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550 Suspension question

Discussion in '456/550/575' started by Bedrari, Mar 31, 2025.

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  1. Bedrari

    Bedrari Rookie

    Mar 27, 2024
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    Bedrari
    #1 Bedrari, Mar 31, 2025
    I know that this has been brought up a million times, but after reading all the threads I just want to confirm my conclusion. I milled and 3d-printed my own repair kit earlier for the actuator but I still have the fault on my display, I havent driven the car yet to give it a chance to reset but I also noticed that the area in the wheel housing around the damper was wet.

    Things that can trigger the error on the display where you get the side profile of a car with triangles under the tires, for the front section is either the shock actuator or a faulty shock absorber?

    Conclusion:
    Even if the actuator and ECU are functioning normally, they rely on the shock absorber to provide the proper damping response. If the absorber is leaking fluid, its damping characteristics are compromised, and the system won't be able to modulate the damping correctly. This discrepancy between the expected and actual behavior is what typically triggers a fault code.

    Is my conclusion correct or not?
     
  2. Timmo

    Timmo Formula Junior

    Aug 26, 2017
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    Continental Europe
    #2 Timmo, Mar 31, 2025
    Since cycling the ignition more than 3 or 4 times without getting the car to move will cause the suspension failure sign to show on the multi function display, you may want to drive the car first to check if it resets or not.
     
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  3. Rifledriver

    Rifledriver Three Time F1 World Champ

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    #3 Rifledriver, Mar 31, 2025
    The only fault that will automatically reset is the speed signal fault. All others require resetting via computer.

    Your conclusion is not correct. The system does not monitor shock function. It monitors actuator function.
     
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  4. Bedrari

    Bedrari Rookie

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    #4 Bedrari, Mar 31, 2025
    Then bad shock and good actuator combo should not throw code?
     
  5. Qavion

    Qavion F1 World Champ
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    #5 Qavion, Mar 31, 2025
    Is it possible that a shock leak might lead to internal components locking up due to lack of lubrication, not allowing the actuator to turn? The WSM is a little hard to understand.

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    Apparently the bypass valve (7) is controlled by the actuator.
     
  6. Qavion

    Qavion F1 World Champ
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    #6 Qavion, Mar 31, 2025
    @Bedrari Can you operate the cog on top of the leaking shock by hand? Compare the resistance felt with another shock.

    If an actuator is not seated properly on the shock, it will generate a fault light. If you reseat the actuator properly, the light will go out (after turning the ignition back on). What it won't do is remove the fault from the Suspension ECU memory.
     
  7. Rifledriver

    Rifledriver Three Time F1 World Champ

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    #7 Rifledriver, Mar 31, 2025
    Not what I said. A good actuator can malfunction due to a bad shock. The computer monitors actuator function. Anything that causes an actuator to malfunction will set a fault.
     
  8. AVIMAX

    AVIMAX Formula Junior

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    #8 AVIMAX, Mar 31, 2025
    Definitely the first thing to do is drive the car to get some input from the speed sensor and see if the error goes away. Also note that broken gears aren’t the only potential failure in the actuator, it can fail electronically, so even if physically ok, it may not be. I’ve had two actuators that ended up needed electronic repair in addition to the gear inside.
     

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