I'm going to put new struts in my 94STS at some point in the near future. I hate the service message, I want it GONE! Who has had total success with switching to passive struts? It looks like there's several companies selling kits, boston, arnott, strutmasters. I also see that Monroe addresses the issue in an appendix to their catalog, but it's not clear if they address getting rid of the service ride message. I see that "Maydog" posted how to quash the message, has anyone bought the Monroe (or other brand) struts and fixed the message as well. It seems like it would be a lot cheaper. Also, I got to Action Auto Salvage, selling "rebuilt" struts, as well as Suncore, selling air ride kits.

I'll sum my question up here- Which route is the best? I don't mind spending the 500-600 or a little more for the kits. I have a mechanic who will install them, but I don't know how well the improvised electronics will go over for him. If you recommend one method, what is involved regarding the electronics?

Thanks in advance for everyone's help!!!!!!

Try searching the forums for other posts on this subject. I know I have seen them. As for the electronics, I understood from other posts that the passive replacements have a connector that fits the wires from the computer and they will send back the correct "nothing is wrong" input to the PCM, eliminating the error message.

I replaced the front struts on my 92ETC with Monroe, using a loaner spring compressor from Autozone, for less than $150. I called Monroe customer service and they faxed me the directions to reprogram the ride computer. I don't know about any plugs to terminate the wiring harness. Monroe simply says tywrap the harness out of the way.
It worked for me and a lot easier on the wallet.

I put a set of Arnott Industries struts on my 96 STS over the summer and I've no problem with the SERVICE RIDE CONTROL message. The rear set went in fairly straight forward - the only modification I had to make was to bend the lip around the upper mount outward a little for clearance. The front set went in fairly easy, but they did not have the proper socket on the them to mate with the sway bar links - I had to make my own tapered socket and weld it in place.

Good Luck!

Well that is 2 for 2, but I am have the same problem as you see from my earlier posts. I am taking mine in on Fri. to have the fronts replaced. I got kinda lucky. The dealer is paying 1/2 fro the factory struts, so I am looking at around 800 bucks (if you consider that to be lucky). I bought the car used under the old 50/50 warranty.

Anyway, in doing previous research (reading a lot of posts) to avoid the $1600 job, I found a lot more problems with the computer than I did not. It made me real leary. That message would drive me insane. Maybe they have refined it more since the threads were posted, but even with the wiring harnesses and reprogramming I saw more problems with them than I saw satisfied customers.

The only thing that I am real bothered by is that mine only has 56K on it and the struts are shot, so how long will these last this time....who knows.

It is really a toss up (just what you want to hear right). If you are obsessive/ compulsive like me, then spend the money to avoid the light. If not, I'd say take the chance. I just didn't want to spend 600$ and be under my hood for 2 more months, but my situation is a little different. I am getting some of it paid for, whereas you are looking at around 12-16 hunderd bucks for factory struts.

Like the previous post said, if you read the previous posts, you'll see what I mean. there are no real cut and dry answers, just a lotof guys with "service ride control" messages and great riding cars. The ride must be due to the weight of the extra cash in their wallets :bouncy:

Whoa!!!!

I did my 91 Seville all four wheels for $40 each wheel on a Saturday. I spent the whole day on it but that was also time used monkeying around with other things too. It is about a four or five hour job start to finish if you take your time like I did. Sure you can do it faster, but I was in no hurry.

I used the Monroe passive struts front and rear and also cleared the computer according to their instructions. No more service ride control messages. You can get the correct replacement numbers from the Monroe site then shop around for the best price. I bought the fronts on eBay and the rears locally.

Whoa!!!!

I did my 91 Seville all four wheels for $40 each wheel on a Saturday. I spent the whole day on it but that was also time used monkeying around with other things too. It is about a four or five hour job start to finish if you take your time like I did. Sure you can do it faster, but I was in no hurry.

I used the Monroe passive struts front and rear and also cleared the computer according to their instructions. No more service ride control messages. You can get the correct replacement numbers from the Monroe site then shop around for the best price. I bought the fronts on eBay and the rears locally.

you changed your air struts to non air on your seville right? WTF when i called Monroe to see if they had non air strut replacements for my 90 deville they said they don't make replacement to non-air struts. if you can post your part numbers i want to see what they gave you for struts.

Went to Monroe's web site to find if they listed replacement struts
for my 96 Eldorado, heres what I found

http://www.monroe.com/pdf/ElectronicToStandardShockStrutConversionInstructio ns.pdf

You should be able to go into the cluster diagnosis mode and clear the code there and prevent it from flashing on. I can explain how to do it if someone else doesn't offer the info up.

