Rx300 Sel Suspension

[m'ladys husband]

Good day all you Lexus RX owners,

You will possibly have seen our postings on the forum about the Lurching problems with the gearbox on the Rx300.

This morning, we went to the car tofind it had sunk on the offside front.

It looks as if the entire air suspension system has died overnight and when I tried the car on the road it is, to say the least, unpredictable.

It will not go in a straight line and the braking makes the car shoot all over the place.

I had inteneded to drive it to Lexus Southampton today but I think

I will have to call recovery to trailer it to the dealership for sorting out.

Has any other 300 SEL owwner had this issue and if so what was it, did it recur and if you have any other feedback it would be much appreciated.

Ever thought you had bought a car from a fruitshop and not a motor dealer - think LEMON!

Michael.

[peter026]

Strewth............you're not having much luck Michael are you.....Hope you get everything sorted soon

Makes the Lexus motto look slightly sick

[RxMike]

Good day all you Lexus RX owners,

You will possibly have seen our postings on the forum about the Lurching problems with the gearbox on the Rx300.

This morning, we went to the car tofind it had sunk on the offside front.

It looks as if the entire air suspension system has died overnight and when I tried the car on the road it is, to say the least, unpredictable.

It will not go in a straight line and the braking makes the car shoot all over the place.

I had inteneded to drive it to Lexus Southampton today but I think

I will have to call recovery to trailer it to the dealership for sorting out.

Has any other 300 SEL owwner had this issue and if so what was it, did it recur and if you have any other feedback it would be much appreciated.

Ever thought you had bought a car from a fruitshop and not a motor dealer - think LEMON!

Michael.

Michael

Hello once again.

It would seem as if your leveling sensors have failed.

I came back to mine about 9 months ago and found it like this after it had been parked for some hours.

The sensors were replaced under warrenty and it is worth pointing out that to my knowledge, Toyota have a known fault with an older type of sensor fitted to 2004 model car years. The replacement sensors are of a modified design and should not fail. I believe this fault has been apparent on all Toyota cars fitted with air suspension.

There are a couple of threads on this in the forum somewhere as others have complained about it before. The sensors will only be replaced once they have failed though, and no recall or retro fit is being carried out unless your cars exhibits the problem which doesn't help you if they fail after the warrenty has expired.

Should be a straight forward fix at the dealership and they will no doubt be aware of the problem. Mine was still drivable.

Good Luck

RxMike

[m'ladys husband]

Good day all you Lexus RX owners,

You will possibly have seen our postings on the forum about the Lurching problems with the gearbox on the Rx300.

This morning, we went to the car tofind it had sunk on the offside front.

It looks as if the entire air suspension system has died overnight and when I tried the car on the road it is, to say the least, unpredictable.

It will not go in a straight line and the braking makes the car shoot all over the place.

I had inteneded to drive it to Lexus Southampton today but I think

I will have to call recovery to trailer it to the dealership for sorting out.

Has any other 300 SEL owwner had this issue and if so what was it, did it recur and if you have any other feedback it would be much appreciated.

Ever thought you had bought a car from a fruitshop and not a motor dealer - think LEMON!

Michael.

Michael

Hello once again.

It would seem as if your leveling sensors have failed.

I came back to mine about 9 months ago and found it like this after it had been parked for some hours.

The sensors were replaced under warrenty and it is worth pointing out that to my knowledge, Toyota have a known fault with an older type of sensor fitted to 2004 model car years. The replacement sensors are of a modified design and should not fail. I believe this fault has been apparent on all Toyota cars fitted with air suspension.

There are a couple of threads on this in the forum somewhere as others have complained about it before. The sensors will only be replaced once they have failed though, and no recall or retro fit is being carried out unless your cars exhibits the problem which doesn't help you if they fail after the warrenty has expired.

Should be a straight forward fix at the dealership and they will no doubt be aware of the problem. Mine was still drivable.

Good Luck

RxMike

Hi Mike,

Good to hear from you again.

I am particularly interested in your point about the sensor being an 04 model year fault.

You may recall that we were lent an 05 model year car when LGB told us that the 05 ECU had corrected the gaerbox fault.

