Shock Actuator Light On

My suspension fault light was on and the Ferrari tech I use checked all four actuators and did not see any problems. Still wouldn't clear the fault light, so he ran it by another shop that has the Ferrari computer. It showed that three of the four actuators were the problem. I sent all four actuators to CaptainZ CNC and he bench tested them and confirmed that three had broken parts (which were not visible without dissassembly). Since he had all four in hand and it was just a matter of time until that fourth one bit the dust, I had all four rebuilt. Reinstalled them and haven't had a problem since.

 

I had my rear two actuators rebuilt by CaptnZ. The gears on the shock tower are replaceable and you can get the part from Ricambi. There are a couple of threads on this including one from me on how to replace the gear. In many cases the broken gear will also break the internal plastic gear in the actuator when it goes. CaptnZ will replace the plastic parts with metal. After the gear replacement and actuator rebuild, the shocks seem more responsive and I can tell a difference between sport and comfort modes now.

 

+355 .........

to the OP, the gear inside the actuator itself is plastic and quite often break. Look inside the actuator to see if it looks ok. If it is not send it to Capt Z as mentioned above.

 

Here is the thread with the tools I used given Gothspeed's and others threads/tips on removing/replacing the little shock-top gear.:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/348-355/385614-f355-shock-acuators.html

 

I sent all 4 of my actuators to CaptianZ this past winter. 1 of the actuators had a bad motor (fairly rare) and was NOT rebuildable. I bought a used actuator with broken gears from a fellow Fchatter and sent that to CaptainZ also after finding that out. They were able to used the good motor from the used actuator I bought to fix the 4th one.

Even though only 2 of the actuator appeared to be broken from visually looking at them, all 4 were faulty. Now all 4 work great and have upgraded internal gears. Suspension light gone. Couldn't be happier. All for half the cost of ONE new actuator from Ferrari.

 

Another plug for CaptainZ
I sent him one of my actuators for a rebuild very quick service.

 

If I recall correctly you watch the actuator gears when first turning the key to position ll they should turn back and forth if working.

 

That is correct. You need two people to do that because one needs to turn the key and one needs to be looking at the actuator gears at the same time. In the case of a bad motor it could still move back and forth. When the motor goes bad it gets erratic and jerky according to CaptainZ. The unpredictable motor sets off the actuator warning light and disables the whole suspension system to a steady state until fixed.

You can drive with the actuators disconnected just fine. it would be the same as driving with the actuator light on and everything connected.

 

If you have one bad actuator does the suspension system default to standard or sport? I always kept mine on sport when the suspension light first came on. The suspension light came on about 5 months ago and found out it was one bad actuator. Is there any need to fix it now? What is a steady state you refer to?

 

Pull the rubber boot off and look deeper than just the gear itself, there is a couple of other pieces in there made of plastic that now are getting OLD. maybe not 20 years old yet but damn near it.

 

Neither.

Sport and Standard both actively adjust the damping of the struts based on g force, speed, gear, ect. Sport and Standard just have different preset reactions to those inputs to create a sportier or softer ride.

When it goes bad there is no adjustment what so ever going on. The shocks are frozen at one damping setting and do not adjust to any inputs.

 

+1 ....... when I had a broken gear, they only tried to cycle upon start-up then just gave up, it didn't seem to do anything else after that initial check and light stayed on.

Cannot say enough good things about Captain Z rebuild service ........ quick, high quality fix and all is good since then

 

What if your car is an F1, is the transmission in sport or standard.

 

If it is not sport or standard, is it somewhere in the middle. Does the car still handle well? Do all four shocks have the same damping? Is there any reason to spend $1200-$1300 for a new actuator, or about $450 for a used one with a ninety day guarantee? I could not really feel the difference between sport and standard anyway.

Thanks, Ron

 

What is wrong with yours? are you missing one or are the gear broken?

There are replacement gears from Ricambi for the top of the shock for under $50 and Captain Z replaces the gears in the actuator for under $200 each including shipping ...

No need to spend a lot correcting this, unless you are actually missing an actuator or the actual electric motor in it is bad.

 

$125 each is what I paid for CaptainZ rebuilds. The shock gears were $30-40 a piece.

Ron, I would absolutely never buy a new OEM actuator. The CaptainZ rebuilds are so, so far superior for a fraction of the price. And they actually have customer service and give a damn. You can just keep the actuators off and manually set the damping of each shock by with your fingers on the shock gears. The range of adjustment in not very wide though. It's less than one full turn, 270 degrees if I remember correctly. So how precise you can get is open to debate. If you just set them as close to the middle as possible you should be fine. I drove with them not working for thousands of miles before fixing them last winter.

 

The suspension light is on. The gear on top is good. The actuator is not working. It was checked out by the Ferrari mechanic on a computer that showed the back right actuator does not work. The car has 18000 miles on it.

 

How do I get in touch with Captain Z, and can I drive the car with the actuator removed? Maybe I heard wrong. I did not think anyone repairs them anymore? Is that the best way to go?

 

captain Z
262 593 8472
you can still drive your car with actuator removed

 

I already filled out the form.

Thank you, Ron

 

My warning light has been on since they removed the engine for the major service. I have checked the 4 actuators after that and saw, that one of the rear ones has broken plastic and also the gear on the shock absorber was broken of course. So changed both, but the light is still on. Tested all 4 actuators - they test themselves and obviously work. No one here could help me resolving that problem, but if they all test themselves like they should, then can the problem still be in them?