prs600

Sad to hear about the broken pump. Indeed, that sound is the warning that the pump is on borrowed time - I had the same thing happen with me. I hope you can get another solid replacement and she'll be back on the road.
I would advise against the conventional struts though - the car wasn't designed around them and the characteristics will change. I hope a replacement pump + flush sorts everything out. Also, be careful about pump debris in the system - it can damage the hoses as I discovered.

Turboaction

Hoses are on the list of things to do. I have one hose that gets moist after a week or so of driving at the ends. No drips (I have the bottom plastic removed for easy inspection). I may do this while I have the system open.

I may see what it'd take to use one of the new pumps for a different model (with the inlet barbs oriented incorrectly). If I could get a new pump for $800, I'd just do that and be done with it. The problem is, I'm not sure how challenging it is to rotate the inlet barbs. I have a feeling the parts store isn't going to want to keep sending me pumps at some point (and I'm getting tired of installing them).

tusabes

Rockauto.com had pumps for about $300

Turboaction

You know, I checked Rockauto before my purchase from Buyautoparts last November. Back then all of the pumps were out of stock. Of course, now they have two pumps in stock! Any idea if either the AC Delco or A1 Cardone pumps are any good?

I really hope the next pump I get actually works properly. That banjo bolt on the pressure outlet of the pump is a PITA to get access to! I don't know how people do it, especially without a lift!

tusabes

There's been a couple defective reports of the cardone

Try the AC Delci

Turboaction

I got another replacement pump under warranty. This one was a PITA to prime, as I filled the reservoir and turned the pump by hand and still had no pressure at start-up. I disconnected the return line from the system and pressurized the fluid tank to about 10psi. After a minute or so the system was primed and ready to go. The first two pumps didn't need any air pressure to prime...

Anyway, the car is working normally now. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed. Oh, and now the valve blocks pass the diagnostic tests fine. I'm guessing the pump pressure fluctuations threw off the diagnostics I ran previously.

Turboaction

Today I was rewarded with good ABC behavior, but now my entire driver's side bank of the engine is dead. Last year I had a cylinder 11 misfire code, so I replaced all the plugs on the engine and replaced both coils on cylinder 11. Today cylinder 7-12 all went dead at once.

I'm going to check all the voltages, but I'm guessing it's the transformer coil in the middle of the engine. I don't see how else the entire bank can stop working all at once.

This car definitely takes some patience. And of course, now the coil packs are out of stock everywhere (in case it's not the transformer box).

I also took apart my leaky power trunk actuator. It turns out the cylinder and pump are fine, but the crimp connections where the lines meet the cylinder are both leaking. I don't think this can be repaired, but for now, I just removed all the power trunk stuff and will leave the trunk manual until I find a solution to the leaky lines.

Turboaction

I replaced both the transformer box and the coil pack in order to get the engine firing on all cylinders. It turns out it was the coil pack, which I thought was quite unusual. Either way, now I have the latest part number revision for both parts on the car. I'll replace the passenger side once it fails (hopefully it's not right behind the ABC pump and left coil pack!)

Turboaction

I'm about to begin the next adventure with my S600's ABC system. During my 2,000 mile family trip while sitting stopped in traffic, I was greeted with the red "ABC Drive Carefully" message. I checked the fluid level and it was OK, so I continued my 800 mile drive home. The ride height wasn't correct, and the rear suspension damping was apparently disabled. However, the car didn't pitch or roll during the high speed cornering on I40 through the smokey mountains.

I checked the fault codes and I have an active code for every accelerometer and level sensor.. However, I do not have any codes for the struts. During one of my fuel stops, the system did resume working normally, but then went into limp mode again after another couple hours.

I see in the diagnostics that typically a sensor is shorted to ground or + if multiple sensors are giving codes. In addition, the car has had a rare condition where I believe the driver's rear corner will briefly drop for a second while driving. The car always quickly recovered, but it did cause a brief change in handling. In addition, half way through the trip the car's ride height became skewed, causing the steering wheel to no longer be straight while driving straight.

Is there a common problem with the level sensors? I'm going to try some of the ABC diagnostic routines, but I'm not sure how far I will get if all of the sensors have dropped out electrically. Is my best bet to check the level sensors with an ohm meter? Could a strut sensor cause the accelerometer and ride height sensors to fault out? I have no codes for any of the strut sensors.

Let me know if you guys have any ideas!

Turboaction

Ok guys, I have a new issue that is probably ABC related, but I'm not entirely positive. About five months ago I replaced all of the accumulators in an effort to eliminate a strange low frequency sound I had that would turn on and off at idle. It is now gone (it turned out to be the "air cell" on the return circuit that was blown).

Recently out of nowhere the rear end of the car started to dance around when driving on a very bumpy road. No fault codes, nothing in the suspension is loose (I recently repaired an outer tie rod after the symptoms began). I ran some STAR diagnostics and noticed the pressure drops to about 98 bar during a rodeo, and the pitch and roll tests also work just fine. The funny thing I see is when I perform the suction restrictor valve test, the pressure will drop to ~30 bar unless I activate the suction restrictor valve. In addition, if I try to run the dynamic test, the pressure drops to the same low pressure (20-40 BAR) before even beginning the dynamic test. It seems the system pressure doesn't maintain if the suction valve is closed, and the suction restrictor valve test and dynamic tests keep that valve closed, allowing the pressure to drop.

When I shut off the car, the pressure seems to drop quite rapidly. This leads me to believe the high pressure regulator isn't regulating properly and is allowing the pressure to bleed down quickly. This would also align with why the system pressure seems to drop with the suction restrictor valve closed. In addition, I believe the system pressure used to be around 200 bar, so this would also be explained if the regulator was stuck open a bit.

What do you guys think? I'm guessing a piece of diaphragm is stuck in the valve. Take a guess and I'll report back with what I find this weekend. I have a spare pressure valve laying around that I can throw on the car while I inspect the unit that's coming off the car.

Turboaction

After driving around for about a month with the rear end of the car completely unstable when going over bumps, I've isolated the problem. There were no diagnostic codes and the car performed a rodeo just fine. I replaced the pressure regulator valve assembly but haven't checked to see if the system holds pressure better yet. However, I did replace the passenger rear strut assembly since during an auto-x event most people agreed that the passenger rear corner of the car looked like it had a blown shock while driving on the course. I had a spare shock for this corner due to an intermittent leak, and the car immediately began driving perfectly. I'll run a strut sensor cal later tonight and should be back to a smooth, luxurious ride.

Turboaction

While calibrating the strut position sensor I noticed there was a stored fault for the right rear strut position sensor. Apparently it took almost four weeks of driving with a bad sensor before it finally logged a code. After calibration, the car rides like a dream again. Now, if I can only get my power trunk lid opener working again!