456 GT 1995 shock absorber advise

Rardley Motors in Surrey refurbed my 456gt rear dampers. It isomething that every 456 will have had done by now - check your service history, it'll be in there. There are also 2 hydraulic 'accumulators' [part #158693] that may need replacing.

I think that the head rests have a button on the part that the shaft passes through at the top of the seat back. I don't remember it being any more complicated than pressing that in and pulling the headrest up.

 

Also - clean up any leaks and then use the car regularly for a while. If the car has been sitting idle then you might find that the leaks reduce after some use.

 

I bought a used Daytona that used several liters of oil on a 300 km drive after having sat unused for a long time. Then on an 870 km trip a week later, she used no oil. These V12 engines seem to have some sort of self-healing properties. Either that or they like to punish an owner for letting them sit too long without exercise. Mine (575M) usually gets driven 2-5 times a week, always getting oil temperature up to at least 70° C (~160° F) every time she is driven.

 

My annual MOT has shown 'slight misting to rear shock absorber" for the past 4 years. It does not seem to use much fluid, so I don't worry too much. The rear suspension is operated by the power steering fluid in the Power Steering reservoir under the bonnet. Most years I don't need to add any fluid to keep it between the min/max marks.

 

Did you guys see this happening to a 456 shock burst ?

 

Hi, The shock absorbers and accumulators are made by Bilstein. They have a service department in Leicester which can rebuild your shocks to new spec at a very reasonable cost. You would be well advised to replace the accumulators at the same time and maybe every 5 years or so because if they fail (no way of telling in advance) the shocks can be subject to catastrophic rupture. Good luck! Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Yes its critical to replace the accumulators regularly and when doing a shock rebuild. If you dont, you will have a second rebuild coming in short order. The accumulators can be had cheap from Bilstein via BMW

 

The rebuilds by Bilstein UK will leak a few years later. Had mine done about 8 years back, without the accumulators, and they started to leak after about 3-4 years.
I just wipe the misting off before taking it for an MOT.

 

Correct. I have records of my car going back years. Since 2005, the car has had 3 vs 4 rear shock jobs ( frank replacements and rebuilds). It averages very 6-7 years or about 10k miles.

 

Accumulators PN 158693 = BMW 37211132043