91 Q45A Suspension Problems/Conversion & Other Mods

[BrandonG777]

Someone recently gave me a 91 Q45A. The car is beautiful but the supension is wacked. Sits too high in the front and the back doesnt raise at all. Any ideas? The car has been abused but the body and paint is perfect, interior is perfect except for a few broken parts here and there, and the engine and transmission are new. The car is a clean ride but I'm wondering what needs to happen for this suspension conversion. I've looked all through the forums trying to find the run down that is so often referred to but can't find it. I found a kit from http://www.strutmasters.com for $750. I'm thinking thats about as good as it's going to get, unless someone can give me a fix for my front/back problem.

Also, is this car worth doing anything to? I mean as far as performance mods? I don't plan to drive the car very long just until I decide to break down and buy a new car. But the car is so nice if I convert the suspension I may just keep it for a backup ride. However, if it's a viable car for something SCCA or the like I might go route. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Don't Drink and Drive...DUI School Sucks and cost out the #*$!

Brandon

[maxnix]

Welcome to the board!

You need to read all posts by TexasOil. He is the active guru.

Do a search and you will be rewarded.

[GreenQ45a]

Someone recently gave me a 91 Q45A. The car is beautiful but the supension is wacked. Sits too high in the front and the back doesnt raise at all. Any ideas? The car has been abused but the body and paint is perfect, interior is perfect except for a few broken parts here and there, and the engine and transmission are new. The car is a clean ride but I'm wondering what needs to happen for this suspension conversion. I've looked all through the forums trying to find the run down that is so often referred to but can't find it. I found a kit from http://www.strutmasters.com for $750. I'm thinking thats about as good as it's going to get, unless someone can give me a fix for my front/back problem.

Also, is this car worth doing anything to? I mean as far as performance mods? I don't plan to drive the car very long just until I decide to break down and buy a new car. But the car is so nice if I convert the suspension I may just keep it for a backup ride. However, if it's a viable car for something SCCA or the like I might go route. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Don't Drink and Drive...DUI School Sucks and cost out the #*$!

Brandon

You should sell the car to someone that knows what a Q45a is.

People just gut these cars to save 200.00 a year.

An active Q45a is a work of art.one you do a recharge 80% of active issues go away.My Q45a drove 10,000 on flat accumulators and no active body control! even after 118,000 miles the rubber bushings are still OK.all my struts leaked when I bought it and the actsus light was on.

I knew what the cars was without all the issues.

I bought a set of TexasOil recharged accumulators (main 4)and after a few days of driving the the active system came online.and the front leaks stopped. I just replaced the rear actuators (towers) for less then 150.00 each from Texasoil and installed them this last weekend an rear leaks are gone.

I had a 1993 Q45 base with blues before and thought this is amazing for a 4000 lb auto but with an active system in working order this car feels like LOTUS.

My friend drives a 2001 Corvette and asks me to trade my 1994 Q45a W\Active controller for a few days at a time... The car can handle like no other! (It's size)

All I'm saying is drive a STILL Active Q45a once or twice then see if you want to gut it...

Once your accumulators are fit with valves you can get them recharged for like 100.00 bucks.

A good set of Blues will run you 400-600.00 all the way around every 3 years.

So 400.00 every 5 years is not that bad....

Sell it...

That cool if you do gut it...

That just means our still active Q45a's are even more rare.

[tkd_q45]

GreenQ45a - how difficult was it to pull your actuators? I need to put new dust boot on mine as they are pretty "tore up" - I'm having problems finding a tech to do the work. How long did it take you?

BrandonG777 - I am a bit suspcious of the price - the Inifniti kits (through Scottsdale Infiniti) are $1200-1400 depending on if you go blue or black. What kind of stuts are they using? Do they have all the proper mounting hardware?

[elwesso]

You dont want the strutmasters kit.. Unless your active is completely shot (bad pumps/multivalves) then its always a better idea to fix it!

[BrandonG777]

Well, you know I'm pretty knowledgeable when it comes to working on cars but active-suspension (or semi-active suspension) isn't something I've ever dealt with before. Plus, I'm not sure what exactly is wrong with the suspension, I know it was a sabotage job because when I got it and started to try to figure out what was wrong I found valves closed and others completely unhooked. I think someone was trying to get mom and dad to buy them a new car. I don't plan on driving the car for more a year or two so recharging isn't an option I've completely ruled out but I don't want to spend $400 on a recharge and then find out I have a bad $2200 multivalve. I keep looking at the car and I'm just heartbroke because it is such a nice car but the bluebook for these cars has just fallen to such a low amount it's insane to put any significant amount of money into fixing them. This one I have has been garage kept the entire life, as the paint is not faded, scratched, dented, or dinged. Interior is immaculate except for a little wear on the driver seat but not as much as you would expect on a 15 year old car. Other than the suspension the car drives NICE, smooth shifts, no surging or other idling problem most 15 year old cars exibit. Most people can't believe the car is that old it's in such nice shape. So I think it's silly to sell it as this point but it's equally silly to put a lot of money into fixing it as I could simply buy another for slightly more money. It does have some serious front end alignment problems I'm going to have looked at this week and that will be the determining point wether I'm going to spend money fixing the suspension.

tkd, I've yet to pull the actuators but it doesn't look that much more difficult to pull them as opposed to pulling regular strut assmeblies. The strutmaster kit claims to have everything you need to convert it, but I'm not sure the brand of struts they use.

If someone could tell me what I need to look for to determine if the actuators are leaking I would appreciate it. I've been driving it here and there and the suspension seems to be correcting itself but it's like the front is getting way too much fluid, as it almost jumps up when the car is started and the rear is slow to rise and no where near as stiff as the front. Is that just an adjustment problem or is it possible there is blockage in the system somewhere?

[Jehangir]

See if you can get your hands on a FSM. In it you will find 200 pages of information on Active suspension issues. So I have a couple questions:1) How do you know your actuators are leaking?

2)Is your car changing height position after starting the car?

3) How is the ride?

4) Is your ACTSUS light on in the dash?

As much as I love my active Q, I feel your anxiety about the possible cost of rehab. You should know that the cost of rehab for most of your parts is FAR less than you're anticipating.

Good Luck, Let us know how we can help