Oil-filled front suspension bushes?

[ernieh]

Hi All,
Thought I'd run this one past you........Just had the car (54 Plate C200K, 43K miles) back from local dealership today with a couple of advisories. My 'front track arm bushes' are starting to split. He says these are the oil filled bushes connecting the track arm to the subframe and they are starting to see a few of them coming through for replacement. As far as they can see, the problem is not related to age or mileage. The other thing was that there is an oil weep from my n/s drive shaft at the rear diff housing.

Ever the cynic, but I can see the weep of oil, and it is only that, but the bushes look OK. However, my Service Plus contract kicks in next month and 'this work will be covered under that, sir'.

My question are:

1. Are they making work knowing that it can be charged to MB?

2. Has anybody else had problems with these bushes?


Even if the advisories are genuine, which I'm sure they are to a certain extent, it perhaps flags up a couple more problems emerging at relatively low mileage with these cars.

I'd be glad to hear your views.


Regards to all,


Ernie

 

[philharve]

Hi ernieh

I've experienced the oil-filled, lower wishbone bush failure and in my particular case it lead to quite severe steering problems which only really manifest above 70mph. My indie spotted the problem during a routine service because he spotted a slightly abnormal wear pattern to my N/S/F tyre: there was signs of feathering to the tread.

Upon casual inspection the bush looked OK but when the indie took a closer look with a crowbar it was evident there was a split in the bush and some of the oil had leaked. Furthermore, I had previously detected a knocking sound when the wheel crashed over a pothole but it wasn't the kind of sound you could easily pinpoint.

Replacement of the bush was the only course of action and since my car was 7 year old all 4 bushes were replaced. Not a longish job, press out the old, press in the new. However, they do rust in place and that can cause problems. Some owners replace the whole wishbone, complete with bushes. It cuts down on labour costs but puts up the cost of parts.

REGARDS

Phil

 

[BlackC55]

Hi ernieh

I've experienced the oil-filled, lower wishbone bush failure and in my particular case it lead to quite severe steering problems which only really manifest above 70mph. My indie spotted the problem during a routine service because he spotted a slightly abnormal wear pattern to my N/S/F tyre: there was signs of feathering to the tread.

Upon casual inspection the bush looked OK but when the indie took a closer look with a crowbar it was evident there was a split in the bush and some of the oil had leaked. Furthermore, I had previously detected a knocking sound when the wheel crashed over a pothole but it wasn't the kind of sound you could easily pinpoint.

Replacement of the bush was the only course of action and since my car was 7 year old all 4 bushes were replaced. Not a longish job, press out the old, press in the new. However, they do rust in place and that can cause problems. Some owners replace the whole wishbone, complete with bushes. It cuts down on labour costs but puts up the cost of parts.

REGARDS

Phil

The bushes on your car are very different than the op.

The bushes he talks of are thrust arm bushes and are very common item to wear out. They have now modified the bush (has a 204 part number) to improve the problem.

They are oil filled too.

 

[ernieh]

Oil Filled Bushes

Many thanks to both of you who responded. It seems that things have moved on from the days when suspension bushes lasted nearly the life of the car! However, it does confirm that a Service Plus plan could well pay for itself over the next two years.

Unfortunately my nearest Indy is between 45 minutes and 1 hour away, and my local MB Dealer is only 5 minutes, so its difficult to go past them.

Thanks again,


Ernie