Hi all.
So this is my (edit) 2005 Gt bought on Wednesday.
20 hour drive with car trailer there and back.
So the car.
Bought cheep with no apparent warning lights but the suspension failed when he let the battery die and used a booster to start the car.
I hooked up my VAS pc diagnostics expecting to see the usual faults caused by low voltage and started to clear out the codes.
First issue. ECU 2 isn't showing as connected to the car, it isn't even in the list off attached or checked modules. So I can't clear or check old codes.
Any Ideas Anyone?
The air suspension. The car drives and is sitting on the emergency air reserve contained in each suspension bag. It drives and I got it onto the trailer
But no chance of ever getting a jack underneath.
The garage said all was well until he boosted the new 2022 flat battery.
Any One With Any Ideas.
Outside pics to follow.

 

Use VCDS to reset/recalibrate the suspension?

Im no expert though…..

A

 

Thanks for the advice I was hoping I could do just that. However, it won't reset as the level sensors are all showing faults as they are below an expected amount.
I read on here about jacking the car up to fool the hight sensors. ??
I by passed the compressor relay and that works.

 

ECU 2 Update.
Some how ECU2 has now started comunicating. So I have a better idea of the fault codes.
Will properly read out and post them all on here as soon as I can.
Times like these you wonder what was going on in my head to buy a cheep Gt....you just know its going to go well.lol

 

hey @Frank ( Sunnyside ) - anything you did to reestablish te communication to ecu2? Sounds interesting...first thought was you may still have the batteries dead and/or you had to play with plugs to ecu2 (clean etc)

2nd - you said you bypass the compressor relay, so I understand you did short power to run the compressor, but on the other hand you still have the valveblock which is not open I guess so how you pumped the suspension bypassing all the electronics to do it right way...

 

Im not sure why ecu2 came back. I think there is an issue with the diagnostic plug under the dash.
As to suspension.
All I did was check the compressor ran. The ecu says air reservoir is -0.7 bar and out of range.

 

LEFT SIDE REAR WINDOW
The left rear window wiggles about and seems loose. It doesn't seal at all.
I belive there has been water ingress and iirc all the Air Suspension Modules are behind the panel. So at some point I will have a look at both the window mechanism and the control module. I now can get Jack Mode and its in it. I will full Jack the car right off the road and go from there?

 

FAN NUMBER 2
Fan number 2 difficulty in movement/blocked.
WTF does that mean. My crushed spine has difficulty in movement!!
So at some point....I will have a look at that
There are however many more Faults to look at :"(

 

AIR SUSPENSION.
This is how low the car sits with the air bags holding air on there own with no help from the system. The minimum pressure is kept by the little valves on the bags. This keeps enough pressure to allow driving of the car.
If a bag bursts then that suspension unit / corner will fully drop on its bump stops.
I have added a picture of the gap between the top of the tyre and arch lining.

Min gap tyre top to arch liner


Wheel gap

 

Hmm, I was 100% sure the system just looks at the level sensors. If they are out of range then system wont start.
You need to make sure the car will be leveled to a range where sensors are telling the system that they are in range.
Otherwise the system will not run.

If you have the levels in range and system is not starting then indeed maybe the other measure is the air reservoir and if it is out of range system wont run too but this would be strange - the air reservoir can be empty so this should not be a blocker for system to be triggered.

 

this "Fan number 2 difficulty in movement/blocked." is an error on vcds or what? What is the full scan, pls put it here.

 

The problem I have with VAS Pc is its on in ancient pc. Windows XP and isn't compatible with my other devices. So saving and reading the work log file on the vaspc is easy. Transferring to somethin more modern that can read that file is giving me a headache.
I have ODIS as well so will run ths. Its on a Windows 11 pc. So saved work logs should be easier. The problem ( isn't there always ) is ODIS is not easy to use. So I'm still getting used to it. I did briefly pot ODIS on and it did connect OK however the darn thing tells me No Iggnition Key found. Which is crazy as it found all the control modules??
Another job to do. Ha Ho...

 

Hi Sazam.
Yes I think I should try getting the suspension into a range that is accepted my the ECU.
Apparently it was fine untill the selling garage let the battery go flat and hence put a large booster starter on the car. After that
...suspension failure dash error. Car squatted down and won't go up. When the raise button is pressed the dash says Unable To Raise Suspension.
The damping button shows soft to hard but does nothing.

 

Hello @Frank ( Sunnyside ) ,
I see that you have the vehicle on wooden blocks at the rear, and the yellow ramps at the front to gain access for lifting with a floor jack, if all was fine before the flat house battery, then I wouldn't jump right to the suspension control module, so, please try jacking the body of the vehicle up about an 1/2 of an inch at a time, meaning, a floor jack on each side, lifting both sides somewhat evenly, you want to have the vehicle just below normal height, as too far down turns the system off, and just a bit too high past normal, will want to release air, you should also try with Ross-Tech VCDS to put the suspension control system through it's "Output Tests", which should aid in getting the system to react.

Johnny

 

Thanks Johnny.
Then that's what I'm going to do. I only have 2 trolly Jack's so will try and use 2 bottle jack in conjunction.
Each and every time a fault is repaired I will make an update. Right up to my first race When ever that is in the future?
Thanks for the advice....as always 🙂