To all who had failed air strut in their UL, is the pass side rear the 1st to go bad?
09-30-09, 03:59 PM
#62
You bought it, and 2 weeks later the air strut went bad?!Are you sure it JUST went out, or could it have possibly been bad when you bought it (pre-existing), and now you're just noticing it?
Curious...are you going to talk to the seller about it?
10-01-09, 07:11 AM
#63
good question
I took the car out on a test drive and didn't seem to notice the side-to-side bounce much. Could've been the heat of the moment or something. After a long drive (600 miles), i started to notice that it just didn't feel right. The rear-end sway is not as noticeably when you have the SPORT mode on. It dampens the bounce, but you can still tell it feels a little wiggly back there.
I'm going to guess the problem has shown up in the last few thousand miles. The car had impeccable service records at a Lexus dealer, so the problem would've been found, fixed, by the time it was sold. I did buy the car from a dealer, but they were a GM dealer 5 states from here. I signed a "as-is" document and don't plan to pursue any complaints. That's the chance you take buying used. Just need to cough up a few grand to fix the PCS and suspension now. Not happy about it, but it is what it is.
I'm going to guess the problem has shown up in the last few thousand miles. The car had impeccable service records at a Lexus dealer, so the problem would've been found, fixed, by the time it was sold. I did buy the car from a dealer, but they were a GM dealer 5 states from here. I signed a "as-is" document and don't plan to pursue any complaints. That's the chance you take buying used. Just need to cough up a few grand to fix the PCS and suspension now. Not happy about it, but it is what it is.
10-15-09, 10:05 PM
#67
Lexus Test Driver
I'm having an independent shop do it, don't have the part number handy but I had to give them my VIN so they got the correct part because apparently there were two numbers listed.
10-16-09, 06:23 AM
#68
10-20-09, 11:49 AM
#69
48080-50130 right ( passenger )
48090-50130 left
Most online places have it for $878.40 + $10-15 shipping
Took me 2.5 hours to replace my right rear .
1 hour to remove the rear seats and package shelf ( next time probably take me 1/2 the time )
1 hour to remove and replace the strut
.5 hour to reinstall interior.
The hardest part is removing the interior to gain access to the top of the strut.
For the airline, pull off the retaining clip. You will see two clips holding the air line to the strut. Insert two small screwdrivers ( or Lexus SST ) to lift the clips and remove the airline. Becareful, once you remove the line, alot of air will escape from the system. And when you drop the car, since there is no air in the rear system, the car will drop down very low.
If you can change brakes and are comfortable removing the interior you can do this at home.
Good Luck
48090-50130 left
Most online places have it for $878.40 + $10-15 shipping
Took me 2.5 hours to replace my right rear .
1 hour to remove the rear seats and package shelf ( next time probably take me 1/2 the time )
1 hour to remove and replace the strut
.5 hour to reinstall interior.
The hardest part is removing the interior to gain access to the top of the strut.
For the airline, pull off the retaining clip. You will see two clips holding the air line to the strut. Insert two small screwdrivers ( or Lexus SST ) to lift the clips and remove the airline. Becareful, once you remove the line, alot of air will escape from the system. And when you drop the car, since there is no air in the rear system, the car will drop down very low.
If you can change brakes and are comfortable removing the interior you can do this at home.
Good Luck
10-20-09, 12:26 PM
#70
Thanks for the write-up Nick. Did you use a particular instructional guide for the interior parts removal? Also, where did you buy your strut?
I've heard that you can usually repair these things, as the deal is usually the problem... Any truth to that on these Lexus air struts?
I've heard that you can usually repair these things, as the deal is usually the problem... Any truth to that on these Lexus air struts?
10-20-09, 02:12 PM
#71
DDLexus,
I used the Factory Service manual as reference on removing the interior and strut replacement. The interior is actually pretty self explanatory once you actually start removing everything. Just look around for all the nuts for the rear seat back.. 3 on top 4 on bottom, 7 total. I believe there are a couple write-ups if you do a search.
Dennis from Stevenson Lexus had the best price shipped, give him a call 303-277-9339.
