MagnaRide Z95 fixed 2011 Escalade - gratitude thx

[newtonian]

Summary: my advice - Buy once cry once - save months and dollars and buy real OEM.

Grateful for the community. Doubtful Id have the semi-confidence to keep trying stuff without you folks postings. Still saved lots of coin below what the dealer wanted to do the entire suspension. And Im smarter now.

Ive apparently been in a parallel universe almost exactly on some others timeline. I have to add my +1 for MRKEV member experience and others and will add my SHORT saga version of similar findings to https://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/thr...g-front-magneride-z95-suspension-info.153102/

Hopefully others avoid my errors.

130k miles on my mothers 2011 escalade Premium w Z95 Magnaride which I inherited about 5000 miles prior. New 22" michelins almost immediately. Then Front shock locked up and rear not smooth. Compressor not consistent. Dealer said it’d cost about 5k to replace the shocks all four corners plus whatever else they find. // I left.. because I can do this myself.. I have put shocks on before and they didn’t cost $1000 each ! dangit. Im not giving up the fine ride by putting on passive shocks I am reading about. I can fix this.

So I bought the TRQ kit from partsgeek with front/springs /rear, plus compressor. Seemed like a better value. Wanted to avoid the fakes I read about here and on other forums. // So I put 10k miles on the two inch higher stiff springs and they NEVER settled as TRQ indicated should happen. I got air over tiny speed bumps. Slightly maybe somewhat better than the blown out shocks i replaced. Rode like a offroad 4WD while I waited. Unsafe at any speed in the heavy rain - terrible hydroplaning.

Bought the $500ish AUTEL 900 series scanner and did a bump stop calibration. Active Level recalibration not available - AUTEL said it is included in this function. AUTEL was very helpful by the way.

Got better but not much.

None of the shocks would respond to the actuator ON check but did for the OFF function. Message said "device limits exceeded" on all shocks. Assumed scanner was exceeded and not doing that test correctly; because surely all 4 weren't failed.

Right rear then threw a code that indicated actuator SHORT TO GROUND. Changed the plug end and it fixed it for a while then SHORT again.

Went to suspension shop for objective diagnosis because clearly i must be an idiot. They said all shocks seemed to be inactive or failed same as my diagnosis. Maybe the $$Susp module was bad but they'd need to test more to verify. I left.

Gave up and went to dealer again. They wouldn't work on it without OEM parts. (No surprise really.)

Prep for return to dealer therefore. ..Bought OEM at half price versus dealer from Rockauto and a badass $50 spring compressor from Amazon and put the OEM springs back on myself. High-beam headlights were now correct level again. No wonder people were flashing me all the time.!

PERFECT RIDE immediately after but then got even better after Bump Stop calibration on the AUTEL. !! (Probably had to recalibrate what I had calibrated with heavy springs before.) No dealer required.

Doubtful TRQ will give me any warranty but well see and will update. seems all shocks were either failed or were fake active ride. Cant believe I spent so many hours and wasted dollars.

Buy the OEM shocks from reputable shop and keep your OEM springs if you still want Active Ride.

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Welcome to the Forum from NH.

Lots of knowledgeable folks here who freely share their knowledge, experiences, and perspectives. Knowledge is power.

I hope that you will become a participating member in the Forum's discussions.

Pics of the truck, please.

I'm very pleased that you find this Forum helpful. I'm also glad that you found out, albeit the hard and expensive way, that the GM active suspension is pretty damn good afterall.

 

[SmileB44Death]

Summary: my advice - Buy once cry once - save months and dollars and buy real OEM.

Grateful for the community. Doubtful Id have the semi-confidence to keep trying stuff without you folks postings. Still saved lots of coin below what the dealer wanted to do the entire suspension. And Im smarter now.

Ive apparently been in a parallel universe almost exactly on some others timeline. I have to add my +1 for MRKEV member experience and others and will add my SHORT saga version of similar findings to https://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/thr...g-front-magneride-z95-suspension-info.153102/

Hopefully others avoid my errors.

130k miles on my mothers 2011 escalade Premium w Z95 Magnaride which I inherited about 5000 miles prior. New 22" michelins almost immediately. Then Front shock locked up and rear not smooth. Compressor not consistent. Dealer said it’d cost about 5k to replace the shocks all four corners plus whatever else they find. // I left.. because I can do this myself.. I have put shocks on before and they didn’t cost $1000 each ! dangit. Im not giving up the fine ride by putting on passive shocks I am reading about. I can fix this.

