Is this normal? Eibach rear struts oil buildup

[Nibroc99]

UPDATE:
Here is Eibach's response:

After sending them the photos:

Here are photos of each side that I sent them:

Original post:
Hey all, just wanna be sure - is this normal? Both of my rear Eibach struts have this buildup of oil around the piston area. I assume it's normal road grime buildup but just wanna be sure that I shouldn't be worrying. I've had them installed for about 8 months, 15k miles.

Sponsored

 

[NC_Oak]

I have about a year, and maybe 4,000 miles on mine. I don't really have on the rod where it meets the wipe, but there is a little on the OD of the body just below. should not be internal leakage, road grime, your own tire schmoot, et cetera.

 

[PWillette]

Hey all, just wanna be sure - is this normal? Both of my rear Eibach struts have this buildup of oil around the piston area. I assume it's normal road grime buildup but just wanna be sure that I shouldn't be worrying. I've had them installed for about 8 months, 15k miles.

No, not normal. My rears did the same thing at roughly the same mileage. Eibach has a million mile warranty...they replaced mine (shocks only, had to swap the springs). There were no shipping charges or need to return the defective shocks. Pay close attention to their return policy. If I recall the replacement needs to be initiated by the vendor where purchased.

 

[Nibroc99]

No, not normal. My rears did the same thing at roughly the same mileage. Eibach has a million mile warranty...they replaced mine (shocks only, had to swap the springs). There were no shipping charges or need to return the defective shocks. Pay close attention to their return policy. If I recall the replacement needs to be initiated by the vendor where purchased.

Gotcha - both sides look exactly like this pic, would it maybe be a defect in manufacturing for both of them? @Panda Motorworks is where I bought them, maybe they can weigh in? It would really suck if I had to replace these again... Not the end of the world, but I have a gravel driveway so I had a shop install these for me to avoid the headache of lifting the vehicle entirely off the ground without a lift on uneven ground.

 

[PWillette]

Gotcha - both sides look exactly like this pic, would it maybe be a defect in manufacturing for both of them? @Panda Motorworks is where I bought them, maybe they can weigh in? It would really suck if I had to replace these again... Not the end of the world, but I have a gravel driveway so I had a shop install these for me to avoid the headache of lifting the vehicle entirely off the ground without a lift on uneven ground.

I purchased mine through Panda as well...Caleb was a big help navigating the warranty claim process.
Not sure if it's a manufacturing defect. I ran mine for a while until the oil really started leaking. Overall I've been happy with the Eibachs but if it happens again I'll be going to a different brand.

 

[Nibroc99]

I haven't even installed my fronts yet... Hopefully I get some good life out of them considering you need an alignment when replacing front struts.

 

[PWillette]

I haven't even installed my fronts yet... Hopefully I get some good life out of them considering you need an alignment when replacing front struts.

Haven't had any issues with the fronts...zero leakage so far.

 

[Nibroc99]

Haven't had any issues with the fronts...zero leakage so far.

Awesome, good to hear. Do you have the HD springs or the standard ones? And do you have any preload or are you at full low?

 

[PWillette]

Awesome, good to hear. Do you have the HD springs or the standard ones? And do you have any preload or are you at full low?

Standard. Just a bit of pre-load...roughly 2".

 

[j_marinelli]

Gotcha - both sides look exactly like this pic, would it maybe be a defect in manufacturing for both of them? @Panda Motorworks is where I bought them, maybe they can weigh in? It would really suck if I had to replace these again... Not the end of the world, but I have a gravel driveway so I had a shop install these for me to avoid the headache of lifting the vehicle entirely off the ground without a lift on uneven ground.

Have had the same issue with mine (and also bought from Panda) and ended up dealing with Eibach directly as it was faster. Hearing y'all say both sides though makes me want to stick my head under mine and check if my other side is doing it .

 

[Nibroc99]

UPDATE: Eibach responded. They are saying it looks blown to them. So both of my rears, according to them, are blown out. This kinda sucks that I'm gonna have to replace them as I don't have a spring compressor nor do I like dealing with springs lol. Really hoping they can send me a loaded strut pair instead of just the pistons.

 

[PWillette]

UPDATE: Eibach responded. They are saying it looks blown to them. So both of my rears, according to them, are blown out. This kinda sucks that I'm gonna have to replace them as I don't have a spring compressor nor do I like dealing with springs lol. Really hoping they can send me a loaded strut pair instead of just the pistons.

Yup, sucks but the springs didn't fail, just the shocks. They may be willing to send a new complete set but it won't be for free replacement. If you can get them off the vehicle a shop should be able to swap springs very easily for cheap.

 

[Nibroc99]

Yup, sucks but the springs didn't fail, just the shocks. They may be willing to send a new complete set but it won't be for free replacement. If you can get them off the vehicle a shop should be able to swap springs very easily for cheap.

I'm thinking what I may do to make my life easier is set the preload to full-high to compress the springs a bit, have my dad sit on the back of the bronco, and then put the spring compressor clamps on the springs, that way they're sorta pre-compressed. Then I'll remove them from the vehicle, remove the springs, and swap them to the new struts. That's if they don't send loaded replacements.

 

[PWillette]

I'm thinking what I may do to make my life easier is set the preload to full-high to compress the springs a bit, have my dad sit on the back of the bronco, and then put the spring compressor clamps on the springs, that way they're sorta pre-compressed. Then I'll remove them from the vehicle, remove the springs, and swap them to the new struts. That's if they don't send loaded replacements.

Compressing the springs will be much easier if you can get three compressors on there vs. just two. IMO it would be much easier to pull them off the truck to swap springs.

 

[23OBX2.7]

Great Eibach support!

Sponsored