Lexus LS400 Air Suspension Shock Conversion

May 23, 2012 sarah Fitness

When I got my 1990 Lexus LS400 aka Toyota Celsior few years ago, the first thing that went wrong with my car was the Air Suspension Shocks.  Like most car buyers, you find out what not to buy only after you brought it.  Well, I got a LS400 with Air Suspension Shocks.  The first thing that I noticed something was wrong is that the front of my car lowered so much that my fender almost touching the tire.  After I started the engine and everything was fine.  This problem normal happen in the morning.  Why? well, the car seat over night the air suspension leak air and loose its compression.  Once the engine started, the air suspension sensor detect the problem and pump more air into the AS shocks to normalized the height.  I do have some used and in good working condition Air Suspension Shocks if you are interested.

I drove around for a while even the car dropped so much even with the air pump working, my car still not at its normal height.  What is worst is that only one shock was bad and it looks so bad.  If all shocks are bad, then the car would look cool.  unfortunately , this is not the case.   After I detected the problem, I called around local junk yards and search for a used shock.  Some place was asking for $450 each.  However, used air suspension shock would not last for too long because most AS shocks would go bad after 12-14 years of life.  I decided to purchase a new shock from a local Lexus dealer.  The cost was $960 and that was with a discount.  The retail for the Lexus Air Suspension shock is $1,150 each.  Ouch!

Currently, my other 3 shocks are about to go south.  I am not going to replace all of them.  The cost is just too much for the 14 years old car.  To replace all four air suspension shock would run over $4,000 and my car only worth about $5,000.  This does not make sense does it?  I wanted to end this problem forever.