Re: BROKEN SHOCK MOUNT? anybody had this happen? (archive)

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I thought I'd share with the group a story about something that happened to my 1994 850CSi over this last weekend. FYI, my car is a totally babied garage queen with 28000 miles and has never seen a rainy day since I've owned it (four years).

As I was driving on a scenic highway in upstate New York, I started hearing a loud knocking sound coming from the right rear whenever I went over some sort of crack in the pavement or depression in the road. I immediately pulled off the road to make an inspection. Nothing looked wrong at first glance, but when I took a closer look in back of the tire at the shocks I noticed that something was very wrong. It looked like the top of the rear shock had somehow pulled away from the shock mount and lodged itself against the bump stop. I
called BMW roadside, who by the way have no technical knowledge whatsoever, and they said they would arrange a flatbed to wherever I wanted to go. I said I'd call them back. I then called my service rep at my dealer (DiFeo BMW in Tenafly, NJ) and explained the situation. He said either don't drive it at all or drive very slowly to your destination and try like hell not to hit any bumps. I managed to get to my ultimate estination while driving at the exciting rate of 20 mph so as not to cause any additional damage.

Since it was the memorial day weekend and after 5pm on Saturday, I couldn't arrange for a flatbed until Tuesday. This forced me to take a train back to New York City and leave my car in my friends garage until then. On Tuesday morning, as promised by BMW roadside assistance, a flatbed arrived at my friends house and loaded my car
for it's 15 minute drive to a local BMW dealership (Hudson Valley BMW/Land Rover in Poughkeepsie, NY). When I called Hudson Valley they were very cordial and helpful and said they would determine the problem and call me right back. They did, and this is what they told me:

The shock mount failed and released the top of the shock, which retracted and wedged itself up against the bump stop probably during some sort of compression and "unloading". There was no sheet metal damage at all. The shock mount simply failed. The part is around $25 and will take an hour to do. They will replace the other side at
the same time and look for any additional parts that have some wear and tear and replace them as well. So any worn parts covered under warranty will be replaced and stuff that's notcovered, like this shock mount, will likely be replaced at my expense. (That is after they discuss it with me). It should be ready for pick up this weekend.

Well apparently these shock mounts must break all the time because they're one of the only parts not covered under the rear suspension warranty. What a scam. BMW only covers the parts that don't break.

Why should this part fail anyway? I don't drive the car hard, I don't hammer over bumps and the car has very low mileage. Anyone else have this problem?

I hope this helps, sounds like an inexpensive fix.
Good luck -
Stan C.
'92 850iA

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