2001 Jaguar XKR Convertible: 90,000 miles on the body. 16,000 miles on the rebuilt engine. I've been constantly restoring it since 2013
I just replaced the front shocks with a used pair. One of the originals was leaking and I replaced the urethane upper shock mounts with FCP Euro pieces. Remarkably, the urethane had turned to a sticky runny black goo. I'll Never use those again.
When I reconnected the battery and started the engine after everything was back together the instrument panel message showed :"SUSPENSION FAULT"
I had damaged the ABS sensor wire in the process of removing the coil overs, so I now have an ABS and TRAC unavailable message too. A new wire is on the way.
The wires to the shocks are properly seated. The battery was disconnected for the entire repair process. The replacement shocks were tested for correct resistance values before installation. There was never a SUSPENSION FAULT with the original shocks. My Autel scan tool doesn't show any suspension codes. I performed that silly "hard reset" with the battery cables, to no avail.
Short of the furious application of a big hammer, does anyone know of a procedure for clearing that pesky SUSPENSION FAULT message?

Complete

Rebuilt Coil Overs

Leaker and runny urethane

Urethane Goo

XKR

4.1 L

 

I can only comment regarding the goo in relation to top mounts.
l suspect you had an example of the bad batch of welsh mounts, something went wrong with the formulation along the way which led to many failures and, l believe, the reason they were withdrawn from sale.
Quality Polyurethane mount components have been tried and tested for some years now and will generally far outlive the "marshmellow" of the commonly available aftermarket mounts.

 

"Suspension fault" isn't a fault that goes away by clearing the codes, or a hard reset, it only goes away when you have fixed the fault. You probably damaged one of the cables to the shocks when replacing them, or the connectors aren't plugged in properly. Disconnect each front shock in turn and measure the voltage at the connector - it should be 0V stationary and 6V when moving over 5mph.

Try that first before moving on to other tests.

 

Thank you for your help. The connectors are clean and properly seated. I will check the voltage readings.

 

If you disconnected the battery while fixing the struts, you may have touch the wires or connector at the suspension control module when you put the battery lid back in place. I have done that a couple of times

 

I love the colour of the cam shaft covers!
Wht type of paint did you use please?

 

Thank you!
I used Dupli Color Ceramic Engine Paint - Primer, Color and Clear Coat. The Color is Ford Red
It is easy to use, covers well and does well with wet sanding.

 

The mystery has been solved!

When we reassembled the coil-over shock assemblies the top nuts were torqued to specs. Shocks checked out ok electrically. Everything appeared to be perfect.
The car's battery was disconnected for the repair process.
Upon startup "Suspension Fault" appeared in the IP display.
ICar Soft diagnostic tool revealed fault at both front shocks.
A pair of shocks known to be good were connected for test purposes and the fault went away.
Re-checking everything revealed that the top shock nut on the right shock had become loose and consequently the connector was not making contact with the pins in the shock shaft.
Tightening the nut allowed the connector to slide into place and the fault was cleared.

Conclusions:
When the weight of the car was put onto the coil-over assembly it seems that the shock shaft went into place where it was supposed to be. This left a gap between the top of the shock shaft and the internal stop point on the nut.
Check the top nuts when you reinstall the coil-overs.
My friend and I used his large wall mounted spring compressor tool to install the new upper shock mounts on the coil-over assembly. Why one side came out ok and the other didn't remains a mystery.
Be aware that ICar Soft shows a fault in both front shocks when only one is out of the circuit.
We took this opportunity to use the ICar Soft to clear 25 years of irrelevant, ancient and silly codes from the car's computer. Now it is unburdened by what has been! Maybe it will go faster.
Happy Motoring!

 

This reinforces the need to take that extra step of honing the bore of the top mount "shock washer" within the top mount as has been mentioned before by myself and Wayne (CJD777) when ever the front dampers are mounted. Have had many top mounts with very tight fit, can cause the issue you describe but also can be a real bear on disassembly. Only needs something as simple as running a suitably sized drill bit through the washer.

 

Thank you.
I wasn't aware of that.