Is that an easy fix?

 

Nope. That would entail hooking it up to the PIWIS which is another $100 in labor. And from my understanding (please correct me if I'm wrong), deactivating it will just revert the suspension to the default 'firm' setting which is absolutely brutal anything but the smoothest roads.

 

What do you mean?

 

Ed,

Just call Mike at RSS or Dan at Vivid.

 

Hi Ed,

Wow --- at this point, unfortunately, unless someone has some better idea, you might be facing going back to stock and start from 0. Regardless of what you want to do next, whether it's KW or Bilstein, I would think it's important to establish that the car's electronic brain is ok.

Is it too late now to return the used shock to the previous owner for refund (I know -- you are stuck with labor charge)? Is it possible that he had this very same problem and didn't tell you?

I wonder if the faulty shock has now messed up your car's sensor, or is such that PIWIS is unable to correctly identify the faulty one(s).

 

Can
The seller was good enough to refund the cost of the shocks. So now I'm out the cost of the new shock and the labor for the 2 installs and realignments.
I think my next step is to go back to EVOMS to hook it up to the PIWIS. Depending on what it tells us, I may ditch the entire setup and go with another system or try to continue to troubleshoot.

The fact that PASM does work, albeit intermittently, tells me it's probably loose/faulty connections??? Is it naive to think just tightening some connectors will solve the problem??
Thanks for the input, Can.

 

Before you swap out your suspension, here is my last thought.

Whenever I pull the battery or disconnect the negative terminal, and reconnect the battery, I get the following warnings: PSM failure, PASM failure. My Sports Chrono button no longer functions, I can not activate the PASM button, the suspension is super tight (defaulted to firm.)

After driving a few minutes, the error clears. I tried to simulate it today, I disconnected the battery, recreated the errors, then plugged in Durametric. One of the warnings was a steering calibration error which I could not clear until I drove the car.

Is it possible your steering calibration sensor is off? When I try to clear it, PSM goes into diagnostic mode, and PASM and PSM both pop up as errors again. Once I drive, the steering is recalibrated automatically, and both errors turn off.

Does any of this sound like what's going on?

I'm still having trouble believing all four dampers are bad. It would seem more logical that one single sensor is problematic, causing multiple errors.

 

No idea, Bob. What would be the manifestation of a steering calibration sensor malfunction other than a code? I assume that would have popped up during the PIWIS scan at EVOMS??

I did happen to disconnect the negative battery terminal after the PASM fault returned on Saturday (to install my new steering wheel). After I reconnected it and fired up the car, the fault was gone but came back after a few miles of driving. I pulled off the road, restarted the car and the fault once again cleared (i.e. I could turn on PASM and sport mode). Made it home (about 3 more miles) without it coming back.

 

Has it popped up since? PASM/PSM error codes always pop up after disconnecting the battery. They usually go away after a few minutes of driving. Has it popped up since disconnecting the battery?

 

And yes, I got the PSM light as well after I reconnected the battery but this went away as soon as I pulled out.

 

You'll need a tuner or tech to be able to tell you this for sure, but I really think there must be something else going on. Did the dealership give you any help when they ran PIWIS, or hint that there was anything else besides the dampers themselves causing the error?

 

I agree, I just have no idea what that may be.
Dealership give me any help?? LOL. They charged me $80 to hook up the car to the PIWIS for 5 minutes.
I specifically asked if there were any other faults and they said no.

 

Ed, I'm trying...really I am. I don't what else to tell you.

 

I know you are, Bob. And I really appreciate it! Just so frustrating.....

 

Ed, you're right the problem could be something extremely simple. Bilstein for example could probably plug the shock absorber straight into their diagnostic monitor and tell you what's wrong in 2 seconds.
The problem is other people like your tuner could only look at the shock through PIWIS - multiple intermediate steps and connections are now introduced.

As a last ditch effort: Have you called Bilstein yourself -- call Bilstein California and ask for technical help?