KDSS leak?

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Joined
May 6, 2013
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4,188
Location
UP Washington
Getting ready to slap on some new tires and noticed what appears to be the front KDSS piston leaking, anyone been down this road yet? All I saw was $$$$$$$ signs in my head:):beer::poop::censor::worms::bang:

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Dude, you can’t take a bad picture! Look at the sand!

Seriously though I have no idea what’s that going to cost. Your girl is in college right? I’d ignore the leak! :)
 
Dude, you can’t take a bad picture! Look at the sand!

Seriously though I have no idea what’s that going to cost. Your girl is in college right? I’d ignore the leak! :)
Thanks for the props on the pics:) I'll proly ignore it for awhile cause that's how I roll, my only concern is this system is over 400 psi or something like that and my guess is that once you start to lose pressure in the system the rig is gonna handle like s*** at speed with no swaybars essentially right? Just checked the factory SST is about 1700 bucks, worse case I buy the tool and part and figure it out myself:)
 
Or maybe I'll just gut the KDSS and figure out some traditional sway bars if this goes south:)
 
I’d try to fix it, I think this over complicated crap is a key part of why these things drive so nice!! Sometimes we just have to bite the bullet. I’m sure someone on here has worked on one. It’s a bad seal, changing it is the tricky part!
 
I don’t get why there wouldn’t be fluid below that kdss cylinder if there was a fluid leak. Any chance it is something else that got on the boot?
 
I would clean it and make sure it’s not from another source, like a CV grease.

I had a similar issue after a lift and couldn’t get the lean out. Took it to the dealer and they suspected a leakbecause the boot had marks like yours. after the dealer did a pressure test and a complete KDSS repressure, it was all for nothing. No leak was present and the lean was fixed my shimming the front strut with a small spacer.

$700 excursion for no benefit.

clean it with some degreaser and run it for awhile, then decide.
 
I don’t get why there wouldn’t be fluid below that kdss cylinder if there was a fluid leak. Any chance it is something else that got on the boot?
The boot hides the polished metal shaft of the piston assembly.. if the main external dynamic seal were leaking gravity would pull any oil down the shaft, then I could easily see it weeping out the lower boot clamp surface and back up, wetting all that is visible in the picture.

I’m picturing a very small leak, and since the KDSS fluid is so thin it tends to weep and spread instead of just drip downward.
 
Has anyone tackled this? I just saw it too after three hard days in the San Juans of CO. I reckon I’ll clean it and monitor for awhile. So far no odd behavior on highway home.

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No experience with the fix. But don’t forget the accumulators will be able to make up for some fluid loss. If it’s only weeping, it could be a long time before you notice degraded performance. I would expect the drivers side to sag once pressure was lost as the KDSS system. I’d personally kick the can down the road as far as I could, but also curious to hear about people tackling the job!
 
Another weeper here, just noticed it...

Curious on others experiences

I see the valve is about $850-ish, if not rebuildable
 
Where is the leak?

Haven’t narrowed it down, literally noticed it today

Boot looks identical to the pics above
 
Haven’t narrowed it down, literally noticed it today

Boot looks identical to the pics above
Ah yeah, I was confused by the mention of the valve. If anything I’m betting it’s the main pressure seal in the front ram. Parts aren’t available from Toyota but I’d bet a good hydraulic shop that works on cylinders and such can source them.

The bigger issue may be getting the tools and procedure to charge the system again.
 
Ah yeah, I was confused by the mention of the valve. If anything I’m betting it’s the main pressure seal in the front ram. Parts aren’t available from Toyota but I’d bet a good hydraulic shop that works on cylinders and such can source them.

The bigger issue may be getting the tools and procedure to charge the system again.

Ah, yes, but the ram, proper name

Some OEM websites call it a valve. My bad. Good catch
 

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