Any trick to re-installing the dampers? Suspension light issue

So my suspension was working fine and I sent the two rear dampers out to be rebuilt during the major I just finished. When I reinstalled them the suspension light came on. I've checked all the obvious things like the gears being in good shape, clean, turning freely and the actuators cycling when the key is turned on.

Am I missing anything about how to hook these up on a fresh install? I've done some searching and am at a bit of a loss for what might be causing the light to be on.

 

I just drove it maybe 5 miles. I was hoping that was the issue but don't think it is.

 

Nothing looks damaged. Does anyone know do the actuators have to be on the shocks for the system to check out? I guess what I'm asking is can I narrow it down to the actuators and connections and not the shocks themselves?

 

I can reset with an OBD tool?

 

Does anyone know how far the gears on the shock turn stop-to-stop? The back ones only turn about 1/4 turn while the fronts don't seem to have a stop at all. I only pulled off the front driver's side and found the gear on top to be broken.

 

I think you nailed it. Thanks. I was thinking it had to be a problem in the rear because that's what I sent for rebuild but the gear is busted in the front. When I went to remove the actuator it wasn't even seated properly on the shock. The gear is busted in the spot that creates the stop causing it to just freely spin.

 

Problem solved!

I had two actuators rebuilt plus fixed a broken gear and that didn't shut the light off. So what next?

Each actuator goes through a distinct pattern when the key is turned on. The pattern is to find the stops. The pattern is longer when off the shock then when on the shock because it cuts short when it finds the stops when mounted. When not mounted it goes through the full sequence.

I listened to each with a stethoscope while mounted and one sounded really weak. What was happening was that it had to be pushed down rather hard on one of the rebuilt shocks to make the snap ring click and that was causing the actuator to bind up and not cycle. I swapped one of the rebuilt actuators onto that shock and could hear that one run through the cycle. When the "weaker" one was moved to the front it fit a little looser and cycled just fine.

So if you ever have a suspension light first check the gears on the shocks then check the functioning of the actuators. You should hear (can't see) each run through the starting sequence and find the stops. If it goes through a long sequence you may have a busted gear (because it never found the stops). If it goes through a short sequence it's ok. If it's hard to hear it may be binding up and not doing the self-test which will trigger the light.