So, my 16 has 120k miles on it and I decided it was time to replace shocks/struts. I live in the DC area, so there has been a little rust. I decided to take this opportunity to upgrade to Bilstein 5100s and use the snap ring .85" to level the rake. The rears went fine - unplug, 17mm at the top and the bolt at the top. I felt confident enough to do the struts up front knowing it was a much bigger job. I removed the wheel, loosened the KDSS sway bar, but the 4mm short throw allen bolts were not moving after 120k of rust (even after a few days of penetrating oil leading up to this job). Since I was going with the Bilsteins, I got a bit aggressive with them and had to pry them off to get to the nut below (to then be able to loosen the struts and proceed. Anyway, fast forward to getting the springs compressed and rebuilding the strut tower with the new 5100s, and fighting with the KDSS for a while, but finally reassembled and off to get aligned. I ended up with BSM codes and Headlight codes. The technician said I should have left the actuators on the vehicle. The codes wouldn't stay cleared, so I went ahead and bought 2 new oem actuator hoping to clear the codes and return to mostly normal life with an actuator system that would never be the wiser. Unfortunately, that's not how it worked out and I still have the codes. I tried clearing them with my bluedriver, but they persist.
This is where I'm looking for insight/help. Any thoughts on how to get out of this dashboard light up mess?
@ASE @Acrad

Fronts: Rears: Actuators https://www.ebay.com/itm/181498892008

 

What specific codes did you get? Usually disconnected actuators don't generate any lights on the dash..just codes behind the scenes

It could be your rear height sensors

 

You're right, I DO have the C1733 and C1734 codes - any idea how to make those go away?
Looks like the root cause of the Blind Spot Monitoring and Headlight Leveling codes is a vehicle speed sensor. I'm guessing I knocked it when I was working on it. Back to work I guess!
Codes are C1A45 and B2415

 

I wonder... even though plugged in if the actuators can detect they are not connected to shock? There is an initialization procedure when the suspension ECU is swapped...I know you didn't do that here but just thinking out loud. If it just codes not seen anywhere but on a OBD reader after you get the speed sensor issue addressed you may not want to worry about it.

It's a defeated system at this point.

 

The thing that I was wondering - and why I did the bat signal, does the control board in the center console have any responsibility to manage anything other than the signal sent to the actuator? I don't know what a non Luxury does differently (different ECU?) I would imagine the actual differences are negligible to the overall truck.

I saved the old shocks for the clips in case I needed to make a jumper to plug in there to kill a code. I just don't know what the pinout would be.

 

While I’ve seen some leverage a resistor to address compressor absence I don’t recall known resistor setup for AVS actuator removal

More AVS info… I’ll have to track down wiring diagrams…I don’t think in this thread
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gx-...l#post10508345

Compressor removal example
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gx-...l#post11202694

 

Regarding the 5100's in the rear, are you planning on doing a lift in the future? 5100's are for lifted applications, and 4600's are the same shock for stock height applications.

 

theres also a logic to check the height sensors output to make sure they are operating correctly. If i remember correctly there is a check time and reset time, like some displayed codes. if you add sensors back, you should just reattach them then follow the calibration procedure. then your lights will auto height adjust like before.

Here is one of the indications that a height sensor has failed the timed checks

 

Maybe I need to step back for clarification

- RAHC (bags) still appear to be intact from your pictures?
- Are rear height sensors still installed?
- AVS is disconnected on all 4s but actuators are still plugged in?

 

I just did this as well and I just unplugged the shocks and kept the air springs (but went with longer Airbagman bags) and had nothing pop up. Maybe you damaged the wires on the plugs still on the car and its grounding out or something?

 

there are 2 sets of wires on each side. one set to the shocks for viscosity and one set to the height sensors for leveling. Four connectors total.

 

Yes bags are still in tact and in place.
Rear height sensors are still installed
All 4 actuators are in place. I moved the front 2 into the engine bay and secured them there.

 

Am I hurting anything by using the 5100s? I only wanted to do a first snap ring on the 5100 fronts to minimize the rake.

 

What did you do for the brackets and actuators? I now believe my front right vehicle speed sensor might be the culprit here so I am going to replace it.