Mountain Biking - Rear suspension coil maintenance

I've got an old full suspension mountain bike, and for quite a while, the coil has been squeaking/making unpleasant noises a fair bit.

Oil seems to make no difference, wondering if grease or some other substance is the recommended method?

Springs don't squeak.You might want to see if the shock has worn out and check the frame for cracks/worn out bushings.

Springs don't squeak.You might want to see if the shock has worn out and check the frame for cracks/worn out bushings.

Ditto. It is "usually" the bushings.

Ditto, ditto.

Also: sometimes my Dakar gets this squeaky/creaky noise in the rear suspension (or so I thought). Actually what it was is when the suspension compresses, the cable housings move with the movement of the linkage. The I greased the ferrules where they go into the cable stops, and it always gets rid of the noise. The noise only comes back when I wash it.

Check your rear shock mounting hardware.

Back in the day my old Vanillia-R started marking noise, and it never occured to me that it might be the spring, until the spring broke.

The black coating on the coil was chipped, and it corroded underneath until I had two short springs instead of one long one.

I think that was an odd case though. Unless there is visible damage to the spring, as others have said, suspect bushings and pivots.

Thanks for the info, I'll check over the whole mechanism then. I think the frame is okay, but everything will get the once over whilst I'm sat at the station tomorrow morning.