LX470 AHC Accumulators (Updated with pressures & comments) (1 Viewer)

[ChuckB]

I cant answer as well as Paddo, but have u measured hub to fender and looked at torsion bar corrections?.

I have. But, I'm going to do it all again. My problem is I haven't had enough time to do this evolution all at once. I get some time here or there to take care of one aspect.

In the front I was 485 mm on one side and 490mm on the other, 500mm being ideal. I have small tweaking to do there. My main concern is the rear at this point.

I guess what I'm really trying to do is validate my understanding of how the system operates. Now that I have new coils and spacers installed, my assumption is that reducing the height in the rear (via sensor adjustment) will bring the pressure down. I have read the "Definitive AHC Maintenance" thread at least twice, but probably need to do it again...

Also, where did you get your AHC springs? I will be looking for some soon.

See @beno for all your OEM part needs. I purchased the spacers from @cruiseroutfit.

 

[PADDO]

@ChuckB either extra height or extra weight or a combo of both in the rear will give higher than desired pressure readings. Check your heights and adjust if necessary. Also the FSM call for the temperature sensor to be disconnected when you raise from L to N to read rear pressures. Personally it doesn’t make a difference on my vehicle and several others I’ve worked on but some here have done it the FSM way and read lower rear pressures that were in line with expectations.

 

[ChuckB]

@ChuckB Also the FSM call for the temperature sensor to be disconnected when you raise from L to N to read rear pressures. Personally it doesn’t make a difference on my vehicle and several others I’ve worked on but some here have done it the FSM way and read lower rear pressures that were in line with expectations.

Thanks!

@PADDO, learn something new everyday. Will check heights and then go from there.

 

[TXLX007]

High position

Neutral height

Low height

Back to Neutral height

Are these pressures within normal limits?

 

[trdcorolla]

That looks normal if you haven't adjusted your torsion bars yet. You might need a rear spacer to help if your springs are sagging.

 

[TXLX007]

So, How many turns on the Torsion Bar bolt do you suggest?

 

[boobird]

My vehicle would lift rear then front before the globe/accumulator swap, but still functioned pretty quickly from L to H. Now it lifts evenly.

So a normal functioning AHC drops and lifts the vehicle front/rear evenly?

 

[uHu]

No, not to my experience. Lifting is random, in all variations. Lowering is more even.

 

[Blake1]

I just did this without all the measuring

3 turns on the torsion bars

30 mm spacers

New fluid

This is the trifecta .. I got the cable but was too fiddly invested one hour on software and could not figure it out ... I went the dumb route on my 2001

I replaced gloves in 2015 when at 7 gradients .. and sold this old globes for 200 bucks at the time ... cheers !

 

[todiy]

To get the most damping out of your tired accumulators you should try and relieve as much hydraulic preload on them as practical by getting the front pressure down around 6.7MPa and the rear below 6MPa. It makes a difference.

Would those readings be the same for 2011 LX570?

 

[JPOD]

Hi guys, I have a 2005 LX470. I think my globes/accumulators have worn out or are just starting to.
My car feels like it has 60PSI in the tyres (Im only running 30 on soft Dunlop Grandtrek tyres). I feel every bump in the road, and going over expansion joints, drains, or the cats eyes in the middle of the road along the lane markings is uncomfortable with the car feeling very stiff. Changing from comfort to sport mode has no effect.
The car does not "bounce" however as described by many with worn/bad globes. It might possibly feel a little "boat like" going around corners but nothing too bad and overall drives well except for not handling bumps.
Just feels extremely rigid and hard riding when hitting some sort of small bump in the road.
Have done the L to H test and getting about 6/7 variations on the reservoir tank.
Do you have to experience the "bouncing" to assume bad globes? Or is the first sign of bad globes a rigid ride and the "bouncing" will present itself as the globes get progressively worse?
Maybe @PADDO can shed some light on this?
Lexus in Perth Australia have quoted $6,000AUD just for the globe part and no installation. Seems very expensive.
Thanks and much appreciated.

