My mother's Mazda 626 strut rattle
 

Just drove my Mom's car a bit, maybe 30, 40 miles and it has an occasional rattle in the strut, like one of the shocks is bad. Not sure I like struts on all 4 wheels, at least this type with the shock in the middle of the coil spring.

They don't all do that do they? I regret to admit I'm still somewhat ignorant about various sorts of suspension.

Anyway this car, a V6, only has about 68K. Is this a bit soon for this problem?

As far as im concerned the macpherson strut design is gods gift to simple front and rear suspension maintenance and repair while providing excellent road feel.

Depending on where shes been driving 68k wouldnt be that bad for a blown shock.

You can easily remove the whole assembly and break it down on the bench far more conveniently than dealing with compressing a spring on the car and removing. While you are at it check the condition of the strut bearings, which will present thwmselves as problems by making noise as you turn the wheel back and forth.

Make sure to mark the strut angle position on the hub though before removal as well as bolt position for the top of the strut or it will be alignment time

the last 626s rolled out more than a decade ago, the rubber parts dont care what the odometer says, they rot with time.

the strut clunk maybe antiroll bar clunk too. A good pry and check will show you the issue.

I thought I posted this reply a week ago, oh well. At any rate, good advice. It's an '02 model, plenty of time for age to attack rubber, seals, etc.

It didn't make noise from turning the wheel back and forth that I can recall, it was just the odd stronger bump than normal that would yield an undercarriage thunk.

The Mazda dealer in OlyWA told her the struts were shot and needed to be replaced. She's moving to Oregon soon and her new husband is a man of means and has a long trusted mechanic that he uses. The noise sounded like bad shocks to me.