Newbiw UZJ100

[vcheng]

Delurking after quite a while over on the 80s board, I wanted to put in a mail here too since this is the board for the 100 series.

I hope to benefit from the tech info here and perhaps contribute if I can. I am not averse to getting my hands dirty for the routine stuff and hope to do some 4 wheeling at some point.

Glad to be a member here!

Edit: I'm still low on caffeine, but the title should read "Newbie". Sorry about that.

 

[e9999]

well, welcome! You have a 470 IIRC, right? so yes, this is the place for you, don't waste your time with the 80 lowlives... they're still stuck with solid axles and brewed coffee...

 

[vcheng]

Yep, UZJ100. Hey, anybody on IH8MUD is fine by me, 100 series or not.

The truck goes in this Friday to replace ALL height sensors (the rear one was previously replaced but the AHC is acting up again). Other than that, great rig.

I was thinking to finding, or rigging some sort of cover for the sensors to reduce the chances of internal corrosion brought on by the salt used in the NorthEast.

The tech who replaced the rear sensor a year ago opened up the new sensor and applied some special grease around the O-ring before he installed it. The problem however may be along the pivot shaft that comes out the other end. The seal along the body of the sensor can be sealed up with liquid electrical tape easily, but the shaft has me thinking for a better solution.

 

[subspd]

What year 100?

 

[vcheng]

2005, about 8700 miles by now.

 

[tabraha]

vcheng, welcome to the 100 board. Definitely go into your "user cp" and setup a signature for your vehicle. Makes it easy if you have any ?'s down the road. Hope that AHC gets taken care of for you. A 2005 w/ 8700 miles should have NO hiccups!

 

[vcheng]

Yes, I need to set up a profile. Will take care of it soon, and thanks for the welcome.

 

[vcheng]

Well, I dropped off the truck today, and received it back at about 3 pm. Both the front sensors and the rear AHC sensors were changed under warranty. The truck is still about 1/2 inch lower on the left, but all the measurements came out within factory specifications for chassis height.

It turns out that the all the old sensors had internal corrosion. The tech doing the work applied liquid electrical tape (a rubberized sealing solution) to the body joint. However, he also told me that the leakage appears to be at the shaft base, not the body joint of the sensor.

I think some innovation may be in order to improve the sealing of these sensors. I can drive the truck with its a** in the air, but the problem is that the last time it malfunctioned it was inside the garage, and thus was too high to get out. That, as you can guess, creates a major problem by stranding me, and having to consider bringing the well to the horse rather than the other way around.

 

[spressomon]

Welcome vcheng...kinda depressing to hear about your defect issues with less than 10K on a 1-year old vehicle

 

[vcheng]

I too am disappointed with this aspect of the truck, which is otherwise a fine machine. I hope that Toyota comes out with a revised and improved part to help us with this issue who live in the salt sprayed northeast.

Thanks for the welcome.

 

[uzj100]

That is really strange because they have been selling Lexus LX470s with AHC in NY since 1998.

uzj100

 

[Drinkin40s]

How could you tell that the sensors were out of whack? Was the front lower and the rear stay up high? I have flashbacks to friends with Rovers who had air suspension problems and drove around squatted.

 

[vcheng]

Inconsistency

How could you tell that the sensors were out of whack? Was the front lower and the rear stay up high? I have flashbacks to friends with Rovers who had air suspension problems and drove around squatted.

The ride height was inconsistent. Everytime the truck was started, or the suspension raised or lowered, it would settle at a different height (about one inch, enough to notice) front to back or right to left. It had happened to the back sensor previously, so it looked like only a matter of time before the front sensors gave out.

Rather than risk getting stuck in the garage, I opted to have them changed since they would be covered by the warranty. What happens after the warranty runs out, or another winter on these new sensors remains to be seen.