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newbie looking at a 1996 seville sls

783 Views 4 Replies 2 Participants Last post by  ljmace1953
It belongs to a friend of mines dad. It is in pretty good shape,runs nice int/ext is excellent. There seem to be 2 probs.
1st it shows a ses light and the the center shows a service emmision
2nd the struts are shot. I've looked at aftermarket struts that dummy out the signal and make it a passive system. There are 2 companys that make these ,but I don't have the names.
Has anyone tried these out on thier caddy??
thanks
ljmace1953
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Those "electronics" they sell to dummy out the signal on all of the N* caddies from 93 to 96 do NOT work. There are two other ways to get rid of the codes and the SRC (Service Ride Control) message that you would get from changing to passives. One involves going into diagnostics mode and changing IPC settings so that it doesn't know there is RSS <- I don't like that one because there may be no way to go back.

My way involves taking the dampering valves off the old OEM shocks and struts and reusing them. They simply uscrew from the side of the shocks and struts.

As for the SES (Service Engine Soon) light and the Service Emissions System thing comming up on the dash, you need to check the codes to find out what they mean. You need to press the "OFF" button and the passenger warmer button (red) at the same time for about 5 seconds (key in the "ON" position). Everything will light up when it goes into diagnostics mode, then it will start showing you the codes. You might want to have a pen and some paper ready before you do this so you can write the codes down. When it gets to "PCM?" you can turn the key off to exit diagnostics mode. Then just post the codes up here and someone will tell you what they mean.

Places to look for passive suspension systems include (but are not limited to) monroe, arnott, boston suspension, and strutmasters.

One more thing :welcome: :wave:
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Nope, no speacial tools needed. Just a large adjustable wrench. There are two flat edges on the perimeter of the dampering valve that you can use to unscrew them. You would put the old valves in plastic baggies and tie them off in out of the way places. Expect hydrolic fluid to be leaking out of the old shocks and struts after you take the dampering valves off, put the old shocks and struts in a garbage bag and a cardboard box because the fluid will stain. The smell of the fluid is harder to get out than the stain though (I know from experience).
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