HELP! AHC Pump Issue After Reservoir Drain/Refill (1 Viewer)

[Wes Gardner]

The saga continues! *bom bom bom bom*

So I ordered a new pump assembly from Dubai and it got to my door within a week (score!). I had maybe 2/3 a bottle of fluid left that I had purchased from Westside Lexus and then 4 unopened bottles I had purchased from Don McGill Toyota. I had one bottle from Lexus b/c Toyota didn't have 5 bottles at that time, IIRC.
This morning I installed the new pump. I then filtered the remaining fluid from the bottle from Lexus into a clear pitcher and it was pretty pink.
So that got transferred into the reservoir.

Next I did the same procedure with one of the bottles I got from Toyota... FAIL. See below.
After talking to parts at Don McGill Toyota I was told I could bring all the bottles back and get a refund. Great. I drove up to Westside Lexus, explained my dilemma and purchased 5 bottles of fluid from them. This was now the 5th person I've talked to at Toyota/Lexus who had "never heard of such a thing". Whatever. Moving on...
So far the 1st new bottle from Westside Lexus is clean, it's getting transferred to the reservoir. I'm taking video of every bottle I open and pour into the pitcher now.
Will keep y'all updated...

 

[e25price]

The saga continues! *bom bom bom bom*

So I ordered a new pump assembly from Dubai and it got to my door within a week (score!). I had maybe 2/3 a bottle of fluid left that I had purchased from Westside Lexus and then 4 unopened bottles I had purchased from Don McGill Toyota. I had one bottle from Lexus b/c Toyota didn't have 5 bottles at that time, IIRC.
This morning I installed the new pump. I then filtered the remaining fluid from the bottle from Lexus into a clear pitcher and it was pretty pink.
So that got transferred into the reservoir.

View attachment 2777245

Next I did the same procedure with one of the bottles I got from Toyota... FAIL. See below.
After talking to parts at Don McGill Toyota I was told I could bring all the bottles back and get a refund. Great. I drove up to Westside Lexus, explained my dilemma and purchased 5 bottles of fluid from them. This was now the 5th person I've talked to at Toyota/Lexus who had "never heard of such a thing". Whatever. Moving on...
So far the 1st new bottle from Westside Lexus is clean, it's getting transferred to the reservoir. I'm taking video of every bottle I open and pour into the pitcher now.
Will keep y'all updated...

View attachment 2777247

View attachment 2777248

Stay strong you got this

 

[Wes Gardner]

I wanted to give it a few days, some height cycles and driving miles before I reported back...
With the new pump, fresh (good) fluid and 2 full flushes the LX is back to normal and riding better than ever.

So here's how the fluid story ended...
I went back to Lexus and bought all new fluid, as stated above. Every bottle I purchased from Lexus was first poured into a clear pitcher for inspection. Every bottle was clean. In fact, all the bottles I bought from Lexus from both visits were clean. In contrast, every bottle that I purchased from Toyota from two different dealerships was dirty. Every bottle lol... This makes no sense to me. I was told by the parts manager at Lexus that all three dealerships are getting those bottles from the same distributor (Gulf States Toyota). Take from that whatever you like but in the future I will be spending the extra money and buying my fluid from Lexus even though I know it's the same damn product I can buy from Toyota for a better price. I've edited my first post on this thread with an AAR for whoever might find it later...

Now it's time for lift/wheels/tires

 

[JetFuel]

I wanted to give it a few days, some height cycles and driving miles before I reported back...
With the new pump, fresh (good) fluid and 2 full flushes the LX is back to normal and riding better than ever.

So here's how the fluid story ended...
I went back to Lexus and bought all new fluid, as stated above. Every bottle I purchased from Lexus was first poured into a clear pitcher for inspection. Every bottle was clean. In fact, all the bottles I bought from Lexus from both visits were clean. In contrast, every bottle that I purchased from Toyota from two different dealerships was dirty. Every bottle lol... This makes no sense to me. I was told by the parts manager at Lexus that all three dealerships are getting those bottles from the same distributor (Gulf States Toyota). Take from that whatever you like but in the future I will be spending the extra money and buying my fluid from Lexus even though I know it's the same damn product I can buy from Toyota for a better price. I've edited my first post on this thread with an AAR for whoever might find it later...

Now it's time for lift/wheels/tires

Same part numbers on the bottles from both places?

 

[Wes Gardner]

Same part numbers on the bottles from both places?

Same part number. Bottles looked identical as well.

 

[lx200inAR]

Not to rub any salt in wounds, but I guess there was no recourse with Toyota to help defray the costs of a new pump? I suspect that would be a tough proposition since it's not a new/newish vehicle and they'd have little incentive to reimburse you.

Either way, glad it worked out in the end.

 

[Wes Gardner]

Not to rub any salt in wounds, but I guess there was no recourse with Toyota to help defray the costs of a new pump? I suspect that would be a tough proposition since it's not a new/newish vehicle and they'd have little incentive to reimburse you.

Either way, glad it worked out in the end.

Toyota refunded my money for the fluid but I didn't even ask about any help with the new pump. The filter getting clogged was on them but the pump breaking was on me. I wouldn't feel right about asking for more then a refund on the fluid.

 

[BigLexusMN]

Glad you got it sorted out, Wes.

I bought 5 liters from McGeorge Toyota a few weeks ago (August 2021) and all five had good fluid in them. I did pour them into a glass container first to inspect (I did not filter them) and also pulled the filler filter after I pour them into the reservoir and it was always clean.

 

[radman]

I've been curious about why Toyota even stocks this item. I know overseas model land cruisers may have AHC, but how often are US dealers needing that fluid?

Maybe the toyota bottles have been sitting on the shelf (for years) vs the Lexus "flushes".

