Ok, thought I was doing "the right thing" by checking the torque on my front-strut tower brace since it has been on for more than a year now. While torquing one of them, shooting for about 60-80 ft lbs. (which seems appropriate, right?), it got soft and snapped. Now I have just the sheared top of the bolt just a hair through the hole.

All the other bolts are fine and the strut tower is fine. Two questions:

1) Has ANYONE had this happen and how did you handle? Did you have Nissan fix it or did you do it yourself?

2) Exactly WHAT has to be fixed? Just the pillow mount or is this actually a bolt attached to the strut assembly itself?

3)Can I drive my car without too much risk if I play it safe, or am I risking more damage driving it any further than I have to in order to get it to the dealer?

Any advice would be appreciated! I've never had this kind of thing happen to me!!!

srm

 

umm.. I think you tightened them too much. It should be tightened to about 35 ft.lb

I'm surprised they didn't all snap

 

Holy **** 80 lbs ft thats way to ****ing much like grey said your lucky the rest didnt snap, I suggest you go check b4 you drive. You dont want your whole suspension and wheels to fall off while your drivein. Well all I can say is good luck bro and hopefully one of our smart org guys will help you out.

 

ouch. I first checked the torque of the center bolt which had not been touched; it was b/w 60-80. I assumed that the surrounding bolts could be/should be of the same. Should I relieve the tension on all the others? I'm reluctant to touch any of them for fear of doing more damage.

srm

 

I'd probably take them to have them all replaced. The ones that haven't snapped yet, are probably weakened, and could snap at any point. You don't want these things snapping while you're driving..

 

U need a new strut mount, might as well just get two of em since u torqued the other side that high as well, its gonna eventually break as well, and dont torque id down more then 35 ft-lbs.

 

Well, I wasn't completely ignorant while doing this. When that one snapped, I didn't push the others. The 3 of the 5 remaining are at approx. 40. The other 2 I didn't touch. I think I'm fine with the others but will no doubt have them tested just to be safe. I feel like such a dummy, but I DID check the center bolt first and used that as my guide.

 

Any idea how involved and costly that might be? Just how bad did I mess things up for myself? srm

 

The suspension needs to be dismantled. It needs to be replaced from underneath. You're looking at around $50-$100 I'm guessing.

 

thanks for all the suggestions guys, I really appreciate you taking time to read and offer help. Do you think this is something Nissan needs to do, or should a strut/shock dealer, like National Tire & Battery, be able to service? I just don't know if these are "standard" import parts or they are model and/or maker specific.

srm

 

Well strut mount (Andy's probably laughin) If it was the rear Id tell u an exact cost to the penny. But the fronts, im not too sure the exact cost. Ull have to get the part from the dealer, which im sure is gonna tell u 3-5day special order. It should cost u in the neighborhood of around $100 something. Not too serious of an operation but it would be alot safer if u got it taken care of soon.

 

Well, it will be taken care as soon as I can get it to someone; but happening at 8:00 on Saturday night is a bit of a problem.

Who's Andy?

 

Andy is ASU174. The reason I said that is he kinda had a problem with his rear mounts a few weeks ago. Not like urs though. Goodluck man.

 

Thanks. My only concern is drivability until it can get fixed and the inconvenience of being without my car. PLUS, we're taking delivery of an 04 Monday and that just makes things even more squirley for Monday!! Dang I could kick myself for even fooling with it...it was just one of those..."oh yeah...maybe I'll check this..." kind of moments...now look!!!

Thanks, again. I'll be sure to report on exactly what I did; hopefully I'm the only one that will have this experience!!!

srm

 

Just be careful when driving, no sharp turn, no hard braking, no heavy acceleration u know....drive like a grandma til u get it fixed. Better safe then sorry.

 

No kidding...and you know how hard that is going to be!!! Looks like I may just be stuck driving the 04 this week after all!!!! Hey, maybe my timing isn't so bad.

I guess I've gotten pretty much all the info I need. It sounds as though I may not be in too bad a shape. I just need to stay away from the torque wrench and leave that to the real mechanics (grin).

Thanks, guys.

srm

 

Nah not really, just know the specs be4 u do anything.

 

yeah...one of those "do as I say and not as I do" moments. I'm not prone to being a cowboy when it comes to stuff like this. It truly was a last minute thing when I pulled my car in the garage, saw the torque wrench and thought I'd do some preventative maintenance. Wow, did that ever backfire. Then of course my sons come out and, well, you know, I'm a little embarrassed holding the twisted off top to the bolt!!

Ok, let's move onto other discussion now...thanks for the input.

Can't wait to pick up my wife's new 04 SL Monday...elite package...the car is awesome. I'll be sure to write up a post on it after our first real driving experience. The car we test drove wasn't the one we're buying...it's coming in from Knoxville. But Nissan has hit the nail on the head bigtime with this new car. It is most definitely MAXIMA. Unbelievable what you get in this car...nothing like it on the road...ok, i feel better.

srm