My front left hand shock is leaking grease on my 2005 Corolla and I am planning on fixing it myself (both front shocks). Unfortunately I won't be able to do so until I get back to my parents house (2.5hrs away) which I am doing this weekend. Before I can do that, however, I need to be able to drive to and from work this week and I was hoping to drive a couple of hours out of the way to go to an engagement party on Saturday (fix the car Sunday/Monday).

 

Today my girlfriend drove a 5 hour round trip. At one point she hit a bump and felt the car go down but not come back up. She thought she had a flat tyre - but did not. She stopped, checked the car, found nothing and then kept driving. She didn't notice anything else abnormal on the drive.

 

Is driving with a leaking front left shock a major issue that needs to be fixed immediately - before I drive any further? Can I get away with fixing it on Sunday/Monday after I do about 4 hours worth of driving with 3 people in the car and a small amount of luggage?

I wouldn't recommend it, but I don't see any reason why you can't drive with a leaking from damper. It has probably been leaking for ages and you only just noticed. Leaking dampers usually just makes your car bouncy due to the suspension being underdamped, however if the suspension has sagged on the front left it may change your wheel alignment slightly.

Edited March 2, 201511 yr by rian

I just got it back from the latest 10,000km service - so the problem has occured within the last 10,000km. There was no sign of uneven wear on the front tyres, so it's probably fairly recent.

 

I gave both front shocks an eyeballing and could not see a difference in height...though I didn't measure it with a ruler.

 

I've also given it the old bounce test and both front shocks seemed completely fine from that point of view.

Edited March 2, 201511 yr by Olbert

:y: Then it's okay, just replace them soon.

:y: Then it's okay, just replace them soon.

 

That's what I want to hear! Thanks once again.