Warranty Shocks?

Once again, I am calling upon the collective knowledge and experience of this forum's members, in an effort to beat the evil service manager and Izusu Rep at their own game. Please Read and clarify:

Background:
Picked up an '01 Dragon for the wife on 4/26.
Rear shocks were blown and replaced by the used car dealer with Rancho 5000s.
Made Sales Manager dig through dumpster to find original (stock) rears.
This '01 has in "in service date" of 9/03/2002 -therefore, the shocks are still under the full bumper-to-bumper warranty.

This week,
Checked front (OEM) shocks (removed and stroked by hand :eek: ). Blown.
Called up local Isuzu dealer (Dennis Isuzu in Columbus, OH), made appointment.
Hmmm... Put original (blown OEM) shocks back on the rear.
Vehicle is now nearly undriveable (shocks are completely flat -no dampening at all).
The experience is what I would think riding a pogo-stick on a skateboard would be like. I trade VXs with the wife.
Dealer inspects today (and bends front license plate somehow), and states:
The shocks must be visibly leaking, not an oil stain, but a visible drip(ping) before we can replace them, per Isuzu's policy.
In short, the shocks must be leaking oil at a rate that the techs can actually see it drip before they can dx the units for a new set.
This doesn't sound even remotely correct -there isn't any oil left as far as I can tell.

Any inputs/experiences with shock replacement under warranty?

had mine replaced under warranty not a drip coming from any of them. shawn

had my fronts replaced under warranty by dealer at 23,000 miles as they said they were leaking after I complained about the "pogo" feel of the front-end.

With past experience as a service writer, my advise is to take your business to another dealer.. The brunt of Isuzu dealers are by far the worst for passing thebuck I have ever seen. They forget, they get paid for the work, just not as much as the cash customers so, the hate to do the extra step as it lowers their actual earnings.

You guys rule.

I'm on my way out right now to chew a new hole in the SM's hindquarters, then I'm heading over to another dealership (or two).

I'm fortunate that I have 3 major Isuzu dealerships within a few miles of me, I wonder what will happen when we move up to Fairbanks, where the nearest dealer is 360 miles away...?

Don't be afraid to demand to speak with the regional service rep - he will be more interested in doing right by a customer with a warranty than the dealer might, and he can trump a dealer's service manager any time.

I had to do that with my Prelude when I first got it... two different dealers had three tries to fix a gear-grinding problem, and when the dealer I was using at the time wanted to replace the synchro and gear yet again, I asked him to call the regional service rep and get him to OK a new tranny for me, and if he didn't, then I wanted to speak to him personally. Guess what - I got a new tranny (of course, the new one did the same thing, so it was a design flaw, but whatever).

Good luck!

This might be a stupid question, but I'll go for it anyway...

How do you know if you have a bad or blown shock?
Obviously if you see an oil substance coated on the tube itself, that's a sign you have a leak....right? (other than dirt and other crap that accumulates under there)
Otherwise with the hard and stiff way the VX handles the road and bumps, I'm not even sure I would be able to tell if a shock was bad.
Would it bounce a lot more and not quite recover as quick? Is that the idea?
Is there any audible signs or noises that you might hear with the suspension?

Also for some reason, when I pull out of the garage in reverse and go over this little bump at the door, I sometimes hear a sort of knock or click sound coming from just the front left wheel, almost like there's something hanging there that just gets bumped but I checked and nothing is loose.

:confused:

Drive over a speed bump and you'll know for sure if your shocks are blown.
You'll pitch fore and aft like a boat on rough water.

Don't believe the dealers' "bounce test" -the VX's wheelbase is so short, that it only rebounds 1-2 times with this method. I tested this by removing a shock altogether and bouncing the front corner -same result as with the blown shock in place, and neither result was enough to convince the dealer that replacement was required. The dealer want's to see 3-4 bounces.

Now I'm dealing with some meatrocket named "Clode" at Isuzu. We'll see where this road takes me.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by VX4EJR

Also for some reason, when I pull out of the garage in reverse and go over this little bump at the door, I sometimes hear a sort of knock or click sound coming from just the front left wheel, almost like there's something hanging there that just gets bumped but I checked and nothing is loose.

:confused:

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Check the endlinks on your swaybar -when the shocks wear, this part takes a lot of abuse. It will wear around the stud (on each end) and it will flop and clank when you cycle the suspension. It gets louder with time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mbeach

Drive over a speed bump and you'll know for sure if your shocks are blown.
You'll pitch fore and aft like a boat on rough water.

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Thanks for the info! Thing is, I feel like the/my VX does this anyway because it is so rigid as many have posted with the stock suspension. In other words, you go over a speed bump and almost feel like you'd get whip-lash because of the stiffness. It's hard to tell if a shock is doing it's job or not, but I guess if the fronts were bad you'd have a low rider....??

I'll double check the swaybar and see, but last I looked around the front left wheel well and underside...nothing looked broken, out of place or worn.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by VX4EJR

Thing is, I feel like the/my VX does this anyway because it is so rigid as many have posted with the stock suspension. In other words, you go over a speed bump and almost feel like you'd get whip-lash because of the stiffness.

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A vehicle on toasted shocks will continue to pitch after crossing the bump -it's pretty obvious if you see it occur. Just hang out in a parking lot and watch the different vehicles go over the bumps -the new ones (good shocks, hopefully) will eat up the impact and translate little motion to the driver. The beater cars (unmaintained, likely bad shocks) will flop about like fish out of water. In any case, this fore-aft pitching is not normal, even for a 'stiff' vehicle.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by VX4EJR

It's hard to tell if a shock is doing it's job or not, but I guess if the fronts were bad you'd have a low rider....??