 

[Luma]

Hi guys, I have a 2005 LX470. I think my globes/accumulators have worn out or are just starting to.
My car feels like it has 60PSI in the tyres (Im only running 30 on soft Dunlop Grandtrek tyres). I feel every bump in the road, and going over expansion joints, drains, or the cats eyes in the middle of the road along the lane markings is uncomfortable with the car feeling very stiff. Changing from comfort to sport mode has no effect.
The car does not "bounce" however as described by many with worn/bad globes. It might possibly feel a little "boat like" going around corners but nothing too bad and overall drives well except for not handling bumps.
Just feels extremely rigid and hard riding when hitting some sort of small bump in the road.
Have done the L to H test and getting about 6/7 variations on the reservoir tank.
Do you have to experience the "bouncing" to assume bad globes? Or is the first sign of bad globes a rigid ride and the "bouncing" will present itself as the globes get progressively worse?
Maybe @PADDO can shed some light on this?
Lexus in Perth Australia have quoted $6,000AUD just for the globe part and no installation. Seems very expensive.
Thanks and much appreciated.

Hi, $6000 is ridiculous. If you need to buy accumulators here is the best price:

Impex is LEGIT 4 new AHC globes. Door To Door from Japan, less than 2 weeks

It's criminal what the dealership's charge for these. Got everything in time to change the globes this holiday weekend. All in including enough AHC fluid for 2 or 3 flushes if necessary

forum.ih8mud.com

If you haven't already read the following it's a great place to start learning about AHC:

The ABCs of AHC - How to Measure, Flush, and Adjust all in one place

I initially put this in the Definitive list of AHC maintenance items thread, but at almost 800 posts long and growing, it's going to get buried and the thread itself is very unwieldy. In an attempt to make as focused a summary as possible, I present "The ABCs of AHC." It's intended as a...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[2001LC]

Hi guys, I have a 2005 LX470. I think my globes/accumulators have worn out or are just starting to.
My car feels like it has 60PSI in the tyres (Im only running 30 on soft Dunlop Grandtrek tyres). I feel every bump in the road, and going over expansion joints, drains, or the cats eyes in the middle of the road along the lane markings is uncomfortable with the car feeling very stiff. Changing from comfort to sport mode has no effect.
The car does not "bounce" however as described by many with worn/bad globes. It might possibly feel a little "boat like" going around corners but nothing too bad and overall drives well except for not handling bumps.
Just feels extremely rigid and hard riding when hitting some sort of small bump in the road.
Have done the L to H test and getting about 6/7 variations on the reservoir tank.
Do you have to experience the "bouncing" to assume bad globes? Or is the first sign of bad globes a rigid ride and the "bouncing" will present itself as the globes get progressively worse?
Maybe @PADDO can shed some light on this?
Lexus in Perth Australia have quoted $6,000AUD just for the globe part and no installation. Seems very expensive.
Thanks and much appreciated.

You may have pressures set to high, check and adjust.

You may have 1 or more ruptured globes:

I start by driving over speed bump. Does it feel hard like no suspension and rock from one side to the other? Yes. Now drive with only one side rolling over bump, keeping other side on flat/smooth ground. Then do same for other side. The side that is hard and rocks vehicle, likely has a bad globe. If front felt smooth as it went over bump, and rear hard and rocking. Then rear on that side bad.

 

[JPOD]

You may have pressures set to high, check and adjust.

You may have 1 or more ruptured globes:

I start by driving over speed bump. Does it feel hard like no suspension and rock from one side to the other? Yes. Now drive with only one side rolling over bump, keeping other side on flat/smooth ground. Then do same for other side. The side that is hard and rocks vehicle, likely has a bad globe. If front felt smooth as it went over bump, and rear hard and rocking. Then rear on that side bad.

Thanks for that. I have gone over bumps etc to test already. Seems like front and back are as firm as each other and so is each corner.
I don’t experience any punching or rocking so to speak. Just a very firm uncomfortable ride.
What pressure might be set to high? How do I check?

 

[2001LC]

I miss spoke. If pressure to high, system will fail to raise.
Goal is 6.9 frt, 5.6Mpa rear.
Pressure to low. Meaning riding to much on T-bar and spring (weight on T-bar and springs).

 

[JPOD]

I miss spoke. If pressure to high, system will fail to raise.
Goal is 6.9 frt, 5.6Mpa rear.
Pressure to low. Meaning riding to much on T-bar and spring (weight on T-bar and springs).

Copy, car raises and lowers fine but only has about 6 increments of fluid movement on the fluid canister.
Car just creates a noisy (bumps make a doof doof noise) stiff ride.

