Stewart Posted July 4, 2007 Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 Hello to the forum, New guy here with what I am sure is a question that must have been asked many times here on the Cadillac forum. I hope not so much that all are tired of answering it. I have this kind of nice high mileage 96 SLS that has this awlful bounce in the front end on the smallest of bumps. A guy can get sea sick driving this car. It acts like it has little or no strut dampening. The only code set is the SO60, LF position sensor fault. My question is if this sensor is not working could it cause the struts to stop dampening? I can not find any information on what effect this position sensor has on the ride or what happens if it is not working but the information I can find says the struts will set to full firm if the RSS module finds a sensor is not working. Am I missing some thing here? It feels as if the struts have set to full soft. With the car standing, no power on, I can bounce the car and it seems to dampen just fine after bouncing it a couple of times. The first try seems as if the struts are not dampening. The car drives and handles well except for the bouncing. Seems to be dampening in the corners ( doesn't dive stays flat on mountain roads ), I see no sign that the struts are leaking and can hear what sounds like fluid being pushed past a piston when the struts are cycled. I had about 500lbs of lawn food in the trunk the other day and could not even tell when I was driving so the load levelers must be working. I'm confused. Thanks for any input on what must be a beat to death subject here on the forum. Nice to be here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarrenJ Posted July 4, 2007 Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 My question is if this sensor is not working could it cause the struts to stop dampening? No. Your struts are shot. You might want to check out Arnott Industries for after market replacements. Regards, Warren There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as the result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved. - Ludwig von Mises Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stewart Posted July 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 Thanks Warren, Has anyone used the struts that only have the action of a standard strut but also keep the RSS system from setting any codes? Any ideas if that type of strut would work well enough or must the factory type be used? I'm getting cheap in my old age and spending a grand on a second car with high mileage is hard to get past but if these non sensing struts would make the car handle in an unsafe way then there is no question. I am no specialist by any means but it would seem to me a car that is controlling the way the shocks are controlled on only one end may have handling problems. Since the car is driven on mountain roads and by my younger drivers in the family from tmie to time I do have concerns about handling. (I'm bad enough but I don't want to think about how the kids run that semi hot rod Cadi lol) Again thank you for the help, hope all are having a great 4th. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarrenJ Posted July 4, 2007 Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 I used the Boston Suspension replacements on my '95 Eldorado. They worked just fine. Several here have used the Boston Suspension or Arnott replacements. All were satisfied to one degree or another. I don't recall hearing any complaints. Regards, Warren There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as the result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved. - Ludwig von Mises Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regis Posted July 5, 2007 Report Share Posted July 5, 2007 The only code set is the SO60, LF position sensor fault. Take a pair of needle nosed pliers and remove the lower end of the left front sensor. Grab it by the socket (ball and socket joint) and carefully pull off. While the top of the sensor is still attached compress the sensor in and out (actually up and down) like an accordion, about 5 times, to free up any sticking. Before reattaching the sensor make sure to clean the ball end lightly with a small wire brush or sand paper. Then apply a very thin coat of synthetic or silicone grease to the ball. Reattach and then swivel the sensor side to side to free up any binding in that direction. Check codes again. "Burns" rubber " I've never considered myself to be all that conservative, but it seems the more liberal some people get the more conservative I become. " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stewart Posted July 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2007 Thanks for the tip Regis, Being the non-believer I am I tried another RSS module just so I was sure there was a problem. Same effect. Does anyone know if RSS stands for replace suspension soon? I agree that the sensor may just need cleaning but then again it could be bad since this car has so much travel in the front end. I've checked a few places and found replacement struts from 270 a pair for the front aftermarket models to 900 a pair for the factory models. One place had a full set of 4 aftermarket models for 500 and change. I don't know if it is worth this or not. By the time I add in the cost of the mounting kits @ another 140 -160 and the alignment no matter which way I go the cost is 500 or more. What kind of mileage can a guy expect out of one of these cars? Is it reasonable to think the car would last another 4 years or 40k? It has 165k now and runs very good. I use very little oil between changes, maybe a quart per 5000 miles. The trans was replaced with a brand new Delco for some reason @ around 80,000 and works perfect. I'm just a little gun shy about putting any money into a car with high mileage. Again thanks for the help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Wicz Posted July 11, 2007 Report Share Posted July 11, 2007 RSS = Road Sensing Suspension Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BodybyFisher Posted July 11, 2007 Report Share Posted July 11, 2007 Thanks for the tip Regis, Being the non-believer I am I tried another RSS module just so I was sure there was a problem. Same effect. Does anyone know if RSS stands for replace suspension soon? I agree that the sensor may just need cleaning but then again it could be bad since this car has so much travel in the front end. I've checked a few places and found replacement struts from 270 a pair for the front aftermarket models to 900 a pair for the factory models. One place had a full set of 4 aftermarket models for 500 and change. I don't know if it is worth this or not. By the time I add in the cost of the mounting kits @ another 140 -160 and the alignment no matter which way I go the cost is 500 or more. What kind of mileage can a guy expect out of one of these cars? Is it reasonable to think the car would last another 4 years or 40k? It has 165k now and runs very good. I use very little oil between changes, maybe a quart per 5000 miles. The trans was replaced with a brand new Delco for some reason @ around 80,000 and works perfect. I'm just a little gun shy about putting any money into a car with high mileage. Again thanks for the help. Your car is 12 model years old and you have high mileage. Struts are like shocks they need replacing every 50K to 60K miles, PERIOD. No need to make negative statements about RSS, its not funny nor is it solving your problem. Yes they are expensive to replace with OEM, find a passive solution, they work fine except its not easy to suppress the message on the 96 I replaced mine (96 Deville) with passive struts from Boston Suspension, they are now out of business. If I had a chance to do it over again, I would find passive Monroe replacements or use the Arnott struts. I removed the RSS actuators from my old struts and I am about to connect them to the system in an attempt to stop the Service Suspension message from coming up. One of my actuators was bad, and I was getting an RSS message when I took the OEM struts out, so I will need to replace one of the actuators with a scrap yard replacement actuator. I did not spend $800 each for struts when I had 75,000 miles, I thought that $3200 plus the cost of springs and strut mounts was TOO much even doing the job myself. So I spent $525 for Boston Struts and bought OEM springs and strut mounts from Cadillac. My car is amazing, but I think my RF strut is making noise over bumps and might replace it with a MONROE.. The other day I hit 100 and it was as if I was on glass, I have taken exit ramps at 75 and I can easily load the car with my family and luggage and it does not end up on the ground.. Here is a link to my front strut job: http://caddyinfo.ipbhost.com/index.php?sho...hl=front+struts Pre-1995 - DTC codes OBD1 >> 1996 and newer - DTC codes OBD2 >> https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/gm/obd_codes.htm How to check for codes Caddyinfo How To Technical Archive >> http://www.caddyinfo.com/wordpress/cadillac-how-to-faq/ Cadillac History & Specifications Year by Year http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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