Hello everyone,
I am hoping someone will be able to help me out with an issue i am having with my 2006 lexus GX 470. Whenever i enter a pothole or any bump on the road, the car bobs up and down violently almost as if i am riding a horse. I dont think it is is the shock absorber. Has anyone else experienced this issue?

 

Have your air suspension checked. Sounds like your suspension is sitting on its bump stops

 

2nd that, either the air bags or the solenoid reservoir that fills them. Get out that wallet.

 

If the bobbing goes on more than once or twice, it's your shocks. Their purpose is to dampen-out oscillations like that.

To test this: Put your weight on a corner of the vehicle, then hop off. The GX should go back to it's original position and bounce no further than 1-1.5 inches higher. If it bounces higher than that, or more than once, the shocks need replacing.

* Go watch some of the original Hawaii Five-O from the 70's starring Jack Lord. He would pull up in front of headquarters in his Mercury (a 4-door 1968 Parklane Brougham) and the car would bounce fore & aft on it's shocks about 4-5 times. I'm surprised he never got motion sick.. That's not what you want from your GX.

Chip H.

 

That sort of "violent" bouncing sounds like blown rear air bags to me. Shocks/struts tend to slowly just lose their dampening ability but rarely to they all of a sudden go out in the way you're describing.

I remember my rear air bags decided to go out on a road trip, and it was slamming hard.

 

sounds like your air bags in the rear are blown. place car on lift, spray the air bags with soapy water and activate the air ride. check for bubbles.

 

When you say it bobs up and down violently, do you feel the harsh shock through the car? If the airbags are malfunctioning and it's riding on the bump stop, you will feel a very rough shock every time the car bobs down. If the car simply bounces up and down several times after an impact, I agree with Chip that your shocks are worn.

When I had the stock shocks and placed them in comfort mode, the ride was unbearable because the rebound was non-existent. This caused the truck to bounce up and down a half dozen times before settling. The only solution at the time was to keep it at Sports setting. Remember that shock has two valves, compression and rebound. The rebound keeps the truck from coming bouncing back up after compression.

 

I had the same problem on my '04. Dealer replaced the sensor on the right (passenger) side.

 

Had my air ride suspension go out while on a long road trip. "Violent" is also how I would describe the ride. Went to the Lexus dealer in Omaha where we were and learned what was going on. The air ride suspension is a complex system. In my case, the air bags became fatigued over time and developed a leak. This causes the compressor to run continually to keep inflated. This killed my battery. After a while, the system gives up and stops trying to keep bags inflated. This is so the compressor doesn't burn up. The dealer replaced my battery and reset the codes to get the compressor running again just to get us home. Once home, I researched my options and decided to replace the adjustable ride with a conventional shock absorber system. Rides fine now. Not fancy but the cost was less than fixing just the front end and chasing these issues in the future.