Hello again lads. About a year and a half, and maybe 12-15,000 mile ago, I purchased a "Non Turbo Struts, Spring Seats, and Strut Mount Suspension Kit" from FCP Groton. Now the front end sounds like its falling apart. Under the hood, the nuts on top of the strut assembly spin freely by hand, and the one the right has side to side play. Lots of banging and rattling and getting worse. Did something is the Groton strut kit go south? After one year?

Can anyone suggest what part has failed, or what needs repairing? My mechanic told me to bring it in for a look, but I don't want to waste his time if I get a clear answer here.

Is the car safe to drive in the meantime?

Thanks!

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Did you check to see if the star nut had loosened up, it did on mine after like 1500 miles. Yeah, the seats could be bad, but the star nut could also be loose, it will give the same symptoms. If you have an impact gun, you can spin upper nut off and remove plate, this will expose the star nut. With a homemeade notched socket, you can tighten with the same impact guy. Takes 1 minute per side. Oh and you do this with the car on the ground. Dealer told me the tip. Mike

I don't know where FCP got those spring seats, but replace them immediately because they are gone. I suggest getting XC90 spring seats or the IPD heavy duty version, even the OEM spring seats will last longer than that.

If you DIY, break the large nut on top of the strut free before removing the strut.

Also check the sway bar endlinks for play, just in case they are a cheap version also.

Klaus,

I was interested in ordering the XC90 spring seats, but the guy at FCP said it wouldn't fit in my '93 850. So I had to order the only part they had. Hope its not the same part that just went bad.

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http://www.ipdusa.com/products/4749/112268-front-upper-spring-seat-xc90-oes

Or any one of these:

http://www.ipdusa.com/prodtype.asp?CAT_ID=1158&numRecordPosition=0

The control arms are different on the 1993, not the struts.

Klaus,

I called FCP back just in time to change the order. It seems the first salesman was in error when he said the XC90 spring seat wouldn't fit.

I should be receiving two new XC90's seats and two bump stops early next week.

Thanks for helping me through this.

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Klaus. Thanks for the response.

So the issue is definitely the spring springs seats and NOT the strut mounts. What about the sideways play in the large nut on top? Is that another symptom of bad spring seats?

Assuming its a spring seat replacement job, how much should I expect to pay for installation?

Thanks!

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After 3 850/70s, I have never replaced a strut mount even approaching 200K miles. Spring seats are made out of a rubber like material and do disolve with age and climate.

Your mechanic is going to love you!! The strut has to come out of the car, the spring compressed, the spring seat replaced, spring expanded, and strut remounted. Same procedure as replacing the strut. It takes me 90 minutes each side to do this, your mechanic has a lift and air tools and can do it in less than 1 hour each side. The longest part of the job is compressing/decompressing the spring.

I bought a spring compressor a few years ago and it has paid for its $55 cost. Of course, to do the strut removal, you also need a floor jack and jack stands.

Klaus,

I was thinking besides freely twisting, that lateral movement on top might mean something more sinister was afoot. Do you think I should replace the strut mounts at the same time? (I saw some at a reasonable price online.)

I have about 150,000 miles on the trusty '93 850, so I was hoping to drive it for a couple more years. The Florida heat is turning the interior to dust however. Long ago, the plastic became butter brittle, and the leather had just about had it. Love drivin' her though...

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Look around in the local pick&pulls for an 850 with cloth seats, they last a long time and feel cooler in the heat.

The spring seat fits into the strut mount. so the only way for the strut to wiggle is for the seat to totally separate from the upper part that carries a bushing. I don't know what kind of mount you have (who made it) but failure is rare. Remember, you get what you pay for.

Continuing to drive in this condition will wear out your tires. And make driving dangerous.

Klaus,

I'll get a couple decent quality spring seats, and hope for a good deal from my mechanic. I've always been a DIY'er, but I'm not inclined to square off with those springs.

And thanks for suggesting cloth seats, but the 850 is twenty years old now, with lots of interior cosmetic problems... But the body is fine, and otherwise a pretty sound automobile. Just hafta get this front end problem resolved.

Thanks again!

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