Shocks update, 99 SV

After having a suspension error light on for several months, which was diagnosed as a bad motor, my shock apparently started working again, and has worked for several hundred miles. I'm glad I did not replace it.

Did your light just stay on or did it flash? All the time or some of the time? How did they fix it?

The red light on the console just stayed on. No one fixed it, it just started working again 100 miles or so after I got it back.

 

It never leaked, otherwise I would have replaced it.

Mine did exactly the same thing (99 VT). Definitely one of those 'garage queen' type of failures...

I had put about 5000 miles on it in 6 mos. before I ever saw a problem.

diagnosed as a bad motor

How was it "diagnosed"? If it was just via the KONI diag mode then that would be far from conclusive...

 

-mick

I originally used the Koni mode to narrow it down to which corner of the car it was. Mine was left rear where there are two shocks. If I disconnected one it cleared the error. If I disconnect the other the error remained, so that narrowed it down to a specific shock for me.

 

Then the question was which part was bad - the motor, or the potentiometer that tells the computer the motor position. When I plugged the shock in to its electrical harness I could hear the motor move, and I could hear it move when it changed settings. That meant (to me, and I'm no pro mechanic) that the motor seemed ok but that the computer was not getting a valid report on its position. I reassembled everything to start researching where to buy a new shock or get one rebuilt. In the meantime I kept driving the car and it solved itself.

 

Ecnal - You're obviously no garage queen owner, but perhaps the previous owner put on very few miles and let things set up...

My experience was pretty much identical including the fault being located in the left rear. Part of the diag is how the system reacts when in the error state.

 

My fault ended up being the KONI ECU itself.

 

-mick