This car just has 100,000 KM on it this week.

Today I took it for a drive, I heard a weird noise first, the noise was like air blewing out of some thing. It was short, last less than a second.

After a few KM after the noise, I drove over a small bump, and the rear suspenssion felt like it hit some thing very hard. 2 seconds later, I received a notice on the dash, it said check the headlight system visit the dealer.

I stopped and turned off the car and then turn it on again, the warning light was gone.

Not long after that, I notieced that the car was very bumping up and down when go throuhg small bumps.

I stopped and check the car, I saw both the rear wheel was lowerred, please check the photo I uploaded.

I drove about 110 km home with this condition.

There is no warning light or any notification came up.

I will definitely take it to the mechanics tomorrow, but before that, I would like to get some idea on what the problem would be as I have no experience or knowledge to it.

Thank you.

[Soved and updated]

 

Forget to mention, this car has the air suspension. After the problem, the Height High was not working for the rear suspension.

 

The air suspension is obviously the issue. There are several threads about this in this forum. Use the "search forum" feature top right side of this forum. Search term: air suspension. You'll find that the cost to repair/replace are quite high via dealer but there are several options as you read. Lots of good info. You'll learn more if you do the search yourself instead of me doing it for you.
It's like teach someone to fish vs giving them a fish.

 

Thanks for your post. Actually seraching on the forum was the first thing in my mind. I post this thread after I did the search. I am not asking repair cost, I am seeking help if anyone has the similar issue or experience.

 

OK. The air suspension failure is a known issue for LS 460. It's not premature or defective, just something that eventually happens to the air suspension. It's happened to a lot of owners and is often a reason to buy a used LS with standard suspension as the air will go out. Is that what you were looking to know?

 

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...apped-out.html maybe this is what you're looking for?
I found it by typing suspension failure in search and going to the second page of results.

 

I read that thread as well.

Yes, When I purchaed it I konw in the future I have to deal with it. I will choose the a/s any given day, it really makes the difference.

But if I remembered correctly, I did not see any LS460 failed with both rear suspension or front at the same time.

I am not saying it is a defect, I am sharing what I experience and want to know what caused it.

Would it be both struts failed at the same time? or is a sensor failure, or the airpump was the problem?

Can I still drive it?

Is it normal there is no warning lights to this problem?

Why the Check the Headlights warning was given and then it was gone?

 

found this tread https://www.clublexus.com/forums/hyb...l-dropppp.html

It suggests that if both rear dropped, it may be a leaking air suspension line.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...l-failure.html

this is another tread with the similiar issue.

 

Great because those questions are above my offhand knowledge level.

 

With a suspension as low as in the picture, is it safe to drive the car to the mechanics?

 

With both rear struts down, its probably not the struts, which is good news. Its likely a line or something like that.

Can you drive it? I wouldnt drive it much until its fixed. You dont want to take a chance of damaging the expensive struts. The check headlights is because of the auto-leveling system trying to cope with the level. It uses a sensor in the rear suspension to make the auto-leveling work.

 

Thank you Steven for explaining the light sensor in the rear.

After I spotted the problem, I drove it about 110 KM to home. So I was thinking if there would be additional damage to it.

I expected there would be a sensor on the air suspension system.

Once, the hood was not fully closed, I was informed by the dash.

 

SW17LS has been very extremely helpful and is quite knowledgeable. Encouraging possibility of air leak and not a major failure. If you have towing coverage, it's a safe way to get it to repair shop. I think that avoiding any possible further damage is smartest route. Please keep us apprised of what the mechanics find and good luck with a simple fix. I just bought a 2013 LS with 59k miles and hope my air suspension lasts well past 100k miles.

 

Thanks sw!

How far away is the mechanics shop?

 

it is about 3km. I did all the maintenance there. Not sure if they can do a job like this. I will confirm with them tomorrow.