Why don't you just clear the code now and keep driving it with the existing shocks? Or, get a used one to replace your "bad" one. For the heck of it, I would tap the top rod of the problem strut/s with a hammer to see if it is possible to "free" up a stuck solonoid. Probably won't work, but you never know. You can remove the wire off the top of ea. strut and do an ohm check and pinpoint which strut is your problem strut. There are three pins inside the strut. I don't remember the ohm levels off the top of my head, but I suppose I can look them up if someone else doen't know. FWIW, I've been driving on a "shot" strut on my Seville for thousands of miles. Just doesn't switch modes, otherwise works great. That mode-switching scheme was really poorly designed anyway in my opinion.

BTW, I've put Monroe struts on my Deville. For a Seville, I would probably go with their middle line or premium strut for better performance/handling, etc that you want from a Seville. But the base Monroes are a great ride for my DeVille.

Mark G

The last four or five days, the "service ride control" meesage has NOT been coming up, at all. I like Mark G's ideas to find the bad strut, hit it w/ the hammer, etc. They are getting worse, so sooner or later, I will get new ones. It's just wrong having this nice car, driving great until you go over a bump, if I hit the right one, I'll rebound 2 or 3 times. I'm pretty sure I can take care of the message one way or another, now I'm really wondering which method people like best for the ride, as well as which one looks to be the best quality, etc. Thanks!

it would be nice to get those part numbers

I would go with Boston Suspension, I have had very good luck with the 2 kits I bought from them. www.Cadillacstruts.com

TOM

So is the consensus here that the Monroe struts do fix the problem? I've read about a million responses to the "service ride control" problem and the solution always seems to change from one reply to the next. Maybe there is somewhere with a list of solutions that work 100%. And where would one go to get instructions to clear that code? I was under the impression that it couldn't until the problem was fixed.

I put the boston system on my 94 sls and the boston system did not suppress the src message. I can not speak about other cars. After messing with message for about 6 months and talking to Dennis at boston which was absolutely useless. My mechanic fixed the src messge. In talking and emailing boston I learned that I might just as well have talked to my dog. I wouldn't buy a lug nut from boston. This is just my opinion. When boston sold me the system they did not say that it might not work on my 94 car. Dennis said it would work. This is deceptive in my opinion. i know toofit is very pleased with boston. To each his own.

Hi Goodyear:

How do you like the ride from the parts you bought from boston? Did you get the luxury kit or the regular susp kit from them. I am sorry you did not have good luck with the src message. I couldn't be happier with my kits.

TOM

Hi Tom

If you look at my posts you will see that I am not goodyear. I know you have bought 2 kits from boston and am glad for you.

Sorry, If I spelled your name wrong Goodyr I did not mean to upset you I simply was asking questions. This is a forum right, isn't this a place to ask questions? Nice attitude you have. I'll tell ya...Some people... I will never ask you a question again, OK Mr. attitude.


TOM

Good to hear that there are methods of fixing the dreaded "Service Ride Control" message... I have yet to own a newer Cadillac, but I've heard various things about that particular message.

Tom-
Not to butt in or anything, but...
I'm sure Goodyr didn't mean to offend you, he was simply stating the facts. If a new member searched the forums for posts made by "Goodyear", they'd most likely be finding posts made by someone else, or they wouldn't find any posts at all.

Hi Tom,

You did not upset me. If you believe I have an attitude so be it. If you don’t want to ask me any questions that’s fine. You usually don’t ask questions anyway because you are to busy being a cheerleader for Boston. I just corrected you on my name and if that bothered you so be it.

Wow, this thread I started is really starting to heat up! Hopefully we can all "just get along". Anyway, I'd like to ask Goodyr about his Boston Suspension experience. You said that the "service ride control" message wasn't defeated by the Boston "resistor" (or whatever that thing is!). This is why I started this thread, I'm puzzled that several people say they still had the dreaded message after installing kits, it seems from all of the various strut suppliers. (I'm not doubting what you are saying!) Yet, the strut kit suppliers all seem to say that they take care of the problem! In fact here is exactly what Boston says on their website:

I was told from another company that sell Cadillac suspension kits without the electronics, that the electronics in your kit burn out after a while?

Not true, we have not had one failure with our electronic components ever. Other companies that sell Cadillac conversion kits have not done the reverse engineering into the electronic components and sell their Strut/Shock kits without them, leaving you with the SERVICE RIDE CONTROL message!!

