... are about failed.

The Sachs Advantage strut cartridges I installed into my 1990 240 DL red wagon have about failed. They provide nearly no dampening, now. Installed them in 2012. Maybe 20k miles on them. Probably not as bad as KYB, Gariel, Monroe, and such. Yet since these Sachs Advantage (used to be called Boge Turbo Gas with a red sticker on the shock body) cost the same as the Bilstein Touring ....

Awful. Say no to to so called Made in Mexico Sachs sometimes called "Boge (By Sachs)"

I don't drive the red wee 1990 240 DL wagon beastie at all hard. Yet the ride detrioration was not so noticeable, until yesterday, as green coolant streamed on to a black top asphalt parking lot. A foot on the bumper, and "woah!" Stock springs and all new OEM rubber bushings including strut mounts. Well, new as of 2012 or so.

The Bilstein Touring touring strut cartridges I installed maybe a year before or so into my 1992 240 GL sedan are still crisp and stiff. Not quite as new. Maybe as many miles. 29k or so. ODO does not work. Gear is not broken.

The Bilstein HD struts I installed in 2001 into my 1991 240 sedan work just fine with 50k miles. Maybe not as crisp. On TME sport springs (which are rusting). The Bilstein HD struts would not fit the strut tubes that came on the 1991 240. Has 1983-84 240 DL strut tubes as they are taller.

And here we go. Water pump removal the second time in about as many days with the same pump on the same car as I screwed it up. Removed the pump on the car as the top donut seal, that compresses against the underside of the cylinder head failed.

At times these 240s are not so much fun anymore. Get to do the water pump retread in the street again. Must be nice for those of you that have a garage or even a parking lot.

Carp and Grouse. Kvetch, Kvetch, Kvetch. Carp and Grouse.

cheers,

dud.
--
Beh.

I once had Bilstein Tourings front and rear. The rears worked well for 5 years and 75,000 miles except of course for that traditional rattle that started after one year. The fronts retained good compression and rebound for 3 years and 50,000 miles At that point they suddenly became frozen in position during a 600 mile trip. After going over a pot hole on the way home the front shocks suddenly freed up but lost most if not all compression while still retaining the rebound. I replaced the fronts with a set of Boge automatics. Believe it or not the shocks road manners were identical to the damaged Bilsteins. 9 years and 80,000 later they are still in OK shape.
I replaced the rear Tourings with Sach Gas(Mexico). They worked great for 6 months but lost most of their rebound. Next came Monroe gas shocks for a 940. I had to bore out the sleeves for the 240 bolts to work. After a couple of years they started to leak but worked OK without air. A set of IPD heavy duty springs helped with the lack of compression and height issues, but the real culprit of course was the rear trailing bushings. Last year a set of Superpro Poly's took care of slop in the rear. I then replaced the rear gas shocks with an old set of KYB Gas A Justs. OH! I forgot to mention they were the first attempt at replacing the rear tourings. The ride was so uncontrollable and unsafe I yanked them out after only one week. With the new bushing and springs, they do work, but have practically no compression and weak rebound. I would be looking for replacements if not for the developing rod knock and my Carpel Tunnel.
Oh yes... Is it still possible to purchase a set of 4 German made Sach gas struts for a 940...

Hi vacuumhead,

How do you, Steve (Boge Turbo Gas), and Pageda (Dan) get Made in Germany?

Says on the body of the strut or shock, or is a sticker?

I'd prefer the Boge Turbo Gas. At least, IIRC, they were quite beefier when last I installed these on 240 and 700 in the mid-late 1980s) than the Bilstein Touring. yet, memory being as it is ....

If you've read on this and other forums, the Bilstein Touring rear dampeners / shocks 'knocking' at the upper or lower stud mount is no longer a problem. At least, I don't have any knocking coming from the rear-mounted Bilstein Touring shocks. I've read other on this and other forums that are happy with their Bilstein Touring.

Thank you,

Friday MacDuffed.
--

--
Love your Volvo brick and your www.brickboard.com!

I bought them some time ago when ALL the Boge/Sachs products were German-sourced. It would be interesting to try to order these from an EU parts supplier even if the shipping were more, assuming that they have not moved all the production to the third world.

Bilstein HD 13 yrs 150,000 miles and the "damping" just wasnt what it should be anymore. Replaced with same.Nuff said.

My ex now has the 940 but I'm still on the lamb for replacing the shocks. Now that I'm no longer driving the car she's definitely not getting the Bilstein HDs. But I would still prefer installing German made Boges.

I have the Made in Mexico Sachs, sometimes called "Boge (by Sachs)", in the deteriorating 1990 Volvo 240 DL li'l red wagon.

