[obert]

I came home and backed into the garage and saw a drip of oil looked under the car and saw a leak here.



There was what looked like trans fluid leaking right arounf the control are bushing and dripping. It left a nice size puddle on the ground and it stopped when I turned the car off. I could not see much due to the plastic covers. So I took them off and there was no fluid leaking from any were. I cleaned everything up and started it and drove the car and came back and no leak at all. I let it idle and put it in gear in reverse and no leak or nothing.

It was not wet on the top of the control arm just the middle and bottom part had fluid. So I am wondering are the control arm bushings filled with fluid ? I know the ball joint has grease in it but what about the bigger part in the picture ?



I am at a lost of were the fluid came from, there are no lines leaking and if there was it should be wet on the top part of the control arm and then drip down but it was dry on top and wet in the middle and and ripping from the bottom.

I am going to drive it to work tomorrow and see if its leaking again and look around for a leak again but I did not see and lines leaking or anything that was wet from fluid but right in that one spot around the control arm bushing.


Any help on this would be great, I thought I would get under there and see something leaking due to the amount of fluid I saw when I parked the car but there was nothing.

[serotoninsteve]

They are filled with some sort of silicone oil, thats what is leaking.

They are a really weak part of the front suspension on the xi's.

If your ball joint is in good condition, buy the bushings and get them pressed in,
otherwise get some new control arms.

I've drained and filled my bushings with liquid urethane,
but I'm still testing before I want to post a DIY.

[obert]

Thanks for the reply and very nice idea about filling it. I come from the Honda world and we would fill the stock motor mounts to make them stiffer.

Thanks again.

[obert]

Originally Posted by serotoninsteve

They are filled with some sort of silicone oil, thats what is leaking.

They are a really weak part of the front suspension on the xi's.

If your ball joint is in good condition, buy the bushings and get them pressed in,
otherwise get some new control arms.

I've drained and filled my bushings with liquid urethane,
but I'm still testing before I want to post a DIY.

Are these hard to press in and out? I am having a hard time finding a shop to do it.

[aram0492]

Originally Posted by obert

Are these hard to press in and out? I am having a hard time finding a shop to do it.

I had both of mine replaced. Honestly the price isnt too far off from buying the complete set and in my opinion worth it. Get it changed all at once and you wont have to worry about it anymore for at least 10k-15k miles; thats how often I had to change them on my e46, but they were definitely a lot cheaper.
I got them for $100 each on my e90.

[VMRWheels]

If they're leaking, just replace them. I wouldn't risk having them leak again and having to spend a bunch of money to fix the problem.

[obert]

Originally Posted by aram0492

I had both of mine replaced. Honestly the price isnt too far off from buying the complete set and in my opinion worth it. Get it changed all at once and you wont have to worry about it anymore for at least 10k-15k miles; thats how often I had to change them on my e46, but they were definitely a lot cheaper.
I got them for $100 each on my e90.

On the xi model the arm does not come with a ball joint so I am going to reuse the old one since there is nothing wrong with it. Just the upper bushing is bad.

Originally Posted by VMRWheels

If they're leaking, just replace them. I wouldn't risk having them leak again and having to spend a bunch of money to fix the problem.

Oh yeah I am for sure going to replace them, both left and right side. I just ordered the lower ones witch I found out are the wrong ones. So now I have to send those back once I get them and then order the right ones and go from there.

I am defenently learning a lot about these parts but it is very frustrating.