lildann

Glad that was all it was!!! 👍🏿

nsirmons

If you listen when driving or backing and you hear the compressor running then the air suspension is leaking. As you get further into the years the ride will pick up every bump in the rode and sound like a constant thumping noise from the rear of the car. There are no after market air shock for the rear but they available for the front.

e60bmw

iTrader: (1)

Anyone know where to get rebuilt struts? I have my right rear that has been leaking since I bought it and have always put it off.

e60bmw

iTrader: (1)

I finally got around to replacing my right rear strut. It started causing problems with the ride quality lately. I've been putting it off but managed to remove the whole back in about an hour. I had removed it recently to do my pioneer headunit install. Removing the air shock wasn't too difficult, the airline actually has a tool on it you can press down to remove the air hose. After putting it back in place and starting the car the shock inflated but to about the same place as it was before, still sagging. I spent alot of time adjusting the sensor to see if it made a difference, no difference though. I took it out and took it apart and saw that 2 of the springs had been out. I put them in the proper place and cleaned everything and reinstalled. Still had the same problem. Loaded up techstream to do some tests. No error codes showing, all solenoid tests work fine. Raised and lowered each strut, fronts are ok, left rear moves up some and right rear doesn't at all. I think that if the height reading is calculated off both a bad sensor can throw everything off, my rear sits pretty low.

I saw that my front height readings are similiar, my left side is a negative because its lower in the rear and my right rear is much higher. I think it goes all the way up to 1.4 but doesn't adjust anything, however it DOES lower. I have concluded that sensor is bad. That side has always been sagging and never raised going into high mode. It raises some but thats a result of my right rear raising the whole back up and not individually. There are some sensors in the $175 range used, but didn't want to end up with another bad sensor so I dropped $300 on a new OEM sensor. Really hoping that it fixes it. I've been riding around for 3 years on the right side leaning like that. It almost looks like someone tried to take apart that sensor at one point. Hopefully I don't have to buy a left rear sensor too.

iriz

Considering that the height sensor is just a fairly simple pot meter, $300 is really quite expensive for what it is.

One might think that the output from this sensor is also quite simple: 12V supplied voltage and a varying voltage output. Should be possible to measure and thereby test the sensor, however, has it ever been contemplated?

e60bmw

iTrader: (1)

Agreed, its very expensive for what it is. Problem is this car is older and for specific parts like this for the air suspension they will always be grossly overpriced, there was really only like 2 sellers on ebay who offered it. After ordering I did read on the GX forum that for various heights when the arm is moved it shows different voltage outputs. Even if that does show incorrect voltage I don't know how I would even really fix it, the part itself is pretty basic when I took it apart. I just know that techstream is reporting a very high value for the sensor. I think the value is reporting so high that it thinks the shock is too high and never adds additional air, thats my theory at least. Because I can lower the shock in techstream but it never goes above a certain point, even with the shock I just replaced it with, its still very low.

e60bmw

iTrader: (1)

Adding this to the thread for reference. I finally got my sensor after almost 3 weeks, I ordered it from a seller in NY and he claimed it got lost, and ordered one from a dealer. Put it in yesterday, and didn't see that much difference. I adjusted it again today and it appears that my issue is finally fixed! My height of that side was always 26" from the ground to fender which is really low, the other side in comparison on left was 28 and the front was 29.5! My right rear is now 28"~ and my left is about 1/4" off, the front has also lowered from monster truck status and now looks even with the rear. I can adjust the right more but I'm almost tempted to just leave it because I was so tired of how it was before, it had been leaning like that for almost 3 years. If I have further issues with other shocks I will likley convert it, but for now I'm enjoying the improved ride. I'd also get shaking of my steering wheel if I went around a sharp turn where the road got uneven, and it would eventually fix itself and everything leveled. Hopefully I don't have that issue. Now I'm dealing with the VSC light 1336 code, I have to figure out.

Ashron

I have an original 04 LS UL with about 120K miles on it. At 70K miles 3 out of the 4 shocks were stiff and leaking. So I changed all 4 shocks ($5500.00) and never had a problem since. This was at least 6-7 years ago. (My son in college has been driving it for the last several years) Head service tech at dealer stated that the original shocks were known to have issues but that the replacement shocks were much better and are not expected to fail. (Who knows?) I will say that the car NEVER drove as smooth as I expected a luxury car should, even after replacing the shocks. But after replacing the shocks, it was much better.

semar

I bought the 01 car with 116k miles. Repair record lists the replacement of 2 rear shocks at 50k miles and 1 r front shock at 110k miles. At 2200 C$/per shock plus labor at C$150/hr I did not want to get stuck on a longdistance highway. Switched to Bilstein coilovers Lifetime warranty. Car runs smooth and firm.

e60bmw

iTrader: (1)

What spring rate did you go with?

semar

I do not know what springrates came with the coilovers
I bought them 9/15 from THMotorsports for US$ 1050
The Bilsteins - part # 47-086401 - are not just for Lexus but are specifically for the 01 LS430
When the weather gets more favorable I will take pictures of the lowering and stance.
I could have gone lower but I wanted to be able to get a hosenozzle between top of tires and fender to clear out debris is the fenderwells. Also important to clear out packed snow, otherwise I would have to change the height everytime I change from summer to winter tires

BigAlLex

Does Anyone Know If Rebuild Master Tech, Inc. http://www.rebuildmastertech.com Has Actually Started Rebuilding Lexus UL Air Suspension Struts?

iriz

According to Rebuild Master Tech:

LS430: There are no products in this category.

kelleher2

Do you know the part number?

kelleher2

I just got a quote from a local mechanic $2,000 for both rear struts American made lifetime warranty. Lexus OEM is $4100. Any thoughts