posts about the BT's upper shock bolt hole being oversized, allowing movement and noise.

Today, attemping to see if I could shim or otherwise cure the noise problem, I discovered that both Rear Shocks were leaking! Not puddle-on-the-floor leaking, but clearly evident on the upper half of the lower tube.

Before I call Nick at FCP, I'd like to know how many others have (or haven't) had these same rattles and/or leaks with Bilstein Touring rear shocks.

Your responses will be very much appreciated,
===========X
Bilstein shocks rattle 200 1988
posted by Postm100 on Fri May 23 11:09 EST 2003
I put some Bilstien touring class shocks on the back of my 240 sedan and now have a rattle.
I've figured out that the upper mount of the shock is just slightly too big for the bolt that it mounts to and that play is causing it to make the noise.
Has anyone else had this problem with the bilstien's? I know IPD has had complaints about the boge turbo gas doing the same.
Has anyone found any solutions? IPD hasn't been able to recreate the problem so they are still working on it.
cheers,
Ryan - '68 122, '88 240 DL (5 spd) ------------------- Orange, CA
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What has happened to Bilstein shocks? 200
posted by nelson on Sat Dec 27 21:31 EST 2003
Problem 3- you guessed it, the rear shocks still clunk at the mounting bolt.Bilstein says these shocks were not made for a "regular" 240 only to be used on the 240 turbo.Don't all 240 Volvos used the same diameter shock bolt? So my question is has anyone had the same thing happen to them and what did you do/use to shim a shock bolt? You would think at the prices they charge the shocks would be made to more exact tolerances.One other note on my 1982 I did not have any of these problems.
Hope everyone had a good holiday!
Nelson--------------------Bronx
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What has happened to Bilstein shocks? 200
posted by someone claiming to be augie on Sun Dec 28 16:36 EST 2003
I put Bilsteins on front & rear. Could never get rid of the rattle on the rears; replaced the rear Biltsteins with Boges and the rattle disappeared forever.
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What has happened to Bilstein shocks? 200
posted by nelson on Sun Dec 28 21:25 EST 2003
The first set of rear shocks rattled liked crazy so I replaced them with KYB's. Noise gone, Bilsteins in the box. So I waited a while and decided to try Bilsteins again and again a rattle. I will be calling E-shocks.com and Bilstein to see what recourse I have with 2 pair of rear shocks,one new and one nearly new maybe 50 miles on them.I will repost with the news.Thanks,
Nelson
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What has happened to Bilstein shocks? 200
posted by daveshan on Sat Dec 27 23:49 EST 2003
The Bilstein Touring rear shocks seem to be well known to clunk, haven't had a problem with either set of the yellow HD shocks/struts.
Dave Shannon
Spring Valley, California (San Diego area)
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posted by daveshan on Tue Aug 19 08:58 EST 2003
Sounds like the folks that built those used the same spec's as the guys that built my Bilstein Touring shocks. In my case the upper mount's "eye" was a bit too big and no matter how tight I torqued the upper nut they would clunk. My cure was to shim them with a piect of thin sheet metal bent to fit around a portion of the stud sticking out of the inner fender. The thinnest piece you can find is best as you can get a wider piece in there and distribute the load over a wider area. We really shouldn't have to do things like this after paying good money for a set of shocks.
Dave Shannon
Spring Valley, California (San Diego area
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91 240 rear end bushings/shocks replaced, now it pops! 200
posted by DHartlein on Mon Jan 26 17:52 EST 2004
I just replaced all of the rear end bushings on my 91 240 with a rear end kit from FCP Groton, and added Bilstein Econo-Touring shocks. I used a press, and have torqued/reassembled everything per the Haynes manual. The same approach worked great with the front end bushings last month. Rides fantastic, where I used to have multiple clunks in the front end there is nothing but silence.

It ran great for the 10 mile test drive after the rear end kit and shocks were in. Now I've got popping sounds in both rear sides at low speeds. I have loosened all bolts and retorqued them. Same thing. Next I removed the coil springs thinking they weren't seated properly. Once again, popping in the rear end on smooth roads at low speeds. It is fairly rapid, and doesn't seem to have much to do with bumps, etc.

The coil springs and mounts are original with 135,000 miles......but there is no noticable rear end sag. Is it possible to get the reaction rods in backwards???!?
Help!!!! And thanks in advance. You guys have saved me several times over.
David
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--
Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current) — 240s (one V8) — 140s — 122s — since '63.








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Welcome to the Bilstein Touring Class Club (long post) 900 1991

Bruce

well it sounds like I have a problem with the Bilstein shocks since it only started very shortly after installing them. Looks like I'll be taking them out and replacing them. They must have very crappy quality control for this to happen so much. You'd think for the extravagant prices they charges the shocks would be better quality. I'll stick to Boge shocks like I had before. I'm not a sporty driver anyway.

Thanks much for your help.

Brad








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Welcome to the Bilstein Touring Class Club (long post) 900 1991

Make sure the bottom bolt is tight, like really tight. Twice I've had 740 rear end rattle trouble that was a lower shock mount bolt which needed to be tighter.
--
john








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Welcome to the Bilstein Touring Class Club (long post) 900 1991

Hi,

I had the same problem with mine and threw them in trash barrel. No more crapsteins for me.

Gus







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