Wiring route for rear EDC shock
 

Hello all,

I am trying to test my EDC shock on my 2001 740iL. I have searched all thew US forums, looked through 1000 youtube videos, and search this forum. For the rears, i dont want to have to remove the seat and the speaker box to access the top of the shock. All i am trying to do is access the connector where the wire from the shock connects to (and unplugs from) so that i can manually test the shock while it is still in the car. Does anyone have any info or pictures on where this connector resides so that i can access it. Thasnks...

There are only two places where you can access the shock wiring.
Either underneath the rear window shelf where the shocks are plugged or directly at the ECU.
Do you wish to manually put power on the wires?

Yes - i plan to manually put power to the shock and to each individual valve. I understand that you can hear the valves opening and closing and this will let me know if the valves are at least working.

I may apply power at the EDC control module first, and then if a shock or valve does not respond i will need to put power at the connection to narrow it down to shock vs wiring.

My EDC light comes on but i dont notice a difference in the suspension so am pretty sure my shocks are not working. Later this week i am going to use INPA to check for codes on the 20-pin and then go from there.

If you send the shocks to be refurbished, of course the valves will be fixed if needed, so I don't really understand why your planned experiment makes sense.

You must be aware that the EDC system does not activate if there is any error.
The light on the button does not indicate if the system works properly, but only that the ECU has power.

In regard to the diagnosis which defintely makes sense you must know that EDC is to my knowledge the only ECU in the E38 that does not support OBD interface which most interface kits do require. So you need to use an interface kit that supports ADS instead of ODB.:B
I have one which I can switch to use either ADS or OBD.
Without such ADS support INPA will indicate "no connection to ECU".

My understanding is that the EDC ECU is accessible from INPA from the 20-pin port. Is that not the case?

If the shocks are too old or damaged then i will send them to be refurbished. For now i need to find if there is just a broken wire or similar that i can fix. In order to do this i need to first rear error codes (others here in US have used regular code readers with 20-pin to do this for EDC errors) and then test each shock electrically while still in the car.

This is the connector i have and will use. Are you saying that it will not access the EDC module?  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...e?ie=UTF8&th=1

Sure, that works but for the ESP ECU only when using an ADS capable interface.

Ok. I just do not expect a wire to be the problem, because the wires are all hidden away an never move in any way. It is rather probable that the ECU is gone. Many friends here experienced that and were looking for a way to get the ECU fixed, because a new one is terribly expensive and a used one could also be be damaged already.

Read the codes is really key. Then you get an idea of the trouble.
To do the manual power thing you need the Pin layout of the plugs to know which lines are to be connected. Or probably you can manually activate by the diagnostic app which would be the safer way.

Exactly. With the one in your link you will be able to access all kind of stuff but not the ESP, because as I said you need an interface that supports oldfshioned ADS instead of more modern ODB. ESP ECU ist kind of a dinosaur interacewise.
E.g. this one does the job letting you switch OBD and ADS.
I am using it myself as many other colleages here.
 https://doitauto.de/ADS-OBD-Diagnose...iabas/37545568

Quick update...i just went outside and used my Foxwell NT510 Elite and a standard 20-pin connector to OBD, and it seems to be able to read errors from the EDC module. And I got a single error - 50-EDC Valve Coils.

FYI a friend got 50 and 53 errors and it was a broken wire at the front shock, just near the connector.

Lucky you, that it could read the codes.

Somehow the code reminds me to the "broken ECU thing".
I will try to find the respective thread where that was dicussed.

Typically broken wires are reported a s such. Like "connection interruption or shortcut".

Do you have electrically adjustable rear seats?
If not, removing the shelf is feasable though it is some work.

 https://www.7-forum.com/forum/showthread.html?t=245790

whereas here the error was „80 Ucoil: Schluss nach Masse“ (shortcut to ground)

Quick update - i checked my front shocks wiring again. I had done this before and seen nothing wrong. I double checked today and just where the wire exits the rubber boot, on the front left shock, the black sheath is worn through and the wiring is showing.

I will fix that wiring tomorrow, reset the codes and go for a drive and see what happens.

Another update:
.i started stripping back the black exterior cover for the 3 wires to the shock. As i do this the yellow, red and white insulation on the 3 wrires inside is just crumbling and falling off. So now i have the shock wire with about 2" of bare wires and no insulation - i have not cut any of the wires. Using my variable DC power supply ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HYK2ZW3...roduct_details) i have fed 4.5v/1amp to each of the red and yellow wires, with white as the ground. One valve you can easily hear switching. The other valve im not sure. Tomorrow i am going to try the same test with the right front shock and see if i can hear both valves triggering. If one is silent than ill assume the left shock is fine and then i will use "liquid tape" to seal the bare wires on the left shock and then clear codes and see what happens.