 

[suprarx7nut]

Hi guys, I have a 2005 LX470. I think my globes/accumulators have worn out or are just starting to.
My car feels like it has 60PSI in the tyres (Im only running 30 on soft Dunlop Grandtrek tyres). I feel every bump in the road, and going over expansion joints, drains, or the cats eyes in the middle of the road along the lane markings is uncomfortable with the car feeling very stiff. Changing from comfort to sport mode has no effect.
The car does not "bounce" however as described by many with worn/bad globes. It might possibly feel a little "boat like" going around corners but nothing too bad and overall drives well except for not handling bumps.
Just feels extremely rigid and hard riding when hitting some sort of small bump in the road.
Have done the L to H test and getting about 6/7 variations on the reservoir tank.
Do you have to experience the "bouncing" to assume bad globes? Or is the first sign of bad globes a rigid ride and the "bouncing" will present itself as the globes get progressively worse?
Maybe @PADDO can shed some light on this?
Lexus in Perth Australia have quoted $6,000AUD just for the globe part and no installation. Seems very expensive.
Thanks and much appreciated.

Copy, car raises and lowers fine but only has about 6 increments of fluid movement on the fluid canister.
Car just creates a noisy (bumps make a doof doof noise) stiff ride.

I believe the "pogo stick" feeling you're reading about is from a 100% dead, completely empty globe. The globe(s) can also just be worn out, but not yet ruptured. If they are worn out around 6-7 gradations, I would expect the ride to feel horribly harsh as you describe. The globes are wear items. They're meant to be replaced just like shock absorbers - because that's what they are.

$6000 just for the part for a globe is laughable. That's just plain wrong - even with absurd markups.

Find a shop that knows what the AHC system is and how it works. Or learn to DIY it yourself. You want Techstream or a similar scanner tool to read pressures.

Keep in mind with AHC: If you don't fully understand it, you may as well know nothing about it. Educate yourself (it's free and well documented on here) and then seek out a shop with some of that knowledge. If they quote $6,000 for one globe, you can cross them off your list and find another shop.

 

[JPOD]

I believe the "pogo stick" feeling you're reading about is from a 100% dead, completely empty globe. The globe(s) can also just be worn out, but not yet ruptured. If they are worn out around 6-7 gradations, I would expect the ride to feel horribly harsh as you describe. The globes are wear items. They're meant to be replaced just like shock absorbers - because that's what they are.

$6000 just for the part for a globe is laughable. That's just plain wrong - even with absurd markups.

Find a shop that knows what the AHC system is and how it works. Or learn to DIY it yourself. You want Techstream or a similar scanner tool to read pressures.

Keep in mind with AHC: If you don't fully understand it, you may as well know nothing about it. Educate yourself (it's free and well documented on here) and then seek out a shop with some of that knowledge. If they quote $6,000 for one globe, you can cross them off your list and find another shop.

Thanks, yes I assumed the “pogo” bouncing feeling would occur in completely failed globes and the harsh “stiff” ride that I experience is from the globes starting to deteriorate.
Just to clarify… $6,000AUD was for a set of 4 globes, not a single globe.

 

[suprarx7nut]

Thanks, yes I assumed the “pogo” bouncing feeling would occur in completely failed globes and the harsh “stiff” ride that I experience is from the globes starting to deteriorate.
Just to clarify… $6,000AUD was for a set of 4 globes, not a single globe.

Ah, ok gotcha. That's pretty typical "full dealer markup" in the USA too. Impex is somewhere around $150 pretty globe. US dealers tend to be around $750-1200 per globe.

Don't feed the non-value add middlemen. Buy from impex, amayama, partsouq or some other importer/exporter leveraging arbitrage to exploit the insane markups on parts.

 

[JPOD]

Hi everyone, a little update... Replaced the globes and fluid, very little difference in ride quality. Still very stiff and loud when going over smallish bumps etc, like tyres are inflated to 50psi. Any other suggestions as what would cause a lack of dampening?
Im running brand new Dunlop Grandtrek AT5 tyres at 32psi, they should be a soft ride so I think we can eliminate tyres.

It feels as if it's stuck in "sport" mode, however when you put the computer into the ECU, the computer is recognising switching between comfort and sport mode.... but I feel no difference in ride quality when driving between the modes....

I have been over speed bumps at 20kph one wheel at a time and there seems no difference between front and back, left or right. in other words all 4 corners of the car seem to be riding the same.

Any help appreciated.
Thanks.