My air bag was fine, the hydraulic show portion was leaking. It is a KYB shock. If you know where I can get it rebuilt, I would love to rebuild instead of having to buy new.
Good Luck
I used the Factory Service manual as reference on removing the interior and strut replacement. The interior is actually pretty self explanatory once you actually start removing everything. Just look around for all the nuts for the rear seat back.. 3 on top 4 on bottom, 7 total. I believe there are a couple write-ups if you do a search.
Dennis from Stevenson Lexus had the best price shipped, give him a call 303-277-9339.
My air bag was fine, the hydraulic show portion was leaking. It is a KYB shock. If you know where I can get it rebuilt, I would love to rebuild instead of having to buy new.
Good Luck
10-21-09, 10:20 PM
#72
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how do you acutally RESET the air data controller properly? cause i'm having the same issues at times.. when the car just automatically changes it ride height at times.. weird and kinda gets annoying.
but you also have to keep in mind that the average UL owner outside of this board does not mod their car in any way, maybe like 1% do. but out of the 100 (lets say) UL's on here how many of them have mods that would affect this air susp stuff i.e. non factory wheels (heavier and wider), plus lowering stuff like messing with the rods or installing the datasystems controller.
i would venture a guess that adding the controller and aftermarket wheels would put more stress on the UL's struts thus causing a higher number to fail. i firmly believe that these problems only seem more abundant on this board. i would like to see the % of UL's that are stock that had a strut fail. it is prolly something ridiculously low like 0.2 %. it just seems high (10-15% cause we are on this board).
i have had my 05 UL for about a year now (with no air susp issues) but if i had it to do over i would have taken the extra $$ i saved on getting an ML and put like some tein cs coilovers (suspension), or even an aftermarket air susp setup, and still had about 2k left over.
my UL with the controller lately seems to have a mind of its own since i've been riding around for the last week with family sitting in the back seat. it just raises at random times then drops back to the proper setting at random times, even when i drove to work by myself yesterday it was doing the same thing. i think i will go reset it here in a few minutes, but it is really getting on my nerves.
i figure it prolly costed me about 5-6k extra for the UL and yeah thats all.
i would venture a guess that adding the controller and aftermarket wheels would put more stress on the UL's struts thus causing a higher number to fail. i firmly believe that these problems only seem more abundant on this board. i would like to see the % of UL's that are stock that had a strut fail. it is prolly something ridiculously low like 0.2 %. it just seems high (10-15% cause we are on this board).
i have had my 05 UL for about a year now (with no air susp issues) but if i had it to do over i would have taken the extra $$ i saved on getting an ML and put like some tein cs coilovers (suspension), or even an aftermarket air susp setup, and still had about 2k left over.
my UL with the controller lately seems to have a mind of its own since i've been riding around for the last week with family sitting in the back seat. it just raises at random times then drops back to the proper setting at random times, even when i drove to work by myself yesterday it was doing the same thing. i think i will go reset it here in a few minutes, but it is really getting on my nerves.
i figure it prolly costed me about 5-6k extra for the UL and yeah thats all.
03-06-10, 12:38 PM
#73
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So ... almost exactly (1) Year Ago my RIGHT REAR air strut died.
See posting --> https://www.clublexus.com/forums/4280973-post30.html
Now it's (1) Year Later ... and the LEFT REAR air strut has now failed.
I'm seriously consider converting the whole suspension to after-market shocks & springs.
Is anyone interested in BUYING the Air Strut that I installed last year??
If so - that would really push me over the edge, to install steel.
Let me know!!
See posting --> https://www.clublexus.com/forums/4280973-post30.html
Now it's (1) Year Later ... and the LEFT REAR air strut has now failed.
I'm seriously consider converting the whole suspension to after-market shocks & springs.
Is anyone interested in BUYING the Air Strut that I installed last year??
If so - that would really push me over the edge, to install steel.
Let me know!!
03-06-10, 12:47 PM
#74
Lexus Champion
My driver side rear strut started leaking oil (detected by dealer, no visable dripping oil spots in garage) at 56,500 miles. Was replaced at no cost. Car is CPO with Lexus Platinum extended warranty. Have had the car since 21,000 miles so this is the first air strut to fail.
