Thank you Jon89. Toby sounds like an excellent resource. Hadn't heard of Flying Circus before -- wish I had!

 

I would give it a try.

 

Well good news is the suspension fault is off. Bad news is I don't definitely have an explanation as to what happened.

Removed the right rear shock to find that both wires had been cut and the wires looked like someone put them into a drill and spun them really tight. Perhaps the wires broke but sure look like a clean cut on both. After repairing the wiring, the suspension fault is gone. I cannot read the diagnostic codes so not sure if the front shocks are still faulting but at least the car is not riding in default/firm mode and the fault warning is not appearing on the dash.

I've been mulling over how to explain this and am at a loss. Only thing that I could imagine is that the suspension fault did not come on with only 1 of 4 shocks showing open circuit, but when I disconnected front shocks that tripped the fault and DTC or module were never happy again until I closed circuits on all 4 shocks. Doesn't totally make sense because I did a hard reset after 3 of 4 shocks were closed circuit and still had the fault...so there must be more to this. I have no idea about the right rear wire twist and cut...I don't see how the shock piston could have rotated over time winding the wires but maybe that's a possibility.

I've very thankful for all the advice on this and wish the picture was clearer to help someone else down the road.

 

Hi Baguafit,

I've got the same occasional bottoming out on my 2000 XKR. Was the coil spring replacement alone able to cure the problem? What was the cost if I may ask? I don't have any suspension faults.

Thanks!

DGR

 

Hi DGR -- sorry didn't see your comment until now. Yes, the problem was the coil springs were spent which I understand is fairly common and will get worse in time. Contributing to bottoming out was the rubber bumpers had rotted and fallen out. I've heard some say to just replace those bumpers to reduce bottoming out but you have to remove the springs to install them so I opted to replace the springs and add new bumpers. I bought a pair of replacements from DCR (Jaguar XK8 and Jaguar XKR Parts and Accessories) that were copies of the originals at a much more reasonable price. BTW beware there is a difference between coupe and conv springs so make sure you specify. I have the coupe and ended up cutting 1-1/2 inches from the top and bottom runs of the springs which gave me a slightly aggressive ride height and no more bottoming out.

 

Well, I think I may have figured the suspension fault mystery. The fault reappeared a few days ago along with an Electrical Fault. Upon looking at the shock connections, a sparkle caught my eye in the well of the top shock which holds the 2 wires. I got a flash light and could see some debris so put a tiny magnetized screwdriver in there and pulled out some fine metal shavings -- not much but they were long enough to cause a short between those two wires with each other or grounding out. My hunch is this was the source of my wild goose chase. Maybe too early to say for sure but at least this is a plausible cause.

 

Thanks baguafit. I'll get some ordered.

 

I am very interested in the solution of this fault - I also got suspension fault after patching into two wrong wires - so I now ordered a new control unit as I suspect this is what causes my fault. Once I replaced it I give You an update, still waiting for it to arrive..
original in XKR



used replacment module - all # match

 

Yikes. I'm putting all new coil springs, shocks, seats, mounts, boots, today. My hope is it's plug and play.

 

And finally resolution...I hope So after I had the wires repaired and ~5000 miles of hassle free driving, Suspension Fault reappeared and diagnostic AGAIN indicated open circuit in right rear shock wiring harness. Having a pretty good guess as to what was wrong I went to a 2nd mechanic who pulled the wheel out and found the wires had again broken but in another place (not where previously repaired). Thinking the 1st mechanic must have did something wrong I paid my $800 and had it repaired again. Another 5k miles and another fault and diagnostic indicating the SAME problem!!! Finally figured out the bushing in shock mount was so warn that the shock was rotating slightly with every bump in the road causing the wires to wind. Replaced the bushing and repaired the wiring and hope I never have to post on this again!

Hope this is helpful to someone out there.