Strut Replacement in 13'Continental GT
 

Hello All,

I started getting a message 'warning car too low' every morning since last week. The message would stay for 20 odd seconds and go away. I would raise the vehicle and drive normally. The message would not come back on until the following morning.

I wanted to get it checked and took it to a repair facility (non-Bentley). They said the front 2 struts need replacement and quoted me $ 8200. I gave a call to Bentley and they said 'around $10,000.

I would appreciate any advice - is the cost being quoted 'normal' for this type of replacement? The car is used sparingly but I honestly did not realize the cost of maintenance.

Hello Biswajitdg,
If you in fact have both front struts leaking at the same time (very unlikely) or even just one, do get it taken care of asap as to not burn out the compressor due to overworking it.

As far as the prices quoted, they are very high, the struts retail at the dealer for $2000.00 each, so the Indy wants $4000.00+/- to install them, and the dealer wants $6000.00ish for the install, I would go elsewhere for an other opinion...

Have you yourself done the soapy water spray bottle test on both front struts and the airlines that feed them ?

See link for struts.

https://www.scuderiacarparts.com/par...356/2155/39714

Thanks Johnny for your kind response.

I was told that over 8 hours the front left dropped 32 mm and the front right dropped 21 mm - so they recommended replacing both.

I live in the Dallas area and trying to 'cold call' other mechanics in the area.

Sorry but what's the soapy water spray bottle test?

Okay, So I would start by checking the left front strut for leaks, as far as the right side following the lowering pattern, that is what happens when one side is failing, the other can not support the full weight of the front end, so it starts to drop, and if this continues the compressor will be overworked and will start to fail, so when each side that has fallen needs to raise and the valves open to let the air in or the lack of air because of weak compressor, it will fall even faster as time goes on.

As to the soapy test, see Louis' video around the 4 minute mark showing the spray bottle spraying the struts on his Audi A8.

Thanks very much once again.

I did call around and the cheapest quote I got was 5200 and then another one for 6000 along with the other two quotes of 8000 and 10,000.

I’m going now to pick the car up and bring it back home. Will try to follow the instructions on the video you sent.

Damn these cars are so expensive to maintain 😣

Or you could go this route and rebuild your airbag portion of your struts.

https://aerosus.com/bentley/continen...g-bag-939.html

Your knowledge of this is spectacular. I just saw your post on how you rebuilt yours from scratch.
I am thinking of giving it a shot and doing it myself. On a scale of 1-10, how would you describe its complexity? (Assume I am a complete novice)

Also, do I need to reset any parameters or do any system resets after replacing it? And if so, if a special program of software is needed?

Are these struts diff from the Gen 1 struts? You can get refurbed ones for less than $500/ea. and the install is pretty simple.....

sorry, no idea which generation struts they are

As the listing shows, they appear to be the same for all years.

The problem as stated before with Arnott and others whom sell the rebuilt sets is that you have no clue as to the mileage on the rebuilt replacement unit you are receiving with purchase, say biswajitdg sent his units in as exchange for re-builts and he may only have say 15K miles on his struts, these rebuild companies only test the strut itself then paint it, then they add the new airbag to the used strut that came from someone else's vehicle with unknown mileage, who knows, it could have 100K miles on it.

And if you go with the "new" unit by arnott you will not have the active damping for ride control as they did not design that into their new struts, they actually have a resistor to fool the suspension system to keep the fault light off...

Just my .02c

Johnny J J


Model: Continental Flying Spur, Continental GT, Continental GTC, GL, GT3-R

Platform: Continental

Original Equipment: 3W7616040, 3W7616040G, 3W7616040J, 3W7616040L, 3W7616040E, 3W7616040H, 3W7616040F, 3W8616040, 3W8616040F, 3W8616040G, 3W8616040K, 3W8616040C, 3W8616040E, 3W8616040H, 3W0616040, 3W0616040K, 3W0616040C, 3W5616040, 3W5616040M, 3W5616040L, 3W7616039, 3W7616039G, 3W7616039J, 3W7616039L, 3W7616039E, 3W7616039H, 3W7616039F, 3W8616039, 3W8616039F, 3W8616039G, 3W8616039K, 3W8616039C, 3W8616039E, 3W8616039H, 3W0616039, 3W0616039K, 3W0616039C, 3W5616039, 3W5616039M, 3W5616039L

Construction Year: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018

Position: Front Right, Front Left

Arnott sells new units for $845. But you do lose the adjustable damping. I read somewhere that they're developing an updated strut with an adjustable damper...

https://www.partsgeek.com/gbproducts...EaAlWlEALw_wcB

Thank you !

And as to the complexity, it's just nuts and bolts, and an easy job with proper tools, nothing special, just a good jack, jack stands, and basic sockets, wrenches and such.

Louis also did a video on the replacement of the airspring onto the strut, I will find it and post it here.

Arnott's vid of the install:

Here are Louis' videos of testing the O-rings on the strut, and one of the airspring/bag replacement.






Johnny J J