I'm still confused by all of this! One last question for Goodyr- do you know what your mechanic did to suppress the message? If you could tell me that, then I guess I wouldn't really be worried about this whole issue, knowin I had a plan "B"! Thanks in advance for your help!:halo:

Hi,
I'm going to answer to the best of my ability. My boston system was checked and rechecked and the stupid light was still there. I have talked to and emailed Dennis about this. He was no help. He said the light was, "no big deal if the struts and shocks worked alright". My point being if he knew it did not work on some 94 cars he should have said so. Look on this forum for a post by krashed989 on 11-25-04. The name of the thread is:Just replaced with boston suspension, pics!!

I have a couple of posts in there telling how my guy did it. Below is one of the posts. I am still driving with no src light. Hope this helps you. I had a couple more post on the same thread.

Krashed989

I have been watching this thread pretty much lately. My car is a 94 sls 4.6. Before I start I want you to know that I am not an electronics guy. My mechanic fixed or suppressed the src in my car. I was there when he done some of it

He disconnected the resistors on all four corners. I know he was really reading about the src in the repair manual. He has quite a few caddy’s sitting around. He went out to an older caddy, it was not a n*. It could have been a 4100 or 4.5. He pulled the 2 injector coils and soldered 2 wires to each one. he bared the 2 ends of the wires and stuck them in into the plug where the struts used to plug in. At least I am pretty sure thats what he done. After driving the car a couple of days and no codes showed up for the 2 he done. He then did the rear ones the same way. He waterproofed them and wrapped them a water proof tape. So I have injector coils on all 4 corners of my car.

I wouldn’t know an injector if it bit me on the #ss. I can tell you I have not seen the src message on my car since then. I have driven over 200 miles and no message. I can only speak on my car. I do know if I had known this I would have just bought some good shocks and struts and suppressed the src this way. I would warn you this was done to a 1994 sls only. My car has suffered no ill effects. Sorry for the long post.

Hi Goodyr:

I am not a cheerleader for Boston, I happen to have 2 kits from them that work perfectly NO SRC message. I also want to say Boston has over 200 positive feedbacks on their web site from E bay & not even 1 negative feedback, you can't fake that. So there are the facts, so be it. There are a lot more people happy than not happy.

TOM

Hi Tom,
I know about the feedback on ebay. That was one of the reasons I purchased my kit from boston. After saying that I still think they suck. Do a search on this site and see what you come up with. By the way there is no space between the e and bay.
Regards

WOW Goodyr:

Those little things really bother you ha, maybe a shrink could help, or maybe a bullet would do a better job!!

ha ha

Just kidding

TOM

Thanks for the nice respnse Goodyr. That sounds like a fair amount of work, but if it works, it would be worth it. I always try to assume that people I "talk to" on sites like this, where it sort of becomes a little community, aren't exaggerating or lying, but it seems crazy to me that this guy Dennis at Boston would say that about the message being "no big deal"! I will take you at your word, so that really amazes me, that at a company which says it spent all of this time doing the "reverse-engineering" for their resistors, the main guy would then tell you its no big deal if it doesn't work. Well then, why did you do all of this work to "perfect" your resistors? This is probably 50% of my reason for buying from whoever I do choose, and why I'm taking all of this time to research it. What would REALLY p#ss me off would be thinking that if instead I had bought from Arnott, Strutmasters or whoever, I wouldn't have the damn message! Anyway, I think I'm going to start one more thread, also including some of these sites that offer rebuilt air struts and whatever other solutions they have. Maybe by the end of this, we will be much closer to finding one place that offers a great product which fills all of our needs!

P.S. Now we're talking about bullets! I hope you two don't live near each other!:tisk:

Obviously bobby you can't read, I said just kidding.

TOM

Hi Tom,

In my profession those little things do bother me. I am 66 years old and very careful. As far as your other remarks I’m going to disregard them. In some areas of our country the remark about the bullet would be called menacing. I have been both in front of and behind weapons and they are not a joking matter. I consider your remarks very childish and incredibly stupid. Everybody can have an opinion and that’s what makes this such a great we country to live in.

Yes, I can read and I can walk and chew gum at the same time. I can say that I agree completely with Goodyr's post right above mine. Yet, as someone who loves playing practical jokes on people, and has had a couple go sour, I understand that you are just kidding with your remarks. No hard feelings! Anyway, I'm finally getting close to buying some struts, which of course I will keep everyone informed of, so the next person has my input as well. We also learned that "Goodyr" is NOT "Goodyear", too! So, let's just remember this thread for that, as well as some great advice on struts!:halo:


Bob