Maybe the car we now own is in fact an 04 car even though we got it in 05.

I will take this up with Brussels when they call me later today about the lurching issue.

It has just been receovered to the dealership who refused to accept its return under the sale of goods act rejection process...............maybe I should leave it with them now and await my cheque!

Best regards.

Michael.

[m'ladys husband]

Hi chaps,

it was the sensors.

The dealership got some overnight and these have been fitted to the car.

This now only begs the question of wether or not our car isin fact an 05 with a probel in the 'new sensors' or in fact an 04 car which they flogged us to replace our faulty 04 car but that masquerades as an 05 vehicle.

Anybody know where to look in the VIN number for the year identifier?

Michael.

[Rasputin]

My wife's RX300 developped a fault on the air suspension too. It's stuck in the "N" position, won't move from there and displays a "off" warning message. But the car seems to be even on its 4 wheels.

The dealer who checked the diagnostic code thinks it's the wiring loom that failed (because it's know to be slightly too short, he said). Back to the dealer on Monday for a deeper diagnostic.

The car is out of warrabty since last July...

F

[ginna104]

My wife's RX300 developped a fault on the air suspension too. It's stuck in the "N" position, won't move from there and displays a "off" warning message. But the car seems to be even on its 4 wheels.

The dealer who checked the diagnostic code thinks it's the wiring loom that failed (because it's know to be slightly too short, he said). Back to the dealer on Monday for a deeper diagnostic.

The car is out of warrabty since last July...

F

what your describing there mate is the compressor has packed in or the wiring has broken to the compressor ( lexus know about the wiring fault and there is a modified loom out ) iv'e had 2 compressor faults on rx's in the last 2 months and about 4 wiring loom faults price of compressor is about 850.00 of the top of my head !!!

[Realspeed]

Hi

Just popped in to see how you all are.

With regard to suspension it is a very very common fault not only with Lexus but Toyota generally. I had it on mine twice and if you care to scan back or look at the Toyota landcruiser club sites you will find they subject has been well covered.

But briefly Toyota installed weak sensors to all air/gas suspension units right across the range, I discovered that Toyota had an internal recall memo stating that if a car came in with the problem they were to replace them all free of charge. However some dealers are only replacing the faulty one and you have to insist they replace them all. Most owners feel there should be a 3 year warantee on the new parts however I don't think Toyota are going along with it.

The Toyota garage electrician I spoke to said he was doing about 6 cars a week with the same problem , but Toyota have refused to do a national recall to protect their reputation.

I had the same trouble with my 2004 amazon so your not alone.

Realspeed

[Realspeed]

My wife's RX300 developped a fault on the air suspension too. It's stuck in the "N" position, won't move from there and displays a "off" warning message. But the car seems to be even on its 4 wheels.

The dealer who checked the diagnostic code thinks it's the wiring loom that failed (because it's know to be slightly too short, he said). Back to the dealer on Monday for a deeper diagnostic.

The car is out of warrabty since last July...

F

what your describing there mate is the compressor has packed in or the wiring has broken to the compressor ( lexus know about the wiring fault and there is a modified loom out ) iv'e had 2 compressor faults on rx's in the last 2 months and about 4 wiring loom faults price of compressor is about 850.00 of the top of my head !!!

Check out this link

http://www.tlocuk.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=749

[Rasputin]

By reading your replys (thanks, by the way), it seems it's the compressor or the wiring. The dealer checked with Lexus Belgium who also said it probably is the wiring.

I hope they'll replace the faulty part with a different and imporved P/N.

On the good news front, the Lexus warranty ran out, but not the 1-year warranty given by the used car specialist I bought it from! :) I completely forgot about it.

I'll keep you posted.

Fabrice

[Rasputin]

UPDATE : I went to the dealer this morning for a diagnostic and estimate. The problem was a torn/cut wire at a connector on the pneumatic suspension system loom (located at the rear right side, up the bumper somewhere). The dealer actually re-soldered it and in 30 min it was working again. The repair was considered as final by the mechanic, so I think I'll have to take his word for it.

We're out of Lexus warranty but it costed nothing. And I also got a free Nespresso...

Cheers,

Fabrice