I recently purchased an 06 Bentley continental gt. I drive it for 1 month with no fault codes. After a month I had the dreaded vehicle too low indicator pop up and noticed that the suspension had given out. I was u able to get anyone to tow the car being that it was so low to the ground. I was forced to call a Mobile mechanic to change the strut. After changing the strut the vehicle raise back up but I instantly got several fault codes including check engine light, traction control, parking indicator, defective wheel on board. I then had the suspension Calibrated and all codes went away. Shortly after that I realized that the right side was slightly lower and decided to change that strut as well. Once I chanced the second strut all codes re appeared. I figured it just needed another calibration and all would be fine. I took it in to be calibrated and the mechanic was unable to clear all of the codes after calibration. I brought it back a second time and codes/ faults were cleared for about 1 day and returned the next day. The ride height is even but I’m still getting all of the fault codes I mentioned earlier. Anyone have any idea what the cause may b? Is it possible the mechanic just did not calibrate the vehicle properly ?

 

Battery hygiene would be first thing to check .
The correctors tight , the age of the bigger LHS house batt that runs the systems and it’s ability to hold charge .
A trickle charger is recommended more so as they age .A few deep discharges and what was a seemingly good battery becomes toast .

A simple V test can be misleading btw , they say 12.6 and above , but it’s ability to hold charge that matters .

Some high end manufacturers simply routinely change them out every 3 yrs @ annual service, no ifs no buts .Ferrari do this .Saves the dealers phone lines meting down every weekend end Keeps customers sweet .

 

Thank you for the quick reply. That actually makes a lot of sense being that I’ve had this experience with false codes occur on a maserati several times. I think the suspension calibration issue distracted me from realizing it could easily be a low battery issue. I will contact the previous owner to see if and when he changed the batteries and look to replace them. Do you have any idea if the code issue would likely be related to the main battery on the left side or the auxiliary battery on the right side ?

 

It’s the bigger LHS stood at the back looking Fwds .

The smaller rhs just spins the starter motor only .All the ECUs electrotwackery runs off the LHS .

 

So after doing a little investigating I decided to check all fuses just to be safe. Sure enough the fuse located in position C00768 (vacuum pump) was blown. I got excited thinking that this meant problem solved. Changed the fuse and started the engine. I could hear the vaccum pump begin to engage. Something told me to check the fuse and to my dismay the fuse had blown. I then tried to change the fuse once more just to be sure and that fuse blew as well. Any one have an idea of what may cause the vaccum pump fuse to blow consecutively ?

 

Notwithstanding that there’s no obvious connection between an air suspension fault and the vacuum pump:

That Fuse (F7 in the Driver’s Fascia Fuseboard) feeds a relay located in the passenger footwell via a Black wire. The normally open contact on that relay feeds the Vacuum Pump on a Red/Black wire.

The Vacuum Pump is directly grounded via a Brown wire.

The relay coil is supplied with Vbatt via Fuse F5 in the fusebox located in the engine bay on the passenger side, and earthed by Bank 1’s ECU to pull in the relay.

I would suggest that you disconnect the two pin plug from the Vacuum Pump and see whether the problem recurs.

To access the pump you need to remove the front driver’s side wheel, then remove the wheel arch liner, and you’ll see the vacuum pump attached to a reservoir bolted to the rear bulkhead.

I’m struggling to think whether there’s any way in which a careless mechanic could damage the wiring to the Vacuum Pump whilst changing the strut, but once you’ve got the wheel and liner removed you’ll get a very good view of the wiring in that area.

 

Its funny you mention that because I did actually have an issue with the mechanic that did the strut. When the strut went out the front bumper was so low to the ground that I had 3 tow trucks show up and decide they wouldn’t want to risk towing my car. That being the case I ended up having to contact a Mobile mechanic. The mechanic didn’t jack the car up on both sides so the control arm didn’t drop all the way down to make enough room to fit the new strut. He ended up getting the strut stuck in the control arm and spent 2 hours prying and banging on it to try to make it fit. Ended up destroying the gear shaft which they later replaced. But I do suspect that while spending all of that time banging inside the drivers side wheel well it may be possible that he damaged the vacuum pump in the process. The wheel cover over the pump was never removed so I wonder if it could have been damaged simply by coming into contact with the wheel well. I have an appointment to have the vacuum pump checked by my actual mechanic at the shop on Friday. Hoping to find the issue then. I’ll give you guys an update once I get more information.

 

The liner is so strong that it would be a real struggle to damage the pump, but there's an area in the top right corner as you look into the wheel arch where the pipes and cables are unprotected by the liner, so I suspect that it's more likely that he has damaged the wiring rather than the pump.