Driving down the highway yesterday and suddenly felt like my left rear tire was shot. Entire car dropped down left and rear and got an "ABC MALFUNCTION" warning.



Then the entire car lifted up to full height and full stiffness. I stopped and thought maybe restart would fix it since it was clearly a sensor issue (no leaking fluid, car was able to maintain height).

S600, Z71 off road package!



I thought that the left rear sensor failed since that's which corner dropped. Upon restart the whole car started up and down for about 30 sec then went to max height again. A visual inspection of the left rear sensor showed nothing wrong so I limped it home. Fluid and pump were fine, so I was ok driving it. Hooked it up to my friend's Snap-On scan tool and saw that the left front sensor was bad! Ok, so before I ordered a replacement I pulled that wheel off and this is what I saw!


The arm attaching the sensor to the car had popped off. I put it back on (clamped with some pliers) with a solid click and the car sorted itself out. No more errors, no more rough riding.

Learnings were:
1. Don't trust your instincts on which corner is bad. System is all connected
2. Use your eyes and inspect before you even bother with a scanner or new parts
3. A sudden malfunction accompanied by no loss of "power", fluid or pump noises is almost certainly a sensor issue
4. Wish I could manually summon that "max up" mode. Could be handy at times. Yes, I know I can raise it via dashboard, but not that far

 

glad it was a minor fix! I worry about those popping off too because I installed adjustable links. So far so good, though. If the clip inside that piece is wearing out or missing, it'll pop off again. Maybe it's time for some adjustable links! I barley lowered mine about a quarter to half inch to maintain a good ride, but just fill in the wheel gap a little.

 

These are adjustable links and when it went back on, it felt very securely attached. I think it was an impact on a horrible piece of Detroit road that did it

 

Oh good! That's right, the factory pieces are black plastic.

 

Hi there. I am experiencing what you experienced with the ride height of my s65 lowering and raising. I would like to check if this might be the culprit. Exactly how do I find this sensor arm? Thanks for your help in advance.

 

in this pic, my hand is at the top of where the strut mounts, top of the wheel well. You can see the upper control arm at the top of the pic too

 

I’ll try my best to locate it. Complete amateur here :-)

 

you need to be carful, you don't want the car to drop and squash / trap you.....

they snap / fall off after they seize and get a bit tight, very cheap - when one plays up replace all of them together to save another breakdown