really technical question inside.

[regalniz]

service ride control lights been on. pulled codes. removed actuator. reading service manual. "turn spline gear on shock absorber with fingers. can you turn it 1/4 turn?" yes i can. question is now that ive turned gear and removed the actuator, how do i know what position the gear was in(now that i moved it) and the exact placement of the actuator? told ya it was a tough one.

 

[ecss]

Look inside the bottom of the actuator. The gear inside normally is broken.

Best price for a new actuator is http://www.shox.com

No adjusment is necessary when you reinstall the actuator on the shock. Just snap it back on and it will self adjust its position.

Don't forget to clear the error codes.

 

[regalniz]

thanks. one less thing. now the codes i pulled say "out of position" and "time out". the manual explains it but not in plain english. can someone 'splain that to me?

 

[ecss]

Here's how the shock works.

The shaft can turn 90 degrees. So it has two built in stops.
0 degrees and 90 degrees.

When you turn the shaft on the shock absorber, its position will control the dampening effect of the shock absorber.

When you turn the ignition on, the FX3 does a self test and the actuator positions the shaft of the shock in a know position.

The actuator is a motor that can turn either CW or CCW and has a feedback signal so the FX3 control module can monitor the speed of the motor and its travel direction.

So when you first turn the ignition on, the actuator turns the shock shaft one way until it hits the stop and then the other way until it hits the other stop.

For example. If the shaft was frozen, the motor would not move. There would be no feedback signal from the actuator. The FX3 control module would set the code that the actuator didn't complete its task in the proper time.
(Time out).

During the self test, the FX3 control module also expects within a certain time frame the actuator should hit the stop either in the CW or CWW direction. (The shaft turns 90 degrees, you manually verified that). So if the actuator motor just continues to run and no stop is found you would get a (Out of position). The Control Module has no idea of the position of the shaft.

The manual says to remove the actuator.
You manually moved the shaft and it did rotate 90 degrees with little resistance. This indicates the shock is good.
Did you verify the gear on the shaft of the shock is good?

The manual says to turn the ignition on and you should see the inside gear of the actuator move in both directions.

If the motor moves in both directs, the manual says to check the voltages on the plug that goes back to the FX3 control module. If the voltages are correct, replace the actuator.

Most problems are the gear on the shock is stripped or the gear inside the actuator is broken.

For test purposes if this is a front shock, you could clear the codes and swap the actuator from one side of the car to the other.

Also when I said you can just snap the actuator back on, you do have to verify the wiring harness is properly positioned so it doesn't get damaged.

 

[regalniz]

excellent explaination. heres a monkey wrench. first codes i got were 13, left rear time out. 14, right front time out. 32, right front out of position. to see what a working shock and actuator looked like i took off the left front. pointed the actuator towards me and turned the key. yes it moves. as you know i also turned the gear on the shock. put the actuator back on and now i get the previous codes AND 31, left front out of position. thats why i was concerned about me turning the gear on the shock. the code wasnt there before. why now?

 

[ecss]

Code 31 Left front out of position set because you removed the the actuator and you turned the key on which caused the FX3 control module to execute its self test.

If you verified the shaft on the Left Rear shock and the shaft on the Right Front shock turn 90 degrees and the gears on the shaft have no teeth missing, I'd say you have two bad actuators.

You also need to clear any codes each time you mess with the actuators because the error code may no longer exist.

With the ignition in run, ground Pin 3 to either Pin 4 or Pin 5 for two seconds 3 times. Pin 4 and Pin 5 are both ground.

This procedure can be tricky. You may have to do it a couple of times before you're successful.

Note: Code 23 will set if the ignition switch is cycled 3 times on and off and the vehicle is not moved.
Code 23 will clear by itself as soon as the vehicle is moved.

Diag. connector looks like this.

[01|02|03|04|05|06|07|08]
[09|10|11|12|13|14|15|16]

 

[regalniz]

i guess it really wasnt that technical at all. i just bought 2 actuators off of ebay. one for 50 the other for 60. came off a 94 with 60k miles. same as mine. i got one front and one rear. hope that does the trick. thanks for your 'splainations.