My first gen2 Camry: rear suspension issues

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Hi, I'm new here. I just got a 1990 LE sedan for $900. Overall, it's in great shape, but the rear suspension is acting weird.

When I push down on the left rear side of the car, it barely even goes down. It's as if there's no suspension at all in that side. The other three corners of the car are fine. Could this be a problem with the struts? The car seems to bounce a lot when I drive at moderate speeds, even on fairly smooth roads.

What should I check, and how costly and time consuming would this be to fix?

[fredk]

struts are constipated, get new ones

[Kingdom934]

How much miles are on the car? I'm having a feeling it's the orginal shocks.

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The car has 150,000 miles. I'm pretty sure they're the original struts too. Actually on second thought, it's not as if the left strut is too stiff, it's just that I was comparing it to the right one which is probably way too worn out.

I can push down the right side and it will wobble for a bit before restoring its position, which I think is the classic sign of worn struts.

How expensive and time consuming would this be to do? Would it be safe to leave the struts as they are for another year or so?

[TBayToyotaBoy]

You definitely do not want to leave this for another year. By then the aggravated suspension problems will have caused more problems...

Call around to local scrap yards, you can probably get rear struts (with coil and strut mount) for around $40 each...

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Over the last week I've noticed a loud clunking or knocking coming from the rear left when I go over bumps in the road. I've done some searching and it seems this is caused by a worn rear sway bar bushing. Could this be related to the extreme stiffness I feel in the left side?

Should I just go with a complete overhaul of the rear suspension?

Because of the large amount of snow on the ground, I haven't been willing to get underneath the car to take a serious look at it. But I'd appreciate any input so I know what to look for.

How easy is it to work on the rear suspension? Do I need any special tools? What are the chances of something falling on my face when I remove a bolt while lying underneath the car?

[TBayToyotaBoy]

In my humble (yet extensive) experience, clunking in the rear end can be one of three things. I list them here in order of likelihood, according to my experience:

1) Most often it is a blown strut mount. $65 or so at dealer.
2) Occasionally, a stabilizer end-link will crap-out. $110 at dealer.
3) If you inspect the stabilizer bar bushing (on the frame) and you see cracking or any other significant deterioration, replace it.

The "stiffness" of that corner would not be related to a bushing being worn. Sounds like the strut is "constipated", as fredk mentioned. To replace the strut, it's fairly straight-forward. Buy or borrow a Haynes/Chilton manual for details.

As for stuff falling on your head, the likelihood of that is entirely dependent upon your mechanical abilities.

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Thanks for the advice. I'll check it out soon and post my findings.

I looked at the service history that the previous owner gave me, and one of the invoices from 2006 says "worn rear sway bushings -- did not replace at this time", so it looks like I'll have to be doing that no matter what.

I guess I'll replace both struts too, since I don't think they've ever been serviced during the last 18 years...

Unfortunately, I don't have my own garage to do repairs in right now, so I find myself borrowing work space from my parents or friends

[Kingdom934]

I got a similar issue, although it's on the driver front...'clunk/thump' making a sharp right turn.

A full overhaul is what I need...from worn bushing to very worn struts.

[jcb62988]

I had a similar problem with my 88 le. The rear shocks were shot and would freeze up in cold weather.

[Kep]

I learned a while back that waiting to deal with a problem like this caused more suspension problems. The good bushings had to work harder to compensate for the worn out one. Anyway, one bad bushing cost me two others. Try to deal with it as soon as you can.

Kep

[TBayToyotaBoy]

Originally Posted by jcb62988

I had a similar problem with my 88 le. The rear shocks were shot and would freeze up in cold weather.

Yup, cold weather like what we get (Wisconsin and Minnesota share Thunder Bay's Arctic weather most of the time) tends to shorten the life of gas-charged items.

Kingdom 934: what you are describing sounds more like a balljoint than a worn strut.

[Kingdom934]

Originally Posted by TBayToyotaBoy

Kingdom 934: what you are describing sounds more like a balljoint than a worn strut.

Yea, I was looking at the balljoint along with the control arm bushing. It seems worn.

Simply said, I need to replace almost everything in terms of suspension wise.