Failing/leaking shock absorbers @ 45k on '05?

If your friend wants to see for herself, she needs a flashlight and the willingness to get on the garage floor, look up into the suspension, and find the front struts and rear shocks. Then she can see whether those parts show signs of leaking oil or not, and if so how bad the leak is.

There isn't much oil within the shock body, just a few ounces, so don't expect to see much if any seepage on the floor. However you should be able to see a leak on the body of the strut or the shock and the oil may also appear on other chassis parts.

45K miles is probably early for the failure of those parts, but this is partially dependent upon the quality of the roads that are being driven upon.

 

It's pretty normal on any passenger car from what I've seen. Seeing actual leakage is not necessarily the most common, but degradation of the shocks struts is. These are wear items. They wear out slowly enough that most of us don't realize how bad they've gotten over 50K or so. Put brand new shocks/struts in an old car and at times it can feel like you turned the odometer back 50,000 miles--assuming you have fairly recent vintage tires as well.

As Patrick says, road conditions matter. Where I picked up my rule of thumb I had many railroad crossings to do during daily commutes. Someone driving extensive highway miles might go several times as long without a failure.

 

I don't think 45,000 miles is an unreasonable time to be replacing the factory shocks. They don't use really high quality parts because if you can save a couple bucks per car and you sell a million cars, well that is 2 millian dollars. In Yen, it is billians. Anyway, your friend can get some higher quality after market shocks that will proably last for the next 100K miles, and they are always replaced in pairs, both front "struts" or both rear shocks, or all four.

For a quick test, put your weight on the bumper to lower is 3 or 4 inches. When you let go, it should come up and stop without bouncing a second time, even a little. But even if this test seems to pass OK, if you have cupping on the edges of the tires, you may still need new shocks or front struts.

 

I've not really found that test to be worth anything for the fronts. I've relegated to the urban legend (automotive) category.

 

Patrick Wong's Prius passed the bounce test, but at least one of the shocks or struts was worn out. So maybe we have to let that test go...

Now, if the car is handling poorly no bumps or turns, or starts to eat tires, then the situation may be urgent. Otherwise, decide when you feel like spending the money. It will be what, about a thousand for all 4? It's going to have to be done sometime. All cars need this.

 

shocks are dampers, they dampen the natural spring oscillation. If you removed the shocks, and did the test, the car would bounce up and down, no question about it. However, the shocks can be somewhat worn, and you would not see a big difference with this test. Also, there are two shocks on each axle, if one is bad, the other one will still dampen the oscillations, so it is hard again to detect it. I've seen cars going down the road with worn out shocks, you can see them bouncing around. It always surprises me that the passengers aren't motion sick. If the shocks are really bad and dangerous, you will know it. If they are somewhat worn, it is hard to detect with this test. What you would see, if you press down with a few hundred pounds, the car will sink an inch or so. When you let go, it will return. If it just goes back up, without overshooting the original position, you are probably OK, if it bounces a little, new shocks are in order. If it bounces a lot, drive very carefully and get thing fixed right away. If you don't notice a problem on rough roads, then you probably don't need new shocks.

 

IMO the bounce test is useless on Prius and most modern cars.

If you have a 70's vintage full-size softly-sprung domestic car, maybe that test will be useful.

 

I will concede that my suggested test is of little value, and yes, I did learn to do it in the 70, so I will follow the advice of the masses and forget about that test.

 

Ask her if she bought the Toyota Extra Care Platinum Plan extended warranty.

If she did, then I believe the struts/shocks are covered as they do not appear on the extended warranty's list of express exclusions.

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This is an aside, but if the Toyota Extra Care Platinum Plan extended warranty covers the struts/shocks, you will recoup the current $1055 cost of the 7 years/100,000 miles extended warranty if you have to replace a couple of struts/shocks during the term of the extended warranty.