I have an 85 Biarritz which needs both front and rear shocks. Does anyone know what the OEM brand is?


I have searched the internet and cannot come up with a definite answer, only advertisements, each claiming that they are the right one. Sigh.


Also, do ALL Eldorado's between '79-85 have some sort of automatic air ride on the rear, or was that an option (meaning some have it and some do not)


If it is an option, does anyone know the RPO code?


Any help in this area would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks!

 

I can see this thread is 3 years old but nobody replied. I've had three 79-85 Toronados and one 79 Eldorado. The rears do have a load leveling sensor on the left lower control arm which tells the vehicle whether or not it needs adjustment. If it needs to be raised there is an electric air pump on the driver side inner fender well which adds air to the system. The right rear OEM shock had 2 positions for airlines. Apparently GM decided that it was better to have a unique shock than simply adding a "T" to the airline. Any rear air shock listed for the car will work. I think Gabriel was one brand I used. Since the replacement right rear will not have 2 positions for lines you will simply run the main into a T and out of the T to the right and left shocks. GM had it set-up so the air entered the right rear and then there was a cross-over line from the right rear to the left rear. The originals, by memory, were dark blue and made by someone for GM. I don't recall any known manufacturer's label or marking.

Regarding the front I use KYB monotube gas. These are really front heavy vehicles and the KYBs on the front really feel correct even though they are thought of as a performance shock. KYB does sell 2 different types of shocks and I can never recall the subtle difference in the name. The ones I'm referring to were traditionally white but unfortunately they changed them to silver; unfortunately because the ones which do not work well from KYB were always traditionally silver. If anyone still responds to this post I can likely find one of the ones I was using.

One more thing. If the front of your car is washing out like a sea going vessel it may not be your shocks. The most common reasons are a broken sway bar end link and second someone failed to adjust the idler arm to give the same height right to left comparing to the pitman arm side. If you look in the service manual you will see the requirement for the 79-85 E Body requires the side to side difference to be very small.