Need to put the inductor. Resistors sooner or later will show the error ADS And more. In the "Sport" and resistors and coils very heated. In the "comfort" of the coil very cold. Resistors I have not tested in different modes of shock absorbers.

 

I own a 2007 MDX Elite with the ADS suspension system. About a year ago I made the decision to replace the rear ADS shocks with conventional shocks. Put 2 ohm resistors in the wiring and have not had any ADS lights, except when putting the system in Sport mode.

Yesterday I swapped the front ADS spring/strut assemblies to conventional spring/struts. Used 5.1 ohm resistors and have had no problems with ADS lights. The ride is sensational, with no bone jarring hits on small potholes. The vehicle has been transformed from a lumber wagon to a luxury SUV. I am extremely pleased with the new ride.

On a side note, the passenger ADS spring/strut assembly was about 2 or 3 inches shorter than the replacement. I can only think that years of bone jarring bumps due to worn strut caused the spring to permanently deform.

I will keep the old ADS assemblies, just in case somebody figures out how to rebuild these things for a reasonable cost. If I ever sell the vehicle, I will throw these in as a bonus.

I would have replaced the ADS system with ADS components, but in my opinion they do not last long enough to be worth the extra cost. This would be the 3rd set of strut/shocks in about 170,000 km (110,000 miles). Other vehicles I own might be needing the first replacement at this mileage, not the 3rd replacement.

I am happy with the decision to replace the shocks, and will not miss the sport mode at all.

 

Jim, what are the part numbers for the rear Monroe shocks and the Acura front strut assembly. Also, where did you purchase your parts and resistors. I live in Calgary too and have to change all four shocks on my 2007 Acura MDX Sport/entertainment vehicle.

 

Great story.
What brand did you use and how is the ride quality compared to the 'sport' and 'comfort' settings?

I'm a performance enthusiast and looking for non-ADS replacement that brings delivers ride quality similar to the 'sport' setting. I don't want to drive a big slushy SUV.

 

Great story.
What brand did you use and how is the ride quality compared to the 'sport' and 'comfort' settings?

I'm a performance enthusiast and looking for non-ADS replacement that brings delivers ride quality similar to the 'sport' setting. I don't want to drive a big slushy SUV.

The ride seems to be somewhere between comfort setting and sport setting. The brand of struts for the front was Acura OEM, while the rears were Monroe. Not a lot of choices for the front, since I needed the springs as well.

 

My MDX ADS shocks were so bad that my car was hopping in the air sometimes and the ABS would engage when the front wheel would become airborn after hitting a bump. Was frustrated that a replacement was a $1000 bucks each just for the part here in Toronto.

This conversion works great. Changed out the rear yesterday with Monroe regular shocks. my electronic store only had 2.2 ohm 10 watt ceramic resistors and I put those in the rear connectors. The connectors actually grab the leads perfectly when inserting them in.

I purchased used Front strut assemblies for a base MDX at a wrecker. Im a big believer in salvage parts from low mileage accident cars. These assemblies cost me $250 cad total for the 2 and they came off an MDX with 80k. Used 5 ohm 10 watt Resistors in the Fronts. Success! No codes and the car drives like new!

Thank you to all that contributed to this Forum! I saved over $3500 doing it this way and the results are great. Anyone who says it makes sense to spend over $4000 to replace with original ADS shocks in a $15,000 2008 MDX has more money then they know what to do with.
Kudo's to all the do it yourselfers! Took me 6 hours last night but got all 4 done.

 

my electronic store only had 2.2 ohm 10 watt ceramic resistors and I put those in the rear connectors. The connectors actually grab the leads perfectly when inserting them in.

Used 5 ohm 10 watt Resistors in the Fronts. Success! No codes and the car drives like new!

Hey, I couldn't find resistors on my search here in toronto.
What store did you try?



I bought 1ohm 10 watt at Radio Shack in Chicago, a month ago(only ones they had)...I did not try it yet, mainly because I only did the front struts and wanted to use the 5ohm instead, because from what I read, 1ohm will bring the ADS light back on.... so I need to purchase the 5 ohm 10 watt, and do it this weekend.

The only reason for the delay, wife drives it 95%, and I keep forgetting.

Thanks.

 

Good write up. Personally I wouldn't buy used shocks with 80k since that's what I consider to be max service life. How tough is it to access the top of the rear shocks?

 

The KYB replacement for the fronts are about $87 each from Rock Auto - any reason those wouldn't work instead of buying the Acura ones for $250 or so each?

 

Looking at the parts lists for the Sport vs Base, some of the assembly parts are different. Bearing mount and top piece come to mind, but am not sure. Also one of my Sport spring was deformed, probably due to the struts being useless for many miles.

If you are lucky enough to only replace the struts, you might be missing some other damage caused by the pounding the suspension has taken.

Just my experience with my 2007.

Jim

 

They'll work but I think most folks don't want to hassle with moving the springs from the old struts to the new. YMMV.

 

Got it. I have lined up a local mechanic to do the swap. He will have to do the spring swap. Should I care? I was already quoted for the labor and he said to just order the KYB replacements for all around and he would do it.

I don't know how much extra work it is to fit in the aftermarket ones vs the acura full assembly. So, I don't want to screw the guy over and make him stick to his estimate if he doesn't know he will have to re-use the springs....

