Do Strut Inserts Die of Old Age?

[jbell959]

I installed a new set of Koni strut insert on one of my cars about 13 years ago and have since put less than 1000 miles on the car. I had the struts off today to work on the front sway bar and it takes no effort to push them down. I don't remember how stiff they were when I originally installed them but I'm assuming it should take some effort to push them down. They are the basic Koni red inserts in Koni struts (86-1942). Do these things wear out just sitting there?

[TRE Cup]

What may deteriorate over time is the seals. But usually the shocks in your case should be still in good shape . Have you tried to adjust the valving? Remove the bump rubbers, push in the piston rod all the way to the bottom, then you can feel the valve engage the adjuster. Do not force this, easy to break the foot valve is you try more than hand pressure!

turn the rod thru its range counting the number of turns. Try it counter and clock wise a couple times to get the feel and range. One direction goes full soft, the other full hard on valving (closes up the orifices in the foot valve)
Test the action by pulling / pushing the piston rod in/out several times per adjusted position (vertically, not horizontally, there is air in them).
If i remember correctly it took 6 x 360 for the entire range. I set them up around 1/2 way (3 turns) for aggressive street driving.

If there is no difference in adjusting it, then the foot valve is most likely broken. Too many people would take out the bump stop rubbers and bottom out the shocks on their lowered P cars

You can get them rebuilt at a authorized Koni shop, but check pricing first as new shocks are not that much more

[jbell959]

Thanks Dave... I'll give that a shot tomorrow. I was reading some other threads and it also sounds like the Koni shocks wont rebound on their own. I was expecting they would.

[Flieger]

Unless they are gas charged, the dampers will not rebound on their own. They need some sort of force (provided by the torsion bar) to move. The gas charge provides a small spring force.

Both Bilstein and Koni make gas-charged inserts but the "usual" Konis are not gas-charged.