(T) Rear suspension bush leaking something

opps think this has happened to mine as well ....a couple of spots of oily liquid each morning on garage floor. car going to garage on wednesday. is it safe to drive car at moment and should i get both sides changed ?if this is the prob......

all my local fiat dealers where happy to get the part but said they are unable to fit it as they dont get provided with the equipment to do so as the cost of the equipment wouldnt be recouped in the repairs.

However person doing these repairs is a mechanic by trade and i must say has been rather good with my other repairs.

Driving the car feels no different, i just drove to and back from london and had no issues, but there is play in the rear axle, on that side only.

I actually feel that this bush could have been faulty since the car was new because i have always had extreme wearing on the tyre on that side, which when the car was 4 wheel checked, is within tolerances, and no other problems were apparent (FIAT and independents checked this at the time).

I will post up how its done and how it goes on

Very few dealers have the special tools to do this job as they cost £650 and are not particularly good apparently. Our dealership made our tool ourselves which works perfectly and locates the bush correctly before pressing it in on a 10 tonne press. We donot dismantle the new bush, because we made a three legged press tool to fit the new bush in pressing on the correct thrust points. The job is not difficult, just a little time consuming. We have one tech take the subframe off, then two work as a team to remove and press in the new bushes and then the single tech refits the subframe.

Local garage confirmed this is the problem, offside bush gone , near side not.
he is awaitng parts to come in to change. he is confident he can do it as he has done a few before.
couple of questions how long is it car ok to drive the car until changed and should just get both changed since he will have to drop axle etc at moment to do one?

10 tonnes is large but not enormous. A really good press/ extractor tool with arms should be able to produce that but too much for studded bars or hammers approach. Like NumanR says, with good fitting adapters it should be slow, tediuous, gruelling but manageable

well, tried to get out the old bush and the extractor tool we had kept slipping out, so its still bust. Is hacking it to pieces the only option now?

Im not driving mine at the minute as its got another fault and an electrical problem, meaning its sat on my drive doing nothing at the minute.

Have you knocked the middle of the bush out and used a hacksaw to carefully break through the outer sleeve?

hi all

NumanR

How much does your company charge to press the bushes, and where are you located.

LOL somewhere in uk. I dont reveal my identity, some mods know me and so do some members, but they are all sworn to secrecy.

no, we were trying to get it out with an extractor tool for bearings, which was modified to fit this bush, but it wouldnt keep in place once it had huge amounts of pressure on it.

The way it was being changed was by dropping the axle on one side only, which is easy enough, but didnt want to butcher it as it would make the car unmovable if the worst was to happen.

If its butchered, is it 100% certain we will get the new one in using clamps to press it in?

and is butcherey the only way forward?

Also it was noticed the new bush is a slightly different design from the old one with extra rubber, either that or my OEM one on the car has fallen to bits

Get yourself a big blacksmiths vice and a scaffold pole

http://www.fiatforum.com/stilo-guide...on-bushes.html

Hi All
NumanR, fully understand just thought that if your company is happy to press the bushes why not provide a link, it seems many people are trying to find someone to do these bushes, but nobody wants the job as I found out, that’s why I decided to tackle them myself on our fleet.

Originally Posted by Deckchair5
Have you knocked the middle of the bush out and used a hacksaw to carefully break through the outer sleeve?


no, we were trying to get it out with an extractor tool for bearings, which was modified to fit this bush, but it wouldnt keep in place once it had huge amounts of pressure on it.

The way it was being changed was by dropping the axle on one side only, which is easy enough, but didnt want to butcher it as it would make the car unmovable if the worst was to happen.
Once you cut through the outer sleeve you take all the pressure off just like removing a ring from someone's swollen fingers. It should then knock out very simply. Fact is it's been there for a while and you have surface corrosion to deal with as well as the tightness of the bush. But if you take all the pressure off then it's just the corrosion holding it

If its butchered, is it 100% certain we will get the new one in using clamps to press it in?

Clamps? I don't think so.
I'd use a very high quality fine thread press/ extractor tool with arms capable of producing the force required and you'd need to make up some thick metal plates adaptors of some kind to ensure a good fit. A good clean up internally and plenty of lub. Look at the pictures of how people have managed it.

Hi Again.
It seems to me that many people are making a mountain out of a molehill with this job.
It’s not an easy job but certainly not beyond a reasonably competent DIY mechanic with basic tools.
After doing several sets of these bushes I found the way I described above the easiest way.
The only tools I used was a socket set, spanners, two trolley jacks, two axle stands hacksaw, chisel, club hammer, M12 stud nuts and washers and some heavy gauge steel plate (I have since discovered four tyre levers and two large sockets will make better spacers for pulling the new bush in, A drill with a carbide sander, it really wasn’t a problem to do just time consuming.
As I said earlier 5 hours if you can get a friend to help.
You will not move these bushes with an ordinary wind out extractor they are very tight, it takes a couple of minutes to saw them out once you have removed the centre.
As for the sanding I used a medium carbide disc for about 1 minute on each bush they will still be very tight to get in but not impossible.
Even if you overdo the sanding they cannot move because of the way they bolt up, the collars are opposed to each other.
Don’t try to drop one side and do it because the angle of the beam will exert too much pressure on the other bush and start it leaking,(as I found out with the first one I did) it takes 20 minutes to drop the beam and makes life so much easier.
Hope this helps.
P.S you will need a couple of pairs of mole grips to clamp the brake flexi hoses this will stop you loseing all your brake fluid.

tbh im presuming it was just one side that was dropped.

it does look like its butcherey then!

anyhoo, just got it back on the road after another fault and about to start investigating my brake light problems as soon as it stops raining