Air Suspension Failure
 

Yes, I know. Here is yet another air suspension thread.

My question is.....How does air suspension / air strut failure usually happen?

Will I slowly start to see that my UL air suspension is beginning to fail????

OR will i come out of work one day and see that my car is "slammed" to the ground and undriveable????

Thanks in advance for your help guys

They don't explode. This is good news. From what I have read and asked Lexus techs there are two common failures. They start to leak hydraulic fluid down the assembly of the shock or develop a rattle noise. The rattle noise I was told is more common. There have been some complaints of air leakage but I believe this is also associated with hydraulic fluid leaking. As the weather get more cool I do notice my compressor kicking on more often.

How do I change from air suspension on my LS430 2004 [facelift] to coil springs without changing ride height or the approximate stiffness of the original setup?

I simply want to get rid of all the air complexity and cost which for me confers no benefit.

Here in the UK the first version of the LS430 was only offered with air so I have doubts about being able to fit the original metal option available in the USA.

Bilstein tell me their B14 kit lowers the car.

Any other options please?

Replace with the stock suspension. OEM coil springs and either OEM KYB shocks or aftermarket KYB shocks. OEM is probably a bit softer but run around $50 more per shock.

Don't forget leave the height sensors inplace and disconnect the air compressor.

Thanks Lavrishevo.
I had researched this site but was getting confused with owners trying to make changes other than just getting away from 'air'.
Is it a straightforward swap over of components to the face lift 2004 car?

It's pretty straight forward. There is a special tool needed to disconnect the airlines but if you never plan on going back to air you can just cut them.

I don't have an exact list. There are threads on here that list everything. Search and check out the faq sticky. From what I remember you need the shock mounts, the hardware for those mounts, coil springs, and the shocks. RockAuto has almost everything you need at great prices. Check out Lexus of South Atlanta Parts for OEM needs as well. You can just pull the fuse for the air compressor or pull the connection at the compressor itself. The height sensors must remain in place if you don't want to have error messages on your dash.

My take:

The leaking hydraulic fluid is a failure of the shock absorber part of the system and not the air spring and will just give you a crappy ride (little to no damping of bumps) but you'll still be able to drive the car. Just like worn shock absorbers on a steel sprung suspension car.

If the airbag itself fails it can be catastrophic where the corner of the car with the failed airbag will drop down noticeably and be hard to drive (if it can be driven at all). If it's a slow leak you'll hear the compressor cycling often as it tries to keep that airbag inflated. If the compressor can keep up then the car will drive normally but the bag will deflate when the car is parked. As well, the compressor's life may be shortened due to the higher duty cycle.

Unfortunately, the shock absorber can't be replaced independantly of the airbag so when one of them fails you have to replace the entire assembly. Big bucks. There are places now that rebuild them.
http://www.suncoreindustries.com/lex...suspension.php
Don't know if these replacements are any good and they're still expensive!

I have an entire steel suspension bought off Craigslist sitting in my shed waiting for the day the Air Sus fails. I have 95K on my '03 and the air is still like the day I bought it and I like the ride of the air sus. I like that I can raise it up a couple inches when needed and the fact that it lowers itself at highway speeds for slightly better aerodynamics and mpg.

just changed out my UL air struts for megan EZ coilovers.

easy in and out--straight pull and drop in, no extra parts needed, just pulled the air compressor fuse and no warning lights/messages.

Interesting that Suncore Industries who refurbish these air struts claim most fail from dry rot of the rubber.
Makes me wonder if a maintenance spray of silicone might prolong their life.
Is the black rubber we see from the outside actually the air bag or is that inside?

Funny you mention this. I have a thread on here I started a long time ago asking the same thing. I really did not come up with an answer after researching. I also think this is not necessarily true about the dry rot thing but I could be wrong.

I contacted Shin Etsu asking if they made a product for an application like this and they do not. Silicon grease does help protect rubber against cracking and dry rot but using it on the bags themselves may not be a good idea. I also spoke to a few people in the trucking industry as they use air-bags on big rigs all the time and they do not have an application for this either. At least to my knowledge.

As far as ours go, the outside rubber boot protects the inner. I have only received the advice to keep it clean and dry as much as possible. I imagine living up north with salt and snow will take a bigger toll on everything.

Would you be willing to sell your air compressor

Consensus has usually been to replace with stock system.. One of the main reasons UL can be over the top expensive to maintain...But I'm sure it's fun. Good luck.

that outside rubber you see is really just a sleeve of sorts that protects the bag from being punctured or whatever. If you are installing a replacement air shock, stick your hand up underneath the outer sleeve and grasp the air bag. As you run the engine the compressor will inflate the bag and you can feel it getting firmer. I was surprised at how long it took, at least 3-4 minutes of pumping until it was correctly firm.