Shock insert cooling oil

[ATAl]

I'm about to put my shock shell / inserts together and have read that adding some oil inside the shell will help keep the insert temperature down by transfering the heat to the shell which is air cooled.

This makes a lot of sense to me but has anyone any experience with this - are there any problems? Should a certain type of oil be used? Should something else be used instead of oil?

[THA SHZ]

motor oil dude

[Mr Revhead]

first thing that comes to mind is youd want to be careful... if any leaks out you can fail a WOF for it.....

[bad20v]

I never did anything like that when working at SAS rebuilding shocks. Like Warwick said; its more than likely to leak out between the shaft and the locking nut, causing you to fail a WOF as they will think its the insert leaking. As for cooling??? Are you put this car in an endurance race or something? If not, don't bother about it.

[ATAl]

Just a daily driver - but if there were no side effects I would have done it, every little bit helps.

But it seems it would be more hassle with WOF than it's worth.

Thanks for the advise.

[bad20v]

No prob's.

[solberg Fan]

Ive done it before. I was told that it can keep them quiet as well.

[solberg Fan]

Ive done it before. I was told that it keeps them quiet as well. Eg stops banging noises if the insert happens to bottom out in the shell.

[Mr Revhead]

the insert shouldnt be moving in the shell

[NZ_AE86]

I always put some antifreeze in the strut body before assembling. This just helps to transfer any heat front the shock to the strut body.

[ATAl]

Any problems with rust or leaking?

How much do you put in?

[Mr Revhead]

well antifreeze is a corrosion inhibitor..... and if it does leak, itll be easier to point out as not oil! so you shouldnt get pinged.

[NZ_AE86]

Never really had any trouble with leaking. And as Mr Revhead says, it will not rust as it is a corrosion inhibitor! Water would transfer more heat but could cause rust from the inside out!

[ATAl]

Yeah thought rust shouldn't be a problem but never hurts to double check

[atmosports]

Unless your shock is getting hot enough that you are doing damage to the seals or have a noticeable drop in shock performance even after the oil has cooled, anything you do to cool the shock is basically a waste of time. A shock is designed to get warm when running properly, & to be honest I doubt unless your racing or you have completely f**ked up valving you shocks will get hot enough to be off concern.

As for putting anything between the casing/insert, I've never done it even for race use when using inserts. But if you want to try then try, but make sure it's below the level off any seals etc on the insert as you do run a risk of contamination if the seals wear/fail.