2015 TRD Pro - Broke front spring? (broke while parked in garage)

R

rustbeltboss

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Bought my 4Runner brand new in 2015. Did the recall shortly after purchasing to replace the faulty Bilstein shocks up front that would clunk in the winter, which did seem to fix it. Well today I washed by car, and dried it and parked it. Getting ready to come inside to eat, and heard a loud bang. The front left spring broke? On the lower end of the coil but not the very end. WTF? Anyone see this? The dealer did blow this apart when the car was basically new to replace the shocks and now I only have 30k miles. Oil changes only on this car have barely driven off road. Its babied. Plan on calling dealer tomorrow. Will post pics soon. These are Eibach springs right? Part #s? ugggg
 
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I dont know if it is possible but I wonder if the spring wasn't sitting in the spring bucket correctly. There is usually a lower spot where the end of the spring nests.

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Possible. Other than the fact its been like this for several years now. And broke out of the blue. Very odd and disappointing.
 
I agree with @nb_rob on this one. Your name says it all! The rust belt has struck again. Those coilovers look 15-20 years old with all that corrosion. I agree that those both need replacing anyway. It was time for sure by the look of your pictures. You may not want to hear it, but I don't think it had anything to do with dealer fixing an issue, past problem, etc.
 
Fair enough. I did end up getting the underbody rustproofed from new and thankfully most of the metal underneath seems to be holding up OK where coated. Don' recall ever hearing a spring just self destruct.
 
nb rob said:
you might want to replace those 5 year old, corroded coilovers. Babied or not
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4runnin4mylife said:
I agree with @nb_rob on this one. Your name says it all! The rust belt has struck again. Those coilovers look 15-20 years old with all that corrosion. I agree that those both need replacing anyway. It was time for sure by the look of your pictures. You may not want to hear it, but I don't think it had anything to do with dealer fixing an issue, past problem, etc.
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Those coils don't look that corroded. They look dirty with some surface corrosion, but to recommend a blanket "replace after 5 years" is absurd - although these, of course, need to be replaced.

I'd return these to the manufacturer and have them opine to the cause.
 
cb1111 said:
Those coils don't look that corroded. They look dirty with some surface corrosion, but to recommend a blanket "replace after 5 years" is absurd - although these, of course, need to be replaced.

I'd return these to the manufacturer and have them opine to the cause.
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Nobody said a blanket statement that all coilovers should be replaced after 5 years. When i stated "those both need replacing anyway" I was referring to his coils in the shape they are in, no matter if one broke or not. We were both referring to his dirty/rusty coilovers in his pictures. I can say if mine looked like that, and they will one day, I will definitely replace them. But like we said, HIS 5 year old coilovers definitely need replacing... and you said that yourself.
 
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Unusual for sure. IMO - I'd expect at least 10 years of use from the shocks and the springs should last the life of the vehicle. Springs should not ever really sag. Some do and some are not great metallurgy. But it's unusual. The problem with unusual events is that Toyota is going to be skeptical of how it happened.

Random guess after looking closer is a manufacturing defect in the spring. I'd guess it had cracks formed over a long time and finally the metal fatigue and cracks gave way and it broke.

I'd just replace with a new spring and go on. Shouldn't be very expensive.
 
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cb1111 said:
Those coils don't look that corroded. They look dirty with some surface corrosion, but to recommend a blanket "replace after 5 years" is absurd - although these, of course, need to be replaced.

I'd return these to the manufacturer and have them opine to the cause.
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nobody said all shocks need replacement after 5 years. I mean in spite of this vehicle only having 30,000 miles, they are still 5 years old, and not brand new.
 
Figured I'd provide an update. Had the front shocks and springs replaced at my local dealer. They were not covered under any warranty. I've been busy with other life things so I just went ahead with the fix using factory parts. Re-aligned as well. Thanks.
 
I've never seen a spring break like that. And grime and surface rust are a normal part of living in the rust belt. Coil springs don't break from surface rust. MY guess, it was defective to begin with and finally snapped.
 
jp.vegas said:
Unless he bought additional coverage, yep.
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honda250xtitan said:
its 5 years...isnt warranty 3yr/36k mile?
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tls3601 said:
Seems to me dealer should have replaced spring under warranty.......
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I think most of you missed the part where he swapped out the shocks. Accordingly, he kissed that part of his warranty goodbye.


Ogre75 said:
I've never seen a spring break like that. And grime and surface rust are a normal part of living in the rust belt. Coil springs don't break from surface rust. MY guess, it was defective to begin with and finally snapped.
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Right. I've never seen a spring break like that either. It was either defective or wasn't seated correctly and ultimately failed.
 
As others have said, springs don't break like that if they're correctly installed and correctly made.

Luckily replacement spring are cheap, but replacement suspension isn't, and OPs looks like hell after years in the rust belt.

I will bet 20 bucks that the LCAs are rusted in place or no longer enjoy the freedom of movement they did when new.
 
[MENTION=121944]rustbeltboss[/MENTION] may i ask how much did it run you to replace at the dealer. My 15 Pro has the same problem on the driver side. I bought the extended warranty (or so Toyota says) and I’m debating if i should bother trying to see if they will cover it.. would you also be able to provide a part number on the components?
 
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