First time posting, though this sounds like something I could imagine hearing on the show… it’s really weird. The driver’s side rear suspension on my wife’s 1998 Toyota Corolla LE completely locks up when the temperature (read-out from dashboard) is below 30-degF… every little crack in the road feels like the earth is splitting in two and jars my spine. The car becomes almost undriveable. However, above 33-34 degrees, it goes back to being perfectly driveable (as driveable as a 240k mile car is expected to be). I’ve replaced the front and rear linkages and rotated the tires to try and rule out the wheels… no change in behavior. I just need this car to last another year… really not worth replacing the suspension. Any suggestions?
The problem might be with the rear strut/shock internal valving sticking when the temperature drops below freezing. If the valving sticks inside the strut or shock, the hydraulic fluid isn’t allowed to pass thru the valving when the suspension tries to oscillate up and down. So the ride becomes very stiff and harsh.
Tester
It doesn’t get better on it’s own. They may need replacement.
The same thing would happen on a 90 corolla i used to have. When it got cold the rear suspension would stick. I literally would go around to the back every morning and jump on the bumper a few times and the shocks would come loose. Then they were fine until the next cold morning.
You have strut “issues”…like Tester states…prob time for a new set of struts back there… You could put 2 new shocks/struts on the rear for under 200 if you did it yourself…Not a big deal
Blackbird
Unless you find a ‘Quickstrut’ for our car, I’d be reluctant to offer a DIY solution to strut repair. Even with the lighter springs found on the rear of these small cars, there is a lot of energy stored up, and only a safe spring compressor should be used to take the struts apart. It sounds like the OP is not quite as experienced as us, so this could be a challenge to the novice mechanic with limited tools.