- Recently there has been a lot of discussion
amongst Diablo owners about a problem with the Koni shocks in 1997 and later
Diablo's. The problem with these cars is that the shocks often fail (leak oil)
if the car hits a major bump in the road. It appears to be a design problem
related to the fact that these cars have a mechanism that allows the driver to
pump oil from the power steering into the shocks that raises the car about 4
inches. A very nice feature when going over bumps in the road or driving
up a slope.
On the
Yahoo Lamborghini discussion group an official from North America KONI has
responded to the owners complaints in a generalized letter. This reply is
reproduced here for those that may be interested
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My name is Lee Grimes and I am the Street Aftermarket
Sales Manager for KONI
North America. Today it was brought to my attention that there was a thread
on the Lamborghini List regarding issues about the OE KONI dampers on the
Diablo cars. I am truly sorry for the troubles that people are having but
would like the opportunity to explain the situation and clear up a little
misinformation.
KONI car dampers fit into two primary categories: Aftermarket and Original
Equipment. The shocks made for the KONI Aftermarket segment are as the name
implies intended to be installed after the new car market sale. Basically
they are made for used cars and this is the vast majority of performance car
shocks made. Everywhere but North America, KONI aftermarket shocks carry a
three year warranty. In the US and Canada, KONI North America increases
that warranty to become a lifetime warranty against defects and wear out to
the original purchaser for as long as they own the car registered for street
use. Here is a link of the exact text:
http://www.koni-na.com/pdf/warranty.pdf
KONI Original Equipment shocks are developed in conjunction with a vehicle
manufacturer and are placed as OE on new cars when they are built. At the
time of the agreement on the program, KONI Holland (our international HQ)
and the car manufacturer will agree on how the dampers will be covered under
warranty and by whom and any other plans of product exclusivity. That I
know of, the only OE fitment to carry a KONI warranty was the '84-86 Ford
Mustang SVO and all others including GM, Chrysler, Porsche, Ferrari,
Lamborghini, Renault, etc. chose to cover the the KONI damper under the cars
original new car warranty from the manufacturer. That means when you have a
Diablo, Camaro, Viper, Prowler, etc. with OE KONIs, the dampers are covered
by the factory warranty and not KONI. There is no difference in the quality,
materials or technology, just who has the long term resposibility.
Additionally, the car manufacturer can have an exclusivity agreement with
KONI not to manufacture or allow the sale of OE dampers to anyone else.
That is the case with the Diablo dampers. Even though KONI North America is
an arm of and is overseen by KONI Holland, we have no access to Diablo
dampers no matter how much I would like to get them or what they would cost.
Because of this, KONI North America and our warranty are completely
outside the loop on the Diablo with zero access to the product. We also
don't have access to design data, rebuilding service parts, etc.
Because KONI North America is completely outside the loop on the Diablo,
until quite recently we had not heard of many issues with the OE dampers on
the car. What we do know is that the Diablo has a very interesting system
that allows the nose of the car to raise up for clearance by being
pressurized by the power steering pump. This is a system that is particular
to Lamborghini but also seems to be the root of the problems that people are
having. The other aspects of the Diablo dampers is that they are part of the
KONI 82 series family that we sell tens of thousands of each year for many
decades with extremely few problems. The other aspect is that the Diablo
dampers use an electronic adjustable rebound damping system that we have
used with great success with our electrically adjusted drag racing shocks
that have dominated the NHRA Pro-Stock division since their introduction
over a decade ago.
After talking with Luigi today, I spoke with our KNA R&D team here to see if
there is anything that we can do to find an alternative to this issue. In
the next few days we will talk with some of the Dutch R&D team to see if
they have any ideas what the true cause of the problem is: dampers
themselves, other aspects of the system damaging the dampers, general design
theory, etc. There is a possibility that although we may be unable find a
way to fix the current system as it is designed, we very likely would be
able to come up with a non-height changing option with the reliability and
performance that KONI is known for at a fraction of the replacement cost of
the OE height changing system. If we are able to come up with an
alternative, it might be a new manufactured piece or a conversion of your
existing Diablo dampers done here in the KNA Service Shop. If we are able
to come up with an opportunity, we may need to ask a member of your group to
let us test the final system on a Diablo near our Greater Cincinnati area
headquarters (no Diablos as KONI company cars currently).
I am sorry for the long post but hopefully it has clarified some of the
situation. Again we are sorry of the inconvenience it has caused but it is
truly outside of our realm in North America. What I can say is that we will
do some investigation and see what we can come up with. I don't know what
the answer will be but then again I didn't even know it was a problem until
this morning. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the
KONI North America technical staff at
info@k... or 859-586-4100.
Best regards,
Lee Grimes
KONI North America
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