Selective Ride Control

[secondchance]

Now that I have sorted out the motor now I have started sorting out SRC.
My light had come on a few months back and removing front actuators (removing and reinstalling took care of the dreaded light 2-3 times before), I noticed driver side gear had broken.

Then a few days ago I saw a gear and tool being sold on ebay and orded a set. The gear arrived today so I decided to replace the broken gear and see if that would sove the issue.

While installing the gear I noticed metal cup being loose as a result of retaining nut not being fastened all the way. FSM calls for 31 lb ft.

Recently every time I went over a speed bump I was hearing what sounded like a cowboy spur clanking and had thought it was the front caliper - wrong!
Evidently my left front retaining nut was so loose top of the shock absorber was moving around resulting in clanking noise.

I am sure these shocks were installed correctly and my assumption is, over time, perhaps with rubber bushing (gromet) flattening caused nut to loose original torque. Theoretically this allows shock shaft w/ gear and shock actuator/cup to skew relative to each other resulting in binding, throwing code, and in extreme case, as my left front, cause plastic gear to break (also damage planetary gear inside theactuator). At least this is my theory.

As for rear, based on exploded view in FSM, loose mounting bolt may cause strange noise but acuator will move with cup and shock shaft.

Of course, there certainly will be other causes for failure but, at least in my case, I and quite sure clanking noise and broken gear was a direct result of loose retainting bolt.

By the way, passenger side was not as loose but cup could be moved with hand and the retaing bolt had to be torqued down.

If you can grab the steel cup and wobble it with hand, I suggest that you pull the actuator and torque down the retaining nut (hold the shock tube w/ left hand while tightening the nut).

I thought some of you may find this helpful.

P.S. Removing and replacing the gear for front shock was not technically challenging but took a digital dexterity of micro surgery, especially inserting the pin into the gear and shaft.