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Air Suspension strut rattle


Peter67
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I replaced a rear air strut on my 2007 LS460 a couple of months ago as the previous strut had "gone hard" and was seized. I bought the new part from www.amayama.com. Arrived in the Toyota box in 3 days and was the correct part. I replaced the strut myself and it was a 30 minute job and seemed very straightforward. The most time consuming bit was removing all the rear seats and lifting the rear parcel shelf to undo the mounts. I re-used the solenoid device called the Absorber Actuator. Almost immediately after returning to the road I could hear a rattle going over every bump - apart from that the suspension is very smooth. I suspected that the actuator was defective as I have seen some tech bulletins about this so i purchased a used replacement online and I fitted this. All was quiet for a few days and then the rattle began to return. Its not as bad as before (yet) but I wonder (a)was the used solenoid somewhat defective or (b)did I make a mistake of some sort installing the strut and perhaps missed something???

Also did a front end suspension rebuild at the same time replacing all 8 control arms and anti roll bar drop links, brake discs and pads. The upper arms were shot as were the lower arm connecting the strut so I did the lot. New tyres fitted also and the front end is now solid and really tight -so is the back end except for the damn rattle. I am doing 35,000km a year so needed to get all back in order.

Peter

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By the sound of it you are highly competent with car repairs but did the new strut come with a new top reinforcement ring or did you take it off the old strut and swop it over to the new one?

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Hi Steve. I swapped it off the older strut. The rattle is not as bad with the replacement actuator that I fitted. Although it may gradually get worse. Its very puzzling. I am reluctant to pony up for a brand new actuator if that doesn't fix it. Do you know if the Actuator part has been superceded in some way and perhaps I am fitting the old one (Denso 89241-30040) perhaps its not fully compatible with the new strut? It just seems to be a small rotary DC actuator with 10 or 11 steps through 120deg of rotation. I guess it rotates and changes the damper setting through comfort-normal-sport but other than that it doesnt do any work as such. 

I expected the air strut to be very difficult to replace but actually it was much easier than even a regular spring strut.  The strut air connections on the LS460 are in a much easier location than the LS430 (i think they are located in the engine area / inner win) but on the 460 they are right there in front of you.

Peter

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It may have been superceded but not showing on the database I have access to, the same part id fitted to the later GS range and the LS430.

There was a post recently regarding a clunking after replacing a spring on an LS which was the result of tightening one of the bolts with the car still raised off the ground instead of doing it with the wheels back on the ground, caused some sort of misalignment so maybe worth checking.

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