Back to it!
Ahhh Iain, I did reply to your last post but it seems that I didn't! I remember asking how do you adjust the castor on these things..
Sooooooooooooooo, I'm now a dad, woohoo, after not doing anything to the cars for something like 5 or 6 weeks, I finally gave myself a few hours to solve an issue that has been spoiling the GTS experience and keeping me up at night!
I'm slightly hungover after a very late night session so hopefully this mass of words makes sense..
I had been getting a 'chassis system faulty' and 'chassis system wanring' message on the dash for a little while, took a number of steps to try and resolve it, pretty blindly really as I was limited on the info I was getting from diagnostics. I had planned to visit Precision Porsche to see Iain and he has shared his wealth of knowledge and interest in the topic but I just had some things I wanted to try out before taking up his time.
I had already pulled off the pressure sensors and solenoids from the rear valve body, changed the reservoir and filled back up with fresh fluid..
Sadly the problem remained..
Pretty vague codes but they did point to the rear valve body, which in essence,is a simple thing, 2 solenoids and 2 pressure sensors, that's it!
So, during my paternity time off, spending some time researching the PDCC system, I found that BMW's have a similar system named Dynamic Drive, a quick google in to this, found a few threads but nothing of much interest until I discovered a guy who had stripped a valve body down, upon seeing the pictures, I noticed that the solenoids were similar, a bit more investigation found that the BMW valve bodies were pennies on ebay, so I bought one to pretty much dismantle and explore..£30 overnight part from Poland.. Compared to Porsche valve bodies starting at £350!
So, BMW unit pulled apart and investigated, this one is slightly more complex than the rear Porsche version, having 2 more solenoids and an extra sensor which may detect temperature...
Solenoid opened up
Having all of these spares, gave me the chance to test what voltage powered the solenoids, I started with 5v and that was enough, so I could now use 5v to test my Porsche ones without fear of blowing them up.
On to the real exercise now, I sucked the CHF11s fluid out of the reservoir and pulled the solenoids off, 5v to each and annoyingly, they both worked, I was hoping to find one was dead. Poked around, pulled a small machined shaft thing out, that was clean and at this point, I thought FFS, what else can I do, so I set about refitting everything, I decided to fit the BMW solenoid in place of one of mine, it looked in better condition.
Fluid refilled, bled to some degree and time to test.
Holyyyyy fcku!! To my utter amazement, I didn't get the warning once I hit 4mph, I didn't get the warning after doing 5 miles! I bloody fixed it!!
I just parked the car up and felt content but slightly scared that as soon as I go out in it again, attack a corner, the warning will return.. I sent an excited message to Iain (Demort) letting him know the great news as he has been with me on this every step, we hoped to find a resolution to this error as it is something he is seeing more and more and no doubt, the older these systems get, the more this will occur.
Well, I have now done approx 40 miles, hard cornering, sport mode and the system is working as it should, I am no longer holding myself up when cornering, wow! I couldn't be happier. Big bill and lots of hassle avoided.
:thumb:
Hopefully this will help others, don't be scared of PDCC, it really is simple and if something goes wrong, it can be broken down to a small part being at fault which CAN be replaced.
So, that's THAT episode dealt with. Onto more fun stuff.
Last issue that I will address is a loose sounding knock from up front, louder in comfort mode but barely audible in sport mode, I have new upper and lower wishbones so I am wondering if it is the subframe mounts or ARB mount. Everything seems solid so I'll need to poke around on that, it is pretty minor but something I'll get around to.
So yesterday, I thought I'd fit some new matching rear tyres, the previous owner had some unknown brand tyres on the back which were cracking fast, I noticed some deforming too, I had planned to wait until I had some time to have the car off the road to have the wheels refurbed and then fit the tyres but with the car in use daily on baby duties, that's going to have to wait until we go on holiday or something, so new tyres fitted, the car is now making me very happy
I go to this local place called A&K tyres, they're a great bunch and take all the care in the world, I take all my cars here and so do many mates. They know to lock the suspension and correctly torque the wheels to the manufacturers spec, not just a random it'll do number.
A 2016 stamped tyre with just under 6mm in the middle, never buy cheapos!
Replacing these have totally erradicated some weird hoping feeling I was getting at 33mph too.
Thanks again Iain, you are truely a great asset to us all here and I REALLY need to come and buy you a pint or 10!
:grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: :worship: :worship: :worship: :worship: