[growe3]

I just finished my rear shocks with Arnott passive replacements.

I regularly visit several Cadillac forums and have my latest experiences to share posted at the link below.

http://caddyinfo.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=993


There is also a photo story I put together to try and explain how I did it.

http://www.caddyinfo.com/howto/shockreplacement.htm

Hope they will be helpful to anyone interested in doing this repair.


My Eibach Pro springs and front struts go in soon.

-George

 

[JJhomer83]

thanks for the info that is a very good post you put up there

 

[95STS]

Very nice presentation!

I'm a little curious, since you mentioned that the fronts are
not instaled yet, are you sure they put a resistor in there and
not a solenoid?
Can you measure the resistance with an ohmeter?
I'm curious as to what value is supposed to be.
Thanks!

 

[growe3]

Thanks for the compliment on the slide show.

Electricity isn't my strong point, but when I used an ohm meter at the two prongs in the connector clip I get 0 resistance. It may be that I need to try a different resistance mulitplier value to get a correct reading.

The electric cable has a tag that says 2 Ohm on it, don't know what that means.

I don't know why they would put a solenoid when there isn't any electric valving to control in the strut.

-George

Very nice presentation!

I'm a little curious, since you mentioned that the fronts are
not instaled yet, are you sure they put a resistor in there and
not a solenoid?
Can you measure the resistance with an ohmeter?
I'm curious as to what value is supposed to be.
Thanks!

 

[95STS]

Well, a solenoid would mimic the operation of a factory strut.
A resistor would produce a lot of heat. You can burn your fingers
on a resistor if the heat is not properly dissipated. I have
Kindof scares me to think about the potential fire hazard of
that approach if it is not properly heatsinked.
I am still studying both approaches but have not found (nor have
I looked hard enough) an aftermarket solenoid that is electrically
similar to the one on the factory strut. Need to do further research
on this, hence my question regarding the resistance.
Check the old struts from the rear that you removed.
They should be about 3 to 4 ohms (or thereabouts).
If you can get a measurement on the old ones, then you should
have the correct range to measure the new ones.
Thanks for checking!

 

[95STS]

Regarding my previous post, I was writing from memory and got
ohms incorrect. I reread the service manual that I have and
noticed that the RSS system struts have 2 to 3 ohms resistance
and the CVRSS system struts have 12 to 13 ohm struts.
I'm not sure what the earlier systems had. Was it SSS?
If so, what did the manual say about the strut resistance?

 

[Playdrv4me]

Excellent Information...

Regarding one point... You mention to keep the air connectors clean, and it seems unless I was looking at it wrong that you reconnected the air line back to the PASSIVE shock. I was under the impression that passive shocks were completely independent from the air system and electronics (though I can see how the passive electrical connection is useful in terms of the computer) so how does the new shock utilize the air, and if it DOES still use the air line, then what is it electrionically that makes an ACTIVE shock active?

In other words, to me a passive strut system would be one that had no dependence on the vehicles other systems whatsoever, but I am guessing I was wrong on that.

 

[growe3]

The shocks are passive in the sense that they do not have an internal electrically controlled valve mechanism.

Original Shocks and Struts

Electrical Control

The original shocks/struts were connected to the cars computer and would allow three settings based on the vehicle speed, accelerating, decelerating, lateral movement; and roughness of the road, which was being sensed at a rate of 1/1000 of a second, was also part of the equation.



Air Leveling Control

The OEM shocks also have an air bag built in to control ride height. If the car sits lower then the sensors think it should, the ALC kicks in too maintain a level ride; for those heavy suitcases in the trunk on the way to the airport and/or our portly friends and relatives in the back seat.



Arnott Shocks/Struts

The Arnott shocks have a more traditional internal valve mechanism to control the damping effect. The electrical connection shown is a special resistance connection to fool the computer into believing the electrical solenoid is still in the circuit, otherwise the computer would think that you had a shock failure and you would get error messages on your instrument panel.

They also have an air system built into their shock like the OEM's, thus your ALC is maintained.


The struts do not have ALC on either system.

-George

Excellent Information...

Regarding one point... You mention to keep the air connectors clean, and it seems unless I was looking at it wrong that you reconnected the air line back to the PASSIVE shock. I was under the impression that passive shocks were completely independent from the air system and electronics (though I can see how the passive electrical connection is useful in terms of the computer) so how does the new shock utilize the air, and if it DOES still use the air line, then what is it electrionically that makes an ACTIVE shock active?

In other words, to me a passive strut system would be one that had no dependence on the vehicles other systems whatsoever, but I am guessing I was wrong on that.

 

[DaveSmed]

The orig. active struts had solenoids built into the piston. The solenoid selected one of two (or maybe three) orfice sizes to modify the dampening of the strut.