 

I just wanted to thank everyone for their input on this. I swapped out my rears with KYBs. One lower bolt was rusted to the shock sleeve and I ended up cutting it off. What a PITA. But it is done now and I don't have any warning lights so far!!

 

Good news..!! What resistor brand/values did you end up using for the rears..? How is the ride, do you feel the different shock tuning differences between the front and rear areas? thanks for posting your results..

AC

 

So i just did this.

The ads light went on with the recommended resistors..

But the ride is AMAZING compared to what i had. All 4 were blown.

 

Update: The ADS light has come on a couple of times while I have been driving in Sport mode. It resets when I start the car again and I can drive around with the light off for a while. I am waiting to see if this will become more frequent or not. Right now I can live with it.

 

Sport mode might be your issue.

Update: The ADS light has come on a couple of times while I have been driving in Sport mode. It resets when I start the car again and I can drive around with the light off for a while. I am waiting to see if this will become more frequent or not. Right now I can live with it.

Campr.

Have you had any trouble with the ADS light since mid-August when you installed the 5.5 ohm, 10 watt resistor? I will be doing my front strut assemblies in the next 2 weeks, and if yours has worked, I will also use the 5.5 ohm resistor.

I have been using the 2 ohm 10 watt resistor on the rears for about a year now, with no problems in Comfort setting. Sport will show an ADS light, but Comfort will eventually put it out.

Jim

 

Update: SO i've tried different resistors from what everyone in this thread has been using and nothing seems to turn off my ADS light..

Anyone has any recommendations?

 

1-2Ohm seems to be fine for Rears
5+ seems to be fine for the Fronts.

How is yours?

 

I bought my SUV off a dealership a couple of years ago, and all four of my shocks/struts are having issues. Do you think Acura Canada would help? I have an 07 MDX with 127K Kms. Stressed out with the impending cost!!

 

I dont think ANY car maker will help with a car that has 127K miles. Average regular shocks should only last 80K miles before replacement only thing is they are cheaper then sport shocks.

 

no leaking on my low miles 2009 MDX, but bushing are noisy!! i felt something is lose at the rear now and making some light clunk noise and i am afraid it's the shocks... i found it's very odd that there is no aftermarket replacement for sports shock.

I do put bike rack and roof rack/box on the MDX, i think i will go with regular shock when it's time to replace the original sport shock.

 

Hi I have to put lots of stuff in the trunk of my MDX and I have a ADS problem with a rear shock and I would like to put all 4 new shocks but regular ones and was wondering if it was as good so that the rear doesn't go down too much?

 

If sport model can handle whatever you put in trunk i dont see why regular mdx would not be able to handle same. I dont think sport model is higher etc.

 

Anyone come up with the magic voltage and impedance to keep the ADS light off? I only use comfort mode and will be changing out all of the shocks and struts tomorrow with the standard model (non-ADS).

 

 

And can you only change the rear ones or you need to change them all because my front ones are in perfect condition!

 

Yes you change one at a time even. Let us know how it did and difference with sport front and regular back vs front good sport and bad sport in rear

 

Rusich
Your Jantzen Audio coil solution looks good to me.
Did it solve the ADS error message problem ?
I assume you installed the 1.43 ohm resistor in series with the coil (as opposed to parallel). Did you use the same components front and rear.
I am going to install coil/resistors to test rear and if that works then front before I switch out the shocks/dampers.

 

Thanks, Jim R, as I did the conversion this past weekend to Monroe shocks for the rear ones. One shock was leaking so I decided to change both of them. Total cost was under $200 and about 2.5 hours of my time as I had trouble with rusted bolts. Ride is pretty decent as the rear doesn't feel floaty and clunky anymore. If the price ever becomes more sane, I might buy one ADS shocks and re-convert after. I took pictures of the conversion if anyone is interested.

 

Dont you have ads lights on or did you use resistors?

 

I used same resistors as Jim R suggested, 2 ohms 10 watts which cost whopping $1.99. You plug in each end of the resistor to the sensor (doesn't matter which end goes to +'ve or -'ve end of the sensor and tape it up well with electrical tape...didn't bother to solder as taping is held on pretty tightly). I used ziptie to hold the sensor end in place near the shock to prevent random movement. Make sure to put the ADS button to comfort mode and after five days of driving, no lights came on the dash and enjoying non-bouncy drive.

 

Actually, I watched the pics and saw the invoice for the parts. Also showed the part numbers. Thanks.!!!

 

He bought acura oem not kyb or monroe.

 

Wow....I got lucky and picked up OEM front non-ADS shocks/spring set from a local seller for $100 each. He accidentally bought wrong one for his ADS equipped MDX and didn't want to go to non-ADS route. Although my current ADS shocks were replaced last year via Acura, I have a bad feeling that they will go out in a couple of years. Now I have an insurance just in case.

So far Monroe shocks on the rear have been very good and rear end feels much tighter on the highway and on uneven road without dash light coming on (comfort mode).

 

Bailey, how did it go?

 

You guys that did the switchover, do you reuse the pinch bolts and flange for the dampers?

 

I used new bolts, cost about 8 dollars each at dealer, I think.

Jim