Hood is falling. Holds for a few seconds then falls. I have a 93 ES, anyone know what those gas lifters are called?

 

hood shocks.

 

I just replaced one of the hood struts on my wife's 94 ES earlier this week. Apparently all of these struts eventually fail.

I had read on this forum or on the LOC forum about using the struts for the Camry since they are cheaper. As I understand it, the Camry struts fit but the ball joint which attaches to the hood will not easily separate from the strut itself, and the new Camry struts do not come with a new ball joint. I did not actually go through this process, but I understand that the ball joint can be separated by grinding or cutting into the ball joint cavity at the end of the strut and pulling out a small clip which prevents the ball joint from separating from the strut. The ball joint thus removed is then attached to the new Camry strut.

The 94 Camry strut, Mighty Lift part #E95276, was $37.99 at my local Auto Zone. The addition of sales tax took the purchase price to a bit over $40.00.

The OEM Lexus struts, part numbers 53450-39065 (left side) and 53440-39065 (right side), are available from Park Place Lexus in Texas (www.newlexusparts.com) for $52.50 each, and they pay shipping costs.

For a price difference of about $12.00, and with the hassle involved in cutting out the ball joint clip to use the Camry strut, I decided to go with the Lexus strut. I only replaced one of them, but it has enough strength to hold the hood open.

I understand that the 92-94 ES models use the same hood struts.

Hope this is helpful.

 

Beautiful advice.

 

FWIW, my friend's '93 Camry had the same issue. He just uses a 2x4 to prop it up. The car is so reliable, he rarely needs to work under the hood anyway.

 

Welcome to one of Lexus' most annoying flaws.

 

actually it happens to all pneumatic hood and trunk supports eventually. This is not a Lexus specific problem.

steviej

 

Mine were totally shot too. I have a 92 es300. The struts are totally useless, they don't hold the hood at all. In fact, first time I opened it I thought they were in backwards because if felt like they were pulling the thing down. Anway you can do an eBay search for lexus hood shock or strut or support and something should come up. I got 2 for about $65.

 

yup there's an ebay seller (momoscaraposa) selling oem hood struts for $65shipped for both sides L&R including all bolts&hardwares 92-96&97-01ES

 

Cool, I got them from the same guy, they work fantastic.

As a temporary measure, a thin round piece of wood around 3 ft long works perfectly if you jam it into the middle by the hood latch. My wife wouldnt volunteer to hold the hood up while I was fixing it.
Can you believe that?