 

[JS22STL]

I'm curious as well.

 

[lx200inAR]

Technically you could get AHC on LC100s for 2 years (06-07). I don't know if that's enough of a reason to justify stocking it, but I guess Toyota thinks so.

 

[runnerxa]

There is always some older 2.5L AHC fluid stock on eBay if you don't trust the current 1L containers.

 

[saywhat]

Same part number. Bottles looked identical as well.

Are there any lot or batch numbers on these bottles?

I’m planning on doing my first AHC flush soon. I’ll plan on straining the fluid before pouring it down the reservoir tube regardless of where the fluid came from. Thanks for all the effort you’ve put into this. Will save many others like myself from potential issues.

 

[Wes Gardner]

Are there any lot or batch numbers on these bottles?

This was on all the bottles from Lexus but I don't know what numbers might be useful

 

[rybetts]

Similar problem north of the border...

Wish I had done my research and spent some time reading before taking my 2014 LX into the Lexus dealership for a AHC fluid replacement. Just went to pick it up today and immediately noticed something wrong when I entered the parking lot; the suspension looked slammed. I immediately had the AHC error message display on the cluster screen on start-up and could hear the high pitch wine from the pump operation that was referred to in this thread. Pump didn't operating very long on startup.

Confusing part was that when I questioned the Service Department, they replied that the system operated as designed following the service and road test. Is there any situation in where a pump fails that the suspension would drop from Neutral to Low? Their diagnoses is an 'Internal failure in pump assembly' attributed to the age of the system...bit of a coincidence this happened immediately after a fluid flushing. I'm now questioning the fluid and a potential clog.

Anyway, waiting for a new pump to come, which is being offered to me at cost with no charge in installation fees...I'm currently researching how I raise this issue higher with Lexus/Toyota to avoid payment for the new pump assembly.

 

[lx200inAR]

Similar problem north of the border...

Wish I had done my research and spent some time reading before taking my 2014 LX into the Lexus dealership for a AHC fluid replacement. Just went to pick it up today and immediately noticed something wrong when I entered the parking lot; the suspension looked slammed. I immediately had the AHC error message display on the cluster screen on start-up and could hear the high pitch wine from the pump operation that was referred to in this thread. Pump didn't operating very long on startup.

Confusing part was that when I questioned the Service Department, they replied that the system operated as designed following the service and road test. Is there any situation in where a pump fails that the suspension would drop from Neutral to Low? Their diagnoses is an 'Internal failure in pump assembly' attributed to the age of the system...bit of a coincidence this happened immediately after a fluid flushing. I'm now questioning the fluid and a potential clog.

Anyway, waiting for a new pump to come, which is being offered to me at cost with no charge in installation fees...I'm currently researching how I raise this issue higher with Lexus/Toyota to avoid payment for the new pump assembly.

I would definitely want to get a look at the fluid in the reservoir before they drain it. If it's all cloudy/goopy, then you know what caused the issue. Also, can't imagine the look on the guys face when you was telling you that it was a aged system failure that just happen to break before they ever gave the truck back to you.

Do you use "easy entry" or was it turned on when you got there? Possibly they turned that on and it lowered the truck, then couldn't lift it back up. It seems like a few of the failures have not been immediate, but usually after the pump has taken in enough of the new bad fluid to finally choke on it (this is speculation on part as this whole scenario is pretty new). If they were inquisitive techs like I would be, they may want to take the old pump out and see if they can clean the filter screens and get it working again.

 

[04UZJ100]

I

There is always some older 2.5L AHC fluid stock on eBay if you don't trust the current 1L containers.

Don’t trust ANY “Toyota” parts on eBay or Amazon.

 

[rybetts]

I would definitely want to get a look at the fluid in the reservoir before they drain it. If it's all cloudy/goopy, then you know what caused the issue. Also, can't imagine the look on the guys face when you was telling you that it was a aged system failure that just happen to break before they ever gave the truck back to you.

Do you use "easy entry" or was it turned on when you got there? Possibly they turned that on and it lowered the truck, then couldn't lift it back up. It seems like a few of the failures have not been immediate, but usually after the pump has taken in enough of the new bad fluid to finally choke on it (this is speculation on part as this whole scenario is pretty new). If they were inquisitive techs like I would be, they may want to take the old pump out and see if they can clean the filter screens and get it working again.

No easy entry was not on, and they said it was left in Neutral - who knows though.

Definitely not an inquisitive tech; his only other response was that "I've never seen this before". I wasn't sure if he was referring to the vehicle or the fact that the pump failed after his service work...both plausible I guess, haha. I hadn't eaten breakfast at the time (hangry) and was sure an outburst wasn't going to solve anything after my initial pleads for them to fix it resulted in a 'Goodwill' offer for a new pump @ cost and no labor charge.

I'm going back tomorrow once the pump arrives and before it's installed for further discussion.

 

[lx200inAR]

No easy entry was not on, and they said it was left in Neutral - who knows though.

Definitely not an inquisitive tech; his only other response was that "I've never seen this before". I wasn't sure if he was referring to the vehicle or the fact that the pump failed after his service work...both plausible I guess, haha. I hadn't eaten breakfast at the time (hangry) and was sure an outburst wasn't going to solve anything after my initial pleads for them to fix it resulted in a 'Goodwill' offer for a new pump @ cost and no labor charge.

I'm going back tomorrow once the pump arrives and before it's installed for further discussion.

Any word on this?

 

[rybetts]

Ultimately took the 'Goodwill' offer and had the new pump installed - everything has been working fine since taking back the keys. I did find that the vehicle raises much faster than it had before - maybe the pump had been starting to clog up with debris.

Anyway, I've got the old pump back with the fluid from the first flush. Haven't looked at it yet, but I plan to disassemble it and see what I can find out.