Struts and Pulleys

**kjasey** · 03-26-10 11:19 AM

My struts are getting worse by the day. what do you recommend? It seems like the ones with the sensor wires are more expensive than the ones without. Is the quality of the strut the same or is it the sensor wires that jack up the price.

Maybe i could live with the warning lights.

One more question....drivebelt pulleys . I want to get them all replaced. Do you have an idea what a fair price is for this work? Im not sure which one is noisy...it goes away after a while.....but when i spray the belt dressing on it..the noise gets louder. Its not the belt making the noise and Jake(when he had it) confirmed its probably the bearings. I just assume to replace all of them. My car has 114,000 miles.

**Ranger** · 03-26-10 11:47 AM

The OEM struts are more expensive because they are electronic (active) vs the none electronic (passive). They have sensors and valves that respond to changing road conditions. Someone (Arnott I think) make a passive strut with a kit to bypass the message. I am not sure about how the ride may or may not change those. Others with more experience will chime in.

I would locate and replace the offending pulley and leave the rest alone. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. It's probably the tensioner or idler pulley.

**Necrosan** · 03-26-10 02:07 PM

I'd definitely stay away from arnott/the other expensive air ride replacement sites.
Everything you need is at your local Autozone for hundreds cheaper, and the same quality.
You can also just cut your old wires off the old struts, and wire a resistor in-line and plug them back in to defeat error codes.
Almost too easy.

**kjasey** · 03-26-10 04:12 PM

Originally Posted by Necrosan

I'd definitely stay away from arnott/the other expensive air ride replacement sites.
Everything you need is at your local Autozone for hundreds cheaper, and the same quality.
You can also just cut your old wires off the old struts, and wire a resistor in-line and plug them back in to defeat error codes.
Almost too easy.

Thats what i wanted to hear. Im gonna hit the autozone in highland park michigan in the next few days.

Where can i find one of those resistors?

**kjasey** · 03-27-10 11:08 AM

Is this what i need? Just connect the exposed strut wires to each end of the resistor to form a loop?

**Necrosan** · 03-27-10 04:38 PM

Basically.
I'm not sure what the resistance of the resistor needs to be offhand, submariner or ranger will probably chime in.
All you do is plug one side of the resistor to one wire (solder!), the other side to the other wire, then you plug it back in where you unplugged it from the car.
Make sure all of your connections are water tight.

**JimD** · 03-27-10 06:16 PM

Radio Shack item #217-1124 (4.7K Ohms) will work on a '99 model Seville.

**kjasey** · 03-27-10 07:21 PM

Thanks guys, monday im going to put in the struts, actually a shop in michigan called Brownies is putting them in for 160. Ill be using the Gabriel Ultra g56509 for the front. The rear struts are fine for now. I'll let you know how the ride was back home.

**ben.gators** · 03-27-10 08:00 PM

Originally Posted by kjasey

Thanks guys, monday im going to put in the struts, actually a shop in michigan called Brownies is putting them in for 160. Ill be using the Gabriel Ultra g56509 for the front. The rear struts are fine for now. I'll let you know how the ride was back home.

I would really appreciate if you share your experiences with new struts. I have some feeling that in near future I need to do some thing with my Suspension system. Seville STS 1999 with 128K miles, and still with original active struts, I guess the car is slowly getting to the point that I should replace struts.

**Ranger** · 03-27-10 08:39 PM

I'm not sure what the resistance of the resistor needs to be offhand, submariner or ranger will probably chime in.

Sub is out of town for the weekend and Ranger has no idea.

JimD to the rescue.

**N*Caddy** · 03-28-10 01:13 AM

The resistors are 5 KOhms (3W or larger) and should be connected between the two wires going to the OEM strut.

**JimD** · 03-28-10 02:47 AM

Originally Posted by N*Caddy

The resistors are 5 KOhms (3W or larger) ....

Can we swerve off-topic for a little bit here?

Since this thread will live for however long cadillacforums.com remains "on the air", I feel an obligation to correct the record on the above comment for future readers. Nothing personal is intended.

The world-wide (including Canada) manufacturing standard for resistors does not include a value of 5K Ohms.

Nor is there a standard Wattage value of 3 Watts.

Did I say "nothing personal intended"?

**kjasey** · 03-29-10 06:43 PM

Ok...its been a long day. Crossing that canadian border is becoming a major pain in the ass. Whatever happened to the gold old days when customs officers were nice and didnt care where you went? Oh well. \

I got the Gabriel Ultra g56509 struts put in today. $180 with no alignment..the mechanic said there was no need...he scratched in a spot.
I know now that ive been driving with blowns struts for almost a year because the ride is much smoother and more ridged and greatly improved cornering. It takes bumps much better and sloppy and bounce is gone. The sometimes slap noise i heard on the left is gone and the wooshing/weezing sound on the right is gone. My sway bushing probably dont take as much strain now because its much quieter going over those little (one after the other bumps). No more bouncy bounce on speed bumps. I cant really compare these to my old oem electronic cause they were shot from the start. I think some might complain of the ridged feel but for $83.00 a piece you really cant go wrong...actually amazon has them for $56 a piece..but i didnt want to wait. Some say they need break in time....im happy with them out of box. Great Value..370 total cost.

The strut mounts were in good shape so there was no need to change them and the alignment is still dead on...maybe even better. Now i just need to soder in the resistors!

I did idler pulley myself...i think i left about a half gallon of blood on the frame

Why they put it tight to the frame is beyond me

The weeze is gone and the engine is quieter. The real test will be the winter time. P/S pulley seems a bit noisy but not sure, might be normal.
Anyone know the Tork for the Idler pulley bolt?? Hope i didnt over do it.

**Ranger** · 03-29-10 07:11 PM

If you didn't break it or strip the threads, you didn't overdue it.

**kjasey** · 03-29-10 08:41 PM

Originally Posted by Ranger

If you didn't break it or strip the threads, you didn't overdue it.

Thanks Ranger....there was a touch of play in the idler pulley after i tightened it and of course once the belt snapped back on...all is tight. I sure wish they would of supplied new brackets with pulley that go on the sides of the pulley...they were kind of rusted. The bolt was in good shape.