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I had a random thought this morning as I read this, and while part of my brain says there should be some fail safe for this, another part says "why"? You don't have a fail safe for a flat tire, you have to change it. Same for a timing chain or belt. You avoid getting into that situation by monitoring/inspecting it regularly and changing your tire before it fails.
Some things just require inspection and pre-emptive replacement as there is no good way to sort it after the fact. Again, just something to ponder. Don't start a flame war.
A blown tire is way easier to repair, easy to patch on the go or replace with spare (a spare tire with a factory jack is actually a failsafe). And unless you have zero air you can usually drive to the service station and any mechanic can repair a blown tire. Carrying a tire repair kit and an air compressor should be on anyone car. So a blown tire and a failed air suspension is world apart and most manufacturer have a failsafe for a blown tire (spare, run flat or patch kit). We are taking about striving to make thing better for the user when something fail, like spring on a mcpherson strut, a spare tire, run flat tire, tire monitoring system, limiting power to the car when there is an engine problem instead of letting it blow... yes you need to replace stuff when they broke but why not making it less of a nightmare for someone buying your product ? The solution for this wouldn't be that complicated. And I for one would prefer buying a car with a failsafe for the air suspension vs one who don't have it.
For the record this saga came to an end today. Got the part from Lexus but the guy at the garage said he couldn't work on the car until next week, but no ways I was gonna leave my car outside in the mud for a week. So called a tow truck and towed it at my place but without a proper lift it was really difficult to make the repair. And the 4 other garages close by didn't even want to touch it, closest Lexus dealer was almost 2 hours away. So manned up and with a combination of jack, ramp and crawling under there managed to get the repair done. Cleared the code and now the car have all 4 shock up in the air again. First guy was adamant I needed to drop the transmission to do this repair ans when I insisted that he remove the tube another way he actually broke several clips in the process by just tugging the tube out. But hopefully the part from Lexus came with brand new clip. Sometime you can't find anyone better than yourself to do the job right. A two post lift at home would have helped so much for this repair but unfortunately my garage is not high enough. But in the end everything worked out. I don't wish this kind of adventure on anyone though, that was not fun.
I've seen lots of different cars with air suspension failures...none have a "failsafe". My dad had a Lincoln Continental years ago that had a rear air strut failure, the bottom drug the ground. If you think about it, in order for an "air suspension" to be "suspended by air" if there was no air, there would be no suspension.
If you look back through this forum you willl see this sort of failure on any generation Lexus LS is extraordinarily rare. Sucks that it happened to you, but you can't engineer out the potential for major failures in this sort of system. You want to drive an old super high end complex luxury sedan, this sort of thing has to be a possibility.
Sucks that it happened to you, but you can't engineer out the potential for major failures in this sort of system.
Yes you can, just putting a small spring that would support the car in the event it get lower than the "sport" setting would work. And like I said Mercedes already have a solution for this:
Granted it said you can't drive with those emergency buffer but at least it can get your car on a tow truck, and i'm pretty sure your car would survive driving very slow to the nearest garage.
Yes you can, just putting a small spring that would support the car in the event it get lower than the "sport" setting would work. And like I said Mercedes already have a solution for this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyJFS6mf48I
Granted it said you can't drive with those emergency buffer but at least it can get your car on a tow truck, and i'm pretty sure your car would survive driving very slow to the nearest garage.
Well then you need to go offer your services to the automotive industry, because for some reason based on the pictures I’ve seen and cars I’ve seen in person with total air suspension failures nobody has such a feature, even on cars where that failure is more common unlike the LS.
By the way I have seen numerous S classes completely on the ground as you describe your LS, so not certain at all those springs as you describe are actually in use by Mercedes. Watching your video that’s an emergency kit that is installed once the system has failed so you can move the vehicle, that’s not a “failsafe” as you describe.
Reason being IMHO is because wheel articulation is dynamic. In times of spring compression such a spring would compress or contact its touchpoint which would affect the ride.
Glad that YOU got the car back running and I would have been pissed too. Like Steve said I also see lots of MB bottomed out and parked for days so I'm not sure they have a failsafe that's in use either. I could be wrong though. The crazy part is that you will continue to drive around on the air suspension even though you believe it's a flawed and dangerous system when you could most likely just switch the system to coils and never have to worry about this happening to you again.
Well then you need to go offer your services to the automotive industry, because for some reason based on the pictures I’ve seen and cars I’ve seen in person with total air suspension failures nobody has such a feature, even on cars where that failure is more common unlike the LS.
Agreed the Mercedes kit is more an emergency feature than a failsafe mechanism but saying a failsafe isn't possible due to some technical limitation is just blatant lack of imagination. I'm not complaining about the system as overall it still relatively reliable, just discussing ways of making it better without in the process hurting too much Lexus fanboy feelings. It also occurred to me while I was working on my car while the rear wheels were sitting on ramps that if the air suspension suddenly failed you would actually be crushed under the car.