From a well-known vendor in the Pacific Northwest. These are the Sachs Advantage, also sometimes branded by some retail vendors sometime ago as "Boge Turbo Gas" with a red sticker on the dampener body.

I'm also in a most dour mood from, for the first time, ever, screwing up a water pump install, on that same rotting 1990 Volvo 240 Dl li'l red wagon.

When I received these front strut cartridges and opened the box the following day, they had no nylon strap around them to keep them compressed, yet these are the stiffer Sachs Advantage. The high performance version above the Sachs Super Touring.

The Boge Turbo Gas, oop, ahem, the Sachs Advantage right out of the box were both all droopy. So, I gyrated them like exercise equipment. There was some dampening, yet they behaved like not the best quality hydraulic front strut dampener.

I called the well-known vendor in the Pacific Northwest, and the customer rep stated that I'd not loaded them. (Like loading the suspension before tightening the replacing rubber bushing hardware.) Where's the stiffness? These are gas-charged? So states the website product copy?

Though I bought the Bilstein HDs and the Bilstein Touring from them also.

So, in collapsing and raising them like some so of Jack Lalanne exercise equipment, there was some dampening. With new OEM (Volvo PN 1272455 - except no substitutes) strut mounts and all control arm bushes, yes, it was an improvement over the factory installed blue Boge dampeners.

The Sachs Advantage gland nuts sucked, you may recall me describing. They would not thread and torque. I'd gotten the habit to collect gland nuts by then. So, used the old factory Boge gland nuts that fit the shoulder profile of the Sachs Advantage strut cartridges.

I discovered this, as a stream of warmed, sickly-sweet, green Prestone extended-life coolant colored pale asphalt surface. The odor attracted crows and Canadian geese. Then the two birds species chased each other around.

Animals love the coolant smell. I do all I can to not spill auto fluids and to recycle them. None of the coolant puddled. Must have been a gallon. A miserable way for an animal to die drinking engine coolant. Or a child.

I put my foot on the front bumper, and the front corner sagged pondering this coolant leak from my defective wassserpumpen replacement work. So, did the dip and bounce test with a knee to each bumper corner. The front corners went up and down a couple of time, more then the max 1.5 times. I don't drive the car aggressively at all. It has the uprated 23 mm turbo 240 bar at front. So, the quality replaced OEM bushes and stabilizer bar did more to halt the boounce.

Worries of an upcoming cylinder head warp blunts one's imagination. (No garage.) The prior owner, the second owner, beat the crap out of this 1990 Volvo car mercilessly; a former USGS employee. (I've done so yet literally a few times.) Slowly in time, like with each of these 240s, we try and undo the prior owner abuse and use. Yet now we slowly race with overall age.

I've installed real made in Germany Boge Turbo Gas. Stiff and strapped right out of the box. Not installed Made in Germany Sachs dampeners. Installed Sachs clutch kits into RWD Vovlos. (Nice transmission jacks are so sweet in helping.) Bog bought Sachs and ZF, then, bought Boge.

In encountering the dubious auto parts industry, I ask about Made in Germany Boge. They balk, saying it's to expensive. I ask if I can buy Made in Germany Bilstein, and Made in Germany Bosch (not wasserpumpens) 02 and other sensors, why not Made in Germany Boge Turbo Gas.

I imagine Made in Germany Sachs Advantage and Super Touring are better than the Made in Mexico (though I read Sachs is also ever more Made in China on other import auto enthusiast boards). A quick search using the Google helps find the articles.

The rear shocks on this 1990 240 are from a 1985 240 turbo wagon. They have springs on the shock body, are made by Boge, and are gas charged. Dated sometime in the late 1990. While old and are soft, the additional spring support and stiffness help. They respond about as well as the rear shocks.

Made in Germany Sachs dampeners? The Advantage and Super Touring? Where?

I'll go look at their catalogues again.

Meanwhile, from the local Volvo dealership, come the two water pump seals and gasket sometime today.

Back to work. Thanks.

Bouncing Volvo 240 Dl Wagon Boy (Needs some Giubos, gets the BMW version like Pageda does. Thanks you.)
--
Love your Volvo brick and your www.brickboard.com!

I have Bilstein HDs in my 1990 745 with 180,000 miles and they still provide very good damping. Not as rigid as when new but nowhere near needing replacement. The Boge Turbo Gas units I have in three other cars are likewise doing very well with fewer miles but still damping well. All were made in Germany.

I have a set of Sachs Advantage strut cartridges on my 93 that are about 3 1/2 years old and 25 k miles that are still damping fine. They were from Germany.
Dan

"...that are still damping fine...."

Ah-ha! Someone uses the proper term.

(It's all in the "pronounciation".)

--
"So, own an owld Volvo? You do your own work, then?"