Hydractive 'sport' Light

Without driving a car but running it and switching it into sport, is there any way of knowing whether it engages sport mode if the light doesn't illuminate, conversely if it was stuck in sport would the light remain lit irrespective.

What's the chances of it being a blown bulb.?

This post has been edited by Dieselman on February 15, 2009 11:27 pm

With my limited knowledge:

On a S2 car it switches between sport when you drive, so with the car still i wouldnt think there is a way to tell if its in or not.

If it was stuck in sports mode, thats likely to be a problem with the ECU diodes, but it would not leave on the sport light.

Chris

On a S2 car with the engine stopped the car should automatically go into sport mode 30 seconds after closing the last door, you should hear the whine stop followed by a sharp click as the electrovalves close of the centre sphere. So if after turning off the engine and closing the last door 'bump' one end of the car up and down, it should be relatively easy to get a couple of inches movement then following the click from the electrovalves it should become very difficult to 'bump' the car at all. If you now open a door you should hear a click and the whine of the electrovalves connecting the hydractive spheres to the suspension circuit and once again the car should be in normal (soft) mode. If there's a fault on the electrical side of things the ECU will lock the car in sport mode.

Steve.

Thanks. The issue is that the sport light can't be illuminated and the suspension is solid either running or not.
I believe the spheres are shot but are only 3 years old and were new ones, not regassed, though the origin is unknown.

I can't hear the valves operate, but that doesn't mean they're not.

This post has been edited by Dieselman on February 16, 2009 06:34 pm

I would be checking that power is getting to the Suspension ecu, seems like every thing is dead. Try the fuses first, some kind soul will have the MK2 fuse numbers for you to check, it is a MK2 isnt it?

D

Yes, it's a Series2.

I have been tempted a couple of times to put a led light on the dash fed from the electrovalve feed wire so I know when they are being activated.

Main fusebox in front of passenger's legs, fuse number 34 supplies the hydractive suspension. It also supplies central locking so if that's working it can't be that.

Derek

As already suggested, check the fuses, but you may have to look at more than one.

When I got my S2, the alarm and deadlocks weren't working, though the central locking was (car would lock with remote but wouldn't deadlock, alarm, or flash indicators for lock activity), just to throw in another bit of confusion to Derek's suggestion there.

However upon investigating the list of fuses in the manual, I found there were three which are meant to supply the hydractive ECU. I replaced the alarm and deadlocking fuse, and lo and behold the suspension buzzed into life.

As Dean stated, the most likely cause of totally unresponsive suspension is that the ECU isn't getting any power supply at all. If its not the fuses then you may find that you have some kind of wiring or connection problem somewhere, but the fuses as the most likely suspect....

Ciarán

Thanks for the info. The locking does work off the key but not from the remote..or at least I was told it's unreliable/not working.

Sorry to keep asking Q's, but this could be a project car, but need to be able to ascertain problems and costs first.

Hi Ciarán,

Would this also apply to the Series 1 cars? At all times mine feels like I'm driving a Golf or similar - all very unappealing

In a word yes, though I have only ever experienced it on an S2.

Its very possible for S1 to get diode failure, and in fact arguably more likely, because they're older.

Does your hydractive light come on if you put the switch into sport?

Do you hear the click and buzz of the electrovalves when you open the doors, with the car sitting idle?

Ciarán

The sport message comes up so I assume the switch works, but, to date, I've heard nothing from the valves upon opening the doors. Mind - we are in quite a noisy part of town - just how loud / quiet are they?

Thanks again.

This post has been edited by mouseflakes on February 19, 2009 01:33 am

Hi all,here is the schematic from the cit tech manual for the hydro-active switch.

Ah, so the switch directly feeds to the light using power supplied from connector B14. Thanks..