rws371

Hello every one. I thought I would share this with you and by NO means do I recommend that you do this unless you plan on replacing your air shocks anyway.

First, I had a small leak that I was able to patch with a simple rubber tube patch. The leak was more or less a crack in the rubber air shock bladder which leaked air like a small pinhole. 3 weeks, so far so good! After the leak was fixed I was then able to send full pressure to the bladder and boy did the bladder squeel. I could not find the leak easily and the car would settle to the ground very quickly and it would level out as a rear end low rider. The right air shock functions normally. OK, time to get creative!!! Since I could not remove the shock I had to cut the hi-pressure line in the trunk. I raised the vehicle and turned the system to OFF.

Now the interesting thing. I pumped in about 12 ounces of Green Slime used for fixing and PREVENTING flats or air leaks in tires and then lowered the vehicle so the slime would coat as much as possible of the inside of the bladder. I then turned the system on and started the car and waited a few seconds and watched vehicle rise and level out. I turned the car off and waited a few minutes and it did not leak air and the vehicle remained level over night.

In the morning I raised and lowered the system to make sure I did not plug the air line. (By the way, I connected the airline with rubber cement and used a plastic shell of a marker to bond the lines together as it is a small opening. I then used an epoxy putty around the connection for added strength.) The good news is the system works like new! (so far) The last 3 weeks have been just fine. I was prepared to spend the $1000 for the Arnott air shock replacement kit installed .but now I will play the waiting game and see how much time I get with the slime before I start saving up again. For $23.00 I was able to get back to a smooth ride.

Again, unless you are prepared to spend the time and $$$ on a new suspension, I would not slime your air bladder unless you are prepared for the worse and nothing happens. I figure the shock is broke anyway so what to I have to lose by pumping slime into it. This time I won and Lexus lost.

Good luck and leave any questions and I will try to answer them

BLKonBLK98

the issue that jumps out at me is what will happen when the "slime" travels to the compressors and valves.

i would't mark this as a victory just yet. sounds like a quick fix that could actually break some expensive components that were originally functional.

gmacrae

Im thinking the same thing ^

why not just install some stock struts/springs and get rid of the air setup alltogether? You could probably pick up a set from someone that's installed coilovers real cheap. Even if you need new shocks, KYB gr2/excel G shocks dont cost much.

skperformance

iTrader: (6)

If it is a factory system then it is not used for going up and down thus the dump valve will never be opened fast enough to allow liquid back to it.
An aftermarket one will have to be watched for a week or so with only adding air to the bag to keep pushing the slime down stream .

Slime works fine as i use it as well.
It does not cause issues with the valves i have as the first time some did get back to the valves.
I have small leaks at the collars for the rear shocks , so until i want to spend time to clean them or replace them it works fine for me.