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The shock absorbers do not suspend the weight of the vehicle. They only serve to control the motion of the spring. Your ride height will remain unchanged as the shocks wear out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by VX4EJR

I'll double check the swaybar and see, but last I looked around the front left wheel well and underside...nothing looked broken, out of place or worn.

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Mine was pretty far gone when I finally got to it -and it took over 2 months just to track down. The best method I found was to crawl underneath the truck, and have my wife bounce up and down in/on it. That's the only way I was able to find the source of my noise. Once this $26.00 part was replaced, ALL of my weird noises were gone. It was amazing.

i found out mine were bad when hitting a bump going around a corner . the front end would hop over and the wheel would shake back and forth. i took it in and they told me the shocks were ok. i took the service manager for a ride in the parking lot to prove him wrong. if you go to a parking lot and get the vx going in drive and hit the brakes and the front does a big nose dive the shocks are bad. also when you do this the front of the vehicle will continue to go up and down a few times before it will stop moving. that is what the shocks are supposed to control. right now i have the rancho 9000's and one of the fronts is bad so when i stop fast i get one side that does a nose dive. i made sure to bring up the fact of how unsafe it was to drive. shawn

Ok, here is a picture of my front left shock. There is some kind of stain or fluid at the top where I circled. It doesn't seem like water and it hasn't rained here, it's just at the top too...doesn't go below that and there is no drips down further or puddling to the ground.

Would this be a leak??

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/da...ck_5-13-05.JPG

That sir, is a leak.
Not in a typical location either. Most (I assume) of our leaks have been from the bottom of the shock (inside the boot, where the shaft enters the shock body).

Well, I took the plunge and have the Rancho RS9000X shocks on the way, finally. I'm somewhat depressed today because there's a rallycross going on at Joe's and I'm not there. But I said I wouldn't run rallycross at Ft. Meade again until I had new shocks and I'm sticking to it. It's killing me though!!! Thought I would have them on by now but things just didn't work out that way. Lately, there are some places I go through several times a day where my VX is taking the bumps pretty hard and never used to. Do not want to bang the truck apart, and I think the rears are hurtin' pretty bad at this point so definitely not too soon for the change.

I have the RS9000Xs on the Ironman and I have been pretty happy with them. For the money, they work exceptionally well. My next set might be the Bilsteins, only to say that I've tried them.
I've also been looking hard at the Fox 2.0 shocks.

Whetever I choose for the I-man, I'd still like to have the stock units on the wifes VX.
Now I'm dealing with another shirt at Isuzu -someone named "Marie"

Here's the rundown/runaround as of today,
Isuzu: We'll cover the shocks if the dealer says that they need replaced.
Dealer: We'll replace the shocks, if Isuzu says they'll pay for them.

..and now we've come full circle... :mad:

Red Tape, Fear, and Incompetance

Since Isuzu is on the way out of the market, I no longer have a regional service rep. I have some tool named "Clode" and a local service manager who's scared of getting stuck with a bill for 4 new shocks.

The dealership's ONLY way of testing the shocks is the manual bumper bounce test -which I pointed out is neither quantifiable nor repeatable to any degree of precision. The shocks pass this 'test', and I'm stuck with them. He mentions a fear that he will replace the shocks, then Isuzu's engineers will deem them alright after conducting some mystery 'test' on them. This same person had also never heard of a shock dyno. Unacceptable.

Regional Warranty Guy, Clode, claims that the engineers who will actually do the testing to verify whether or not the shocks can be replaced under warranty are "unreachable by telephone" -WTH?
I just want to know what test they are going to perform, I'm sure that they are not going to bolt them up to a 01 VehiCross and jump up and down on the bumper.

This is just one more reason to debadge. I'm even wetsanding the 'Isuzu' off of the mirrors now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by VX4EJR

Thanks for the info! Thing is, I feel like the/my VX does this anyway because it is so rigid as many have posted with the stock suspension. In other words, you go over a speed bump and almost feel like you'd get whip-lash because of the stiffness. It's hard to tell if a shock is doing it's job or not, but I guess if the fronts were bad you'd have a low rider....??

I'll double check the swaybar and see, but last I looked around the front left wheel well and underside...nothing looked broken, out of place or worn.

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Hey man, been a long time!

I have that click in front driver side once in a while too. I also notice if i run over a manhole cover or some similar unevenness.. the front driver side 'chatters' slightly... this has been going on for a few months (winter)

I had it over at Murphy... they coundnt find anything wrong with the suspension or shocks... but did do an alignment and spin balance (at my request)... it seems to be a LOT better... but not 'perfect' Murphy has me irritated. Now that I am out of factory warranty, they almost dont want to work on it, even though I have a bumper to bumper aftermarket warranty and would get paid something for their 'hassle'

Quote:

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Originally Posted by VX4EJR

Thanks for the info! Thing is, I feel like the/my VX does this anyway because it is so rigid as many have posted with the stock suspension. In other words, you go over a speed bump and almost feel like you'd get whip-lash because of the stiffness. It's hard to tell if a shock is doing it's job or not, but I guess if the fronts were bad you'd have a low rider....??

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"It is so rigid" - if that is the case, your stock shocks are working as designed. The VX is designed to have a rough ride - some of us like that, others are looking for different shocks to soften the ride. If your VX starts wallowing and riding soft with a lot of soft bounce - that will tell you that it is time to replace the shocks. The standard ride is going to be VERY tight, hard on bumps with a quick rebound. If you don't like that kind of ride, there are other shocks available and a couple of SUV's from Cadillac that ride a little softer. The VX was designed to be a "sport" SUV with a tight suspension.

Remove the questionable shock(s) and check compression & rebound by hand