[mikelsy]

Hi... i recently experienced a problem on my rav4. The front left (driver's) side of my rav4 sagged by 1.15 inch. Yesterday i had my shock absorbers checked and the mechanic told me the left shock absorber is about to go... so i had both sides replaced. The leveling of my rav actually inproved... now it only sags 0.5 inch. Do you think there's something wrong with the coil spring? Better question is that... does the coil spring loses its tension? Does this thing actually happen?

Any reply or feedback would greatly be appreciated. thanks in advance!!!

 

[THE REAL SHORTY]

Re: Sagged front left (driver's) side of my RAV4

Hi... i recently experienced a problem on my RAV4. The front left (driver's) side of my RAV4 sagged by 1.15 inch. Yesterday i had my shock absorbers checked and the mechanic told me the left shock absorber is about to go... so i had both sides replaced. The leveling of my RAV actually inproved... now it only sags 0.5 inch. Do you think there's something wrong with the coil spring? Better question is that... does the coil spring loses its tension? Does this thing actually happen?

Any reply or feedback would greatly be appreciated. thanks in advance!!!

what year is ur rav? has it been in an accident?

 

[mazdamazda]

I had both of my driver's side shock absorbers replaced (under warranty). And yet, the left side still sags a bit.

 

[mikelsy]

its a 2001 model... accident but a really long time i think that was 2002 if i'm not mistaken. But according to toyota here. there's no deformity on the skeleton and the undercarriage. 1 if there's a deformity on the front skeleton you can see the strut bar won't be a perfect fit. there would be gaps on the place where it should be bolted on.

Right now am gonna get another opinion as to what the problem really is before investing that sum of money for a set of springs.

Here's a list of checks that i had with my rav4 last week....
1. Undercarriage check: no deformities whatsoever - done by toyota and motorcraft banawe
2. Suspension and upper/lower arm & center brace check: no deformities done by motorcraft banawe then by toyota q. ave. Springs suspension hard to say (daw) by both checkers.
3. Body check: no deformities on the skeleton.
Updates:
finally had my suspension shocks and coils removed. i found out my shocks are worn na. so whenever i go over a hump there's this wheezing sound.. So i had em both replaced. result is improved ride and height... but its not enough still for the height . its still 0.45-0.5 inches lower.

 

[brianlj99]

finally had my suspension shocks and coils removed. i found out my shocks are worn na. so whenever i go over a hump there's this wheezing sound.. So i had em both replaced. result is improved ride and height... but its not enough still for the height . its still 0.45-0.5 inches lower.

Its mainly the coils that do the holding up, and on most cars because the engine is more to one side and the gearbox is not as heavy, one coil has more weight on it than the other. The battery placment on the gearbox side helps to even out the distribution, but its still often not enough.

On some cars where this is extreme, they put different strength or lenght coils on each side to try to make it level. Of course this also can cause the steering to have a bias on way or the other.

Brian

 

[Jeff]

I will have to break out the tape measure tomorrow and have a look.

 

[mikelsy]

Well right now so far so good. Custom made spacers for my left coil springs that's .5 inch thick. It worked like a charm. =)

 

[brianlj99]

Well right now so far so good. Custom made spacers for my left coil springs that's .5 inch thick. It worked like a charm. =)

Many cars come new with their front height trimmed with spacers, usually only about 5-6mm thick. I have used them on past cars, usually obtaining them from the wrecking yards by picking the ones that fit.

Brian