ckathens

Greetings all! I need help in identifying what struts I have here. The first picture is the front strut. It is hard to see from the picture but it is black with a blue tape band around it.

The second picture are the rears. From their yellow color, i'm guessing they are Koni adjustables (i haven't heard of any other yellow struts going in our cars).

The factory repair manual is unclear on exactly what front struts are what. The manual says that Koni shock absorbers in front are all painted yellow and that some have a blue tape on them while others have green tape on them. It does not mention black shocks with blue tape. Any ideas? Thanks

Charlotte944

The rears are definately Konis, but you need to disassemble the front struts to find out what inserts are installed.

Look at the top of the sturt where the strut rod enters the body. See the spanner notches? If you remove and disassemble the strut you can take that top cap off to get to the insert.

Skip

what do the tops of the front look like? (where they bolt to the upper strut mount)

Legoland951

The blue tape is for factory koni inserts unless someone changed them to other kind of cartridges.

ckathens

You should find below a picture of the tops.

Are you sure that blue tape = konis, even if the housing is black? It confused me a little bit...

Thanks for the help guys!

Legoland951

Housing is always black and I have never seen a blue taped strut with hydraulic fluid, meaning it always had cartridges to start with (even if it had been replaced) and koni is the only cartridge from the factory that I know of.

Skip

Still no definitive way to tell if it's a Koni or a Boge/Sachs insert. In either case, if they are original then they are likely in need of replacement.

father2nate

Steve - I bet those are Boge. I replaced mine, and they looked similar to that on the top. If you need a hand putting new ones on, let me know, I will be glad to give you a hand. (After finals week, which is this week)

Skip

The reason I asked for the top view was in hope that they would have the late style Koni adjustment blade. They do not, but, early Koni inserts did not either - in fact, they look almost identical to Boge/Sachs. This just means that if they are Konis, they are quite old (pre-87). The early model Koni Sport inserts were the "compress-to-adjust" type - similar to the rears.

ckathens

Thanks for all the comments everyone.

Skip- I'll no doubt be contacting you soon regarding replacements.

Jonathan- thanks for the offer. I'm thinking we might have another "wrenching" day up at my place in San Francisco on either the 11th or 12th. You interested? I'll post a thread soon.

Rock

my car looked like yours did in the rear and in the strut tower. They had konis all around.

father2nate

I'll be up for it on the 11th or 12th. When you get the thread up, let me know. I still need to check tension on belts. Also, need to figure out what is going on with my heater valve.

If we have time, I'd like to sand, smooth and primer my car! kidding

luckett

Can we put it up on cinder blocks in steve's front yard?

luckett

Get the all metal one from the audi 5000

ckathens

Haha. There's still one neighbor who parks her car on her yard with a tarp over it. She's about 65 years old and completly insane. Apparently she grew up in the same house. She'll be gone soon, methinks.

Chris that guy with the brand new M3 who was looking at the house across the street during our first timing belt party apparently bought the house and is now doing a major renovation. You'll see the dumpster and so forth out fron twhen you come over. Still, i think parking shouldn't be a problem for a timing belt party.