Don't get me wrong the other manufacturer are not better at this so it's not like I'm pointing at this car in particular. And there a difference between what's possible from a technical standpoint and what the auto industry choose to optimize shareholder revenue so even if I would "offer my service" to the auto industries it won't guaranteed they would go ahead because convenience for the user may not be an immediate priority if there are other ways which are more efficient to boost the manufacturer revenues - which is certainly fine as this is the whole point of a car company unless a poor choice is actually affecting sales. If another manufacturer comes with a solution and it effect Lexus sales trust me they will ask their supplier to revise their design. Correct me if I'm wrong but on a Lexus is from 2008 you can switch tpms set with just a button, as for the ls you need to reprogram each set every time and even if it would have been more convenient to the user on the ls I'm pretty sure this omission have been made by choice from the manufacturer so you would have to go to the dealer each time. In the end cars need to die so people buys new one, and this air suspension design is certainly efficient to accelerate this tendency.
Hello Vansibel,
I have the exact same problem, the back of my car sits very low.
Tried to locate the fuses with no luck. Removed the plastic covers in the engine area, but no fuse named air suspension.
Not sure where to look.
Any idea?
Thank you,
DM1
A quick update to my suspension problem. Fuses look ok. I have connected Techstream to monitor the car. Tried to switch separately the wheel lifting commands. None of them work. The motor (compressor) relay switch works, it turns it on for second, then off again. Solenoids work. I can hear the relay,
Not sure what to do. The car sits on its a**e, and service can receive me not sooner than a month.
Attaching a screenshot.
Thank you!
i agree. Unfortunately, I have a 2013 with air. If I were to do it again I would buy one without air. I wanted the ultra luxury package and that only came with air. I need to make sure I have enough funds to replace the air components if/ when they fail. I really do not see a big difference between air vs non-air. I had a 2011 without air and the car rides very similarly. I also have AWD, so they got me with OEM parts. Last I looked one air strut was ~$950. Ouch......... I pray everyday that my suspension holds up!!!!!
The US market doesn't seem to have the ultra luxury package on the 460L 2010-12 (rear tv in between seats and rear right passenger seat with massage seats and leg-rest option). Thankfully it is available in the UAE market. And it easily comes without air suspension and that is what I'm planning to buy in the next 2 months after new year's when the market value will further depreciate.
I was planning to get a 2011 LS600 HL but after reading so many posts here I have changed my mind. Here the 2010-12 LS460L ultra has similar luxury features compared to a LS600 HL and that too without air suspension.
For the record this saga came to an end today. Got the part from Lexus but the guy at the garage said he couldn't work on the car until next week, but no ways I was gonna leave my car outside in the mud for a week. So called a tow truck and towed it at my place but without a proper lift it was really difficult to make the repair. And the 4 other garages close by didn't even want to touch it, closest Lexus dealer was almost 2 hours away. So manned up and with a combination of jack, ramp and crawling under there managed to get the repair done. Cleared the code and now the car have all 4 shock up in the air again. First guy was adamant I needed to drop the transmission to do this repair ans when I insisted that he remove the tube another way he actually broke several clips in the process by just tugging the tube out. But hopefully the part from Lexus came with brand new clip. Sometime you can't find anyone better than yourself to do the job right. A two post lift at home would have helped so much for this repair but unfortunately my garage is not high enough. But in the end everything worked out. I don't wish this kind of adventure on anyone though, that was not fun.
For the record this saga came to an end today. Got the part from Lexus but the guy at the garage said he couldn't work on the car until next week, but no ways I was gonna leave my car outside in the mud for a week. So called a tow truck and towed it at my place but without a proper lift it was really difficult to make the repair. And the 4 other garages close by didn't even want to touch it, closest Lexus dealer was almost 2 hours away. So manned up and with a combination of jack, ramp and crawling under there managed to get the repair done. Cleared the code and now the car have all 4 shock up in the air again. First guy was adamant I needed to drop the transmission to do this repair ans when I insisted that he remove the tube another way he actually broke several clips in the process by just tugging the tube out. But hopefully the part from Lexus came with brand new clip. Sometime you can't find anyone better than yourself to do the job right. A two post lift at home would have helped so much for this repair but unfortunately my garage is not high enough. But in the end everything worked out. I don't wish this kind of adventure on anyone though, that was not fun.
what an ***, never go back to that guy EVER needless to say... yeah can’t find good help these days ppl have no pride in their work
I know this thread is old, but wanted to follow up on another possible problem. 2 weeks ago came out to the car sitting on the rear end. Drove home, scanned it, same code-compressor drawing too much current. Reset, it pumps up and I can hear air on the rear right shock leaking. Find 2 used KYB on eBay, get them and replace the RR. All good until 3 days ago. Sitting down on left side rear now. Start it up and everything raises and operates properly until the next day. I am good at replacing the air shocks now and replace the RL, in about 45 min! This morning, sitting down low again! I am pissed. When I did the RR, I saw the solenoid under the fender liner that controls the air lines to the 2 rear shocks. Everything looked fine. I take the liner out today, spray with soapy water and the friggin' solenoid is leaking! Bubbles everywhere. Order one on eBay and it will be here in a few days. These systems are actually very simple and I enjoy the air ride. FYI car is 09 L with 133K miles. As someone said, you have to pay to play! Still love the car and will be a Lexus owner moving forward. I have had everything else and this is the best yet.
04-03-18, 02:37 PM
