Broken front coil spring

"z" > wrote in
oups.com:

>
> jim beam wrote:
>> wrote:
>> > barco,
>> >
>> > I have 320K miles on my 1991 Integra and both front springs
>> > cracked at
>> > around 150K miles. They typicially crack on the lower end near the
>> > pan. My Honda mechanic convinced me not to worry about it.
>> > Haven't had a problem since. Alignment is fine, doesn't eat tires.
>> > This shop only works on Hondas and they have never seen a spring
>> > with a crack like this collapse/fail. We have used them now for
>> > all major work (on our three Hondas/Acuras) for over ten years now
>> > and trust them completely.
>>
>> what's your understanding of "crack"? if the coil of the spring
>> fails, what is described by the op, the spring needs to be replaced
>> or you'll be driving around on the bump stops.
>
> Naw, this sounds like what happened on mine; spring broke less than
> one full turn from bottom end, and is still stably captured by lip of
> bottom arm. God knows how long I've been driving around before
> noticing it. I'll replace it someday, but there are more urgently
> serious priorities involving "air bushings" on rear control arms I've
> posted about.
>
>


One of mine broke there too. I never even noticed until the tire place
pointed it out. The severed ends were so rusted it must have been through
at least one winter that way.

--
Tegger

The Unofficial Honda/Acura FAQ
www.tegger.com/hondafaq/

z wrote:

> jim beam wrote:
> > barco wrote:
> > > I have a broken front coil spring on my Accord 2.2SE. I can't afford a
> > > garage fee to do this so wondered if anyone could give me any advice on
> > > how to tackle this.
> > >
> > go to a junk yard and buy the assembled shock/spring assembly. minimal
> > work involved that way and fewest tools needed.
> >
> > if you replace just the spring, you'll need a spring compressor, and the
> > wrong type of compressor risks damaging the spring in a way similar to
> > that which could have caused your original spring to break.
>
> Also, if the spring compressor slips due to your inexperience or its
> poor design, you now have a spring propelled by a few hundred pounds of
> force flying around in your lap.

Ouch!! thanks for the warning.

barco wrote:
> z wrote:
>
> > jim beam wrote:
> > > barco wrote:
> > > > I have a broken front coil spring on my Accord 2.2SE. I can't afford a
> > > > garage fee to do this so wondered if anyone could give me any advice on
> > > > how to tackle this.
> > > >
> > > go to a junk yard and buy the assembled shock/spring assembly. minimal
> > > work involved that way and fewest tools needed.
> > >
> > > if you replace just the spring, you'll need a spring compressor, and the
> > > wrong type of compressor risks damaging the spring in a way similar to
> > > that which could have caused your original spring to break.
> >
> > Also, if the spring compressor slips due to your inexperience or its
> > poor design, you now have a spring propelled by a few hundred pounds of
> > force flying around in your lap.
>
> Ouch!! thanks for the warning.

Thanks for all the posts. Replaced the whole suspension leg with one
from a breakers - it was a breeze.