My AHC failed (1 Viewer)

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Thanks for posting this picture. All too often we see people considering North East LX purchases posting with title "Too much rust?" This is exactly why you need to be leery buying an LX with any significant level of rust. These lines are the first to go for some reason. Probably because they are extremely high pressure and they can't use more rust resistant metals (pure speculation).

Sorry you had to deal with this. You might want to crawl around and make sure there are no other trouble spots lurking. I'd also like to see the overall rust on the undercarriage if you could snap a few pics. Would be great reference material.

Thanks, wasn't my rig. I work at an undisclosed shop and have done numerous repairs on AHC systems. I've never seen any line corrode other than that particular one.
 
Mine was about $1,900+ so similar to yours. It sucks.

Well Lexus dealer called me - turns out they replaced the wrong part (that cost $800) and realized when they put it on it was still leaking, and it ended up being another part that costs $700 less, so the bill will be cheaper (Prob $1,300 instead of initial $2,000) and they will just keep the (wrong) part installed and give it to me, and will then install the right part. Never had that happen to me but oh well, it is what it is. I gotta find out the name of the 2 parts they are referring to
 
Well Lexus dealer called me - turns out they replaced the wrong part (that cost $800) and realized when they put it on it was still leaking, and it ended up being another part that costs $700 less, so the bill will be cheaper (Prob $1,300 instead of initial $2,000) and they will just keep the (wrong) part installed and give it to me, and will then install the right part. Never had that happen to me but oh well, it is what it is. I gotta find out the name of the 2 parts they are referring to
Your ticket should show the part numbers and from there we can figure it out. If they don’t list the number for the incorrect part ask for that too.
 
My 13 LX AHC just failed with similar symptoms. I'll check the lines to see whether it was corrosion or the two lines rubbing. Hopefully it's just the lines and not anything more serious.
 
I took a quick look and I belive it failed where @NoClue mentioned, where the tube has the heat wrap right above the exhaust. The rest of the tube is rust free. The area where the two lines might rub near the shock are clean. Now to find that tube part number. I belive it's 48998-60010 but not sure.
 
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Nope. Never noticed any leaking at all. I never use the system intentionally. It only kicks in when I'm at a stoplight on a slope. Honestly I wish it just had regular springs since I never plan to offroad it.
I have a LC with AHC ( Common in Europe) and it also kicks in at a sloped stoplight. It often triggers an alarm in my head like something is wrong because it's not very subtle
 
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I'm getting ready to replace the rusted line on mine. For those of you who have done it, did you use any hydraulic line sealant? I couldn't find a FSM. Unfortunately, the FSM ISO that someone created is no longer available for download.
 
I'm getting ready to replace the rusted line on mine. For those of you who have done it, did you use any hydraulic line sealant? I couldn't find a FSM. Unfortunately, the FSM ISO that someone created is no longer available for download.
No, just anti-seize on the threads and then be sure to cut away and discard the heat shield wrap on the new line
 
No, just anti-seize on the threads and then be sure to cut away and discard the heat shield wrap on the new line
Have you had any heat problems with the heat wrap removed? I was planning to remove it and add a hard heat shield to the exhaust pipe or just spray the heat wrap over with high temp paint to prevent it from rusting.
 
Verified there was no contact on the lines discussed earlier in the thread today.

Could not locate insulated hard lines to remove - where/what lines exactly are insulated that have or tend to corrode?
 
Verified there was no contact on the lines discussed earlier in the thread today.

Could not locate insulated hard lines to remove - where/what lines exactly are insulated that have or tend to corrode?
I'll take a video and post it. It's a continuation of one of the lines that you checked that might have contact. I have it loose but still in place to take the video.
 
Here's a short video of the tube that failed because of rust on my 13 LX. At this point it's partially removed. The picture shows the new tube compared to the old one. If you don't want to replace any brackets, you only need to unscrew the tube at three places. I decided to replace the two brackets that hold the tube as well. They're fairly cheap.

The part circled in green is easily accessible and wasn't that much of a problem. The part circled in yellow gave me the most trouble. It's very tight in there. A mixture of fixed wrenches with different angles as well as a set of ratcheting wrenches helped a lot. The part circled in red is where my tube failed because of the heat wrap. I painted over the heat wrap on the new tube with high heat temp paint to prevent this from happening again (blue arrow). I'll monitor the tube yearly to see how the paint holds up.

Overall this isn't that bad of a job if you have a decent set of wrenches and don't round one of the bolts like I did. I also had to unhang the exhaust from the three rear rubber hangers to allow the old tube to come out and the new one to go in.

20210428_125808.jpg
 
Here's a short video of the tube that failed because of rust on my 13 LX. At this point it's partially removed. The picture shows the new tube compared to the old one. If you don't want to replace any brackets, you only need to unscrew the tube at three places. I decided to replace the two brackets that hold the tube as well. They're fairly cheap.

The part circled in green is easily accessible and wasn't that much of a problem. The part circled in yellow gave me the most trouble. It's very tight in there. A mixture of fixed wrenches with different angles as well as a set of ratcheting wrenches helped a lot. The part circled in red is where my tube failed because of the heat wrap. I painted over the heat wrap on the new tube with high heat temp paint to prevent this from happening again (blue arrow). I'll monitor the tube yearly to see how the paint holds up.

Overall this isn't that bad of a job if you have a decent set of wrenches and don't round one of the bolts like I did. I also had to unhang the exhaust from the three rear rubber hangers to allow the old tube to come out and the new one to go in.

View attachment 2673970
Thanks so much. Don’t see a video - perhaps broken link?
 
Where did the line fail? Was it inside the section that was heat wrapped ?
 
Keep in mind that the AHC is always working whether you raise or lower manually. It works as you drive to provide the ride, you can't turn it off.

Glad I passed on all the northern LXs I ran into, I almost pulled the trigger on 2 northern ones that had some rust underneath. Not a lot, but enough to pass. Cars don't rust down here so why would I buy one that had it?

That said, I think the AHC is a very reliable system if you change the fluid. Mine was done by the PO at 85k miles, along with all diffs and transfer case.
 
Thanks so much. Don’t see a video - perhaps broken link?
I tried to upload it through the forum but I just realized that mp4s aren't accepted. I'll see what I can do. It's just a very short video showing the position of the tube in relation to the rear driver shock.
Where did the line fail? Was it inside the section that was heat wrapped ?
It actually failed at one of the edges, right outside the heat wrap. More specifically, the left side of the tube in my last pic.
 
I tried to upload it through the forum but I just realized that mp4s aren't accepted. I'll see what I can do. It's just a very short video showing the position of the tube in relation to the rear driver shock.

It actually failed at one of the edges, right outside the heat wrap. More specifically, the left side of the tube in my last pic.
When under the truck - what/where is line connected to and located? Trying my best to visualize the system and find the suspect line without the video. Appreciate the help!
 
Yeah, you would think. My experience has been the same, but they see so few of these for anything more than normal service. I think most of the techs are pretty capable, but some go many years without doing an AHC repair.
It's a very reliable system and like you said, does not get serviced often. Combine that with the fact that it is a rare car to begin with, and that LX owners are more your Mall Crawlers/not very abusive on the system... then i can definitely see the system going something like 300k and seeing nothing but a fluid flush. Even in the world of Toyotas/Lexus, the AHC system in the GXs/LXs are a rare thing. I don't blame them for not knowing really, as it's knowledge that isn't very practical vast majority of the time even for a Lexus tech.
 

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