Good day gents.
I changed all 4 air struts on my 2004 XJ8. I had stopped using the car around year 2000 due to front leaking struts and got the energy/time to change them around 2001, and overhauled the pump as a safety measure.
I found out that one of the rear ones is also leaking, but got too busy with other restorations till last month, whereby I replaced both rears with Arnotts as well.
The car levelled perfectly as described in this forum and has been maintaining the correct height.
I started driving the car after having had to replace two coils, all the spark plugs, oil change, water drainage and new antifreeze just to see how things are going, although still need to do some other servicings.
Having been sitting for practically 5 years, I was really very pleased with how it performed, as if never stopped it.
However, various faults started flashing on the dash occasionally such as faulty suspension, limited gearbox performance or faulty transmission or maybe even both, fuel gauge falls down to zero then picks up again, ABS, DSC (I think, the one that stabilizes the car) and not sure if any more came up. This was happening at different intervals whilst driving the car over a period of 3 to 4 days, but the faults will go away after a short while. Sometimes a friend helps me clear the faults with his limited performance scanner which does not access the actual fault codes but sort of clears them?
Anyway, for the past week the car has shown no more faults except "Faulty Suspension" yet it is always at the correct level, and whenever I switch the car off for a longish period of time or overnight, it clears itself for quite a while before showing up again.
Can anyone enlighten me as to why this keeps coming up yet the car is good and level?
Also as I am a keeper of any car I buy, and I really love this one, owning a good scanner should be the right decision to find out why this keeps coming up as well as any other faults that may appear in future, and as such wonder if anyone can advise me what to buy, and how professional a scanner I should go for?
Grateful for any suggestions.
Thanks

 

Check battery status. Try to put in fresh battery.

 

Thanks for your remarks, Yes I would agree about the battery at the first day or so as I hadn't run the car in 2-3 weeks, but I have been checking the voltage therafter which is well within norms.
For the past week or so since the multiple faults stopped appearing, I only get suspension fault although the level is perfect.
Anyway, after a stoppage of just over 5 years, I really want to go over as many of the connections and verify cleanliness and good earth.
However, I still need advise and suggestions as to which scanner I should buy, if anyone can advise.

 

Innova 5610, which I recently acquired, does a decent job scanning all the modules in my 2004 XJR. Moderately priced and very effective. I have other scanners that I use such as IDS/SDD 1.3.1 and Autel MaxiSys Ultra. The first one is hard to configure and use and the second one is stupid expensive.

 

Just because a battery shows 12 volts doesn't mean it can stand up to a load. From your description of various on again off again faults it sounds like the battery or bad ground. I would load test the battery first before chasing ghosts and demons throughout the wiring. Sorry, but I am not able to recommend any scanners for you.

 

Yes good idea, will do although I suspect battery will be ok since I only got the many faults a day after I started using the car.
The battery is supposedly good but cant remember if I pulled it from another or purchased it new, but hadn't been run for a month or so.
After that first run, I only get the suspension fault and none else, which I need to dig into.
But yes for sure, will load test it, u never know.

Thks again for chipping in
Cheers

 

Thank you Lagonia for your suggestions which I checked out.
Not much difference between the Innova and MaxiSys, just one zero lol.
Yes super expensive and in my case do not have much use for it except mainly for the XJ8 and a 2013 Genesis, and might prove handy for Hyundai Elantra 2017 and 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser
These are the only relatively modern cars that I have apart from a C7 Corvette which I would not want to mess with.
The rest of my cars are classics beyond the reach of a scanner.
I am new to using a scanner and only observed my mechanic using his, and in the case of the XJ8 at times his scanner cannot do the job, hence I am researching to be sure I get the right scanner that will carry good mileage with me.
Would you know if the Innova can check/adjust the height of the air struts? I didn't see it mentioned when I checked it out?
Thanks again for your appreciated input.
Cheers

 

Not with the Innova. IDS/SDS will be your only option.

 

Any of the basic scanners will let you read the ride heights, but you won't be able to set anything in the car, only read the data.