Front Suspension - Lower arm

[joegr]

2006 LS V8, about 40K miles.

The lower arm mounts to the car via two bushings or bearings. Does anyone know which it is? Specifically, is it bearings that are sealed and contain oil or grease?

Yesterday, there was a small puddle in my garage that looked like oil, but not as dark as used engine oil. I was able to find drips of the same stuff hanging from the bottom of the front bearing/bushing of the lower control arm. I couldn't find it anywhere else. I wiped it all off. Today, it didn't drip down, but there were drops on the bottom of the front bearing/bushing of the right lower arm again. This time I jacked the car up and looked closely. There was nothing from in front of this spot that might have blown back there. (There were some traces where it had blown onto the plastic cover behind the bearing/bushing.) There was also no trace of liquid above it. However, the bearing/bushing itself was very wet with the same fluid on the front of it.

It's still in warranty, so I would like to have it fixed, but I don't want to go to the dealer and find out it was something that splashed up there.

Has anyone else experienced something like this?

 

[owlman]

When i look in my manual it only shows nuts n bolts for those attachments, no bearings.

 

[97stscaddy]

Those are bushings, and you better not drive that car until you check the brake line to the caliper for that wheel.

 

[joegr]

It's not brake fluid, and that reservoir is full. Also, no brake lines near, in front of, or over the spot in question.

 

[milehighmikey]

I suppose that there could be a new type of bushing in use there, with fluid damping. I thought that the Jaquar S-type used those as an upgrade from Lincoln. I think that some other cars use this, such as Cadillac STS.

The 2005 Mustang uses that on the rear mounting of the lower control arm, also.

A short network search found that indeed many cars are built this way. Here is a little story on BMW's problems with those type of bushings.

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=596462

I see no other explanation to your findings, and I might add, good job finding the problem!