You make a very interesting point about matching of actual and electronic settings. Revs require the shocks to be set on minimum preload AND "Comfort" damping before sending to them.
A stuck motor like that would normally burn out or at least pop fuses. Your strange faults might have been the canbus tripping when it saw an over-current. Opening the motor for a good clean has to be worth a try.
TBH, If you are paying Revs to do the work you might as well pay them for a replacement shock. The OEM shocks are nothing special and prone to letting go.
The shocks are Wilbers ESA. I could take them elsewhere but as this could also be a warranty job then I want Revs to look at them.
The strangest thing is no fault code now. If the Canbus picked up high resistance or current a fault would surely be recorded. When it all went wrong a couple of months back there was a fault saying "front ESA sensor malfunction". That went away after hooking up a good shock and preload motor and doesn't come back, even with the connectors left undone. I think there was originally a sensor fault, then I wound up the preload to max manually and as it won't go back down it is now somehow stuck. So there's two issues to resolve in there. Tractive say don't dismantle (although they would wouldn't they). I am happy to take to Revs and get the good motor fitted to my Wilbers shock and walk away with my bust motor to play with. If I can fix then I have a spare for the shelf or to loan to someone else.