So I bought the TRQ kit from partsgeek with front/springs /rear, plus compressor. Seemed like a better value. Wanted to avoid the fakes I read about here and on other forums. // So I put 10k miles on the two inch higher stiff springs and they NEVER settled as TRQ indicated should happen. I got air over tiny speed bumps. Slightly maybe somewhat better than the blown out shocks i replaced. Rode like a offroad 4WD while I waited. Unsafe at any speed in the heavy rain - terrible hydroplaning.

Bought the $500ish AUTEL 900 series scanner and did a bump stop calibration. Active Level recalibration not available - AUTEL said it is included in this function. AUTEL was very helpful by the way.

Got better but not much.

None of the shocks would respond to the actuator ON check but did for the OFF function. Message said "device limits exceeded" on all shocks. Assumed scanner was exceeded and not doing that test correctly; because surely all 4 weren't failed.

Right rear then threw a code that indicated actuator SHORT TO GROUND. Changed the plug end and it fixed it for a while then SHORT again.

Went to suspension shop for objective diagnosis because clearly i must be an idiot. They said all shocks seemed to be inactive or failed same as my diagnosis. Maybe the $$Susp module was bad but they'd need to test more to verify. I left.

Gave up and went to dealer again. They wouldn't work on it without OEM parts. (No surprise really.)

Prep for return to dealer therefore. ..Bought OEM at half price versus dealer from Rockauto and a badass $50 spring compressor from Amazon and put the OEM springs back on myself. High-beam headlights were now correct level again. No wonder people were flashing me all the time.!

PERFECT RIDE immediately after but then got even better after Bump Stop calibration on the AUTEL. !! (Probably had to recalibrate what I had calibrated with heavy springs before.) No dealer required.

Doubtful TRQ will give me any warranty but well see and will update. seems all shocks were either failed or were fake active ride. Cant believe I spent so many hours and wasted dollars.

Buy the OEM shocks from reputable shop and keep your OEM springs if you still want Active Ride.

I saw so many issues with people not getting oem shocks so I decided to just get oem and now it rides so smooth. I need to get the rears done though or maybe a new compressor. How did you calibrated it? What’s the pros of getting it calibrated?

 

[West 1]

Nice work getting it working proper again. On my 2008 Denali the rear shocks and compressor were bad when I bought it. I installed a new AC Delco compressor but used the Arnot rebuilt shocks. So far they have worked well.

Note the old shocks are not the only part that fails. The air lines age also. When I installed the new compressor I did not replace the air lines. One failed a couple months later. I replaced that one. Another broke a couple months later. I bought the Dorman kit with all new lines. So far so good and I had a trailer with 1000 pound tongue weight on there last week. I thought that would blow the lines but it survived. Think about replacing the air lines. Not sure what this rear shock system is rated at for loads but I am thinking the 1,000 pound tongue weight was more than I should have done.

 

[Eighthtry]

1,000 lb tongue weight is not an indication of whether you were properly hitched for your load. I would assume you have the towing package. A little time spent on the towing forum will give you a better idea of where you need to be.

 

[petethepug]

Glad you worked through it. Save your receipt from R/A, those OEM struts are guaranteed for life. If the 22’s start leaking, it’s the chrome peeling off the inside of the OEM rims.

They can have the crud cleaned off the inside and Amazon has a rubber bead sealant that you can have the tire dude apply.

 

[the blur]

Please explain the recal thing. I did new front struts on my 2011 Escalade. I did Arnotts, but kept the factory OEM springs. Install went well. But the truck still rides harsh. Very harsh. No error codes, so I know the struts are communicating correctly. I downsized to 18" wheels. Slightly better, but still not a cush cush Cadillac ride. What exactly does this recalibration do? I don't mind spending the money on a scanner device. Especially after doing all the suspension work.

 

[j91z28d1]

I don't know if anyone 100% knows what the cal does. some people say it makes a difference, others report no difference. I haven't replaced my fronts, just the backs with oem. drove a bit before the cal and after. I noticed no difference. but you might.

the cal is in my China tech 2. I don't know what other scanners have it.