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Basically off-road means you’re driving less than 12 mph and suspension “flex” at least 3.9 inches from left and right rear tires. The ECU then connects the left and right air bags so that air moves from the higher tucking wheel (higher bag pressure due to compression) to the lower wheel (more relaxed bag). The lower unloaded wheel goes even lower while the loaded higher wheel goes further tucking. I can imagine this would help when rock crawling although the manual does not say how long does ECU stays in off-road mode when the wheels are no longer flexing.
I'm looking at a few GXs in the 2015-17 years. The Luxury trim clearly has some nice add ons over the Base/premium.
But I'm wondering whether the air suspension is an add on that is reliable long term or whether its going to be a source of constant visits to a shop (arggh dealer) due to problems like being unable to maintain ride height,compressor failure or freezing in winter.
TIA
2015 lexus GX with 160k miles and I have no issue so far. But I am thinking to switch to coil once it breaks down.
I have a 06 470 and an 11 460. I recently bought the 460 and it came with an air leak in the rear bags. My 470 worked fine but the service records said it had been repaired. I had a complete lift installed in my 470 for $2k. I just swapped my 460 to springs leaving it stock height. I did the work myself and it cost $550. 1 and done, no more maintenance. And the ride is much better.
We bought our 17 GX used in late 18 and it had air suspension. We love it and so far has been uber reliable with zero issues. Admittedly I am a bit of a Preventative maintenance whacko and take apart the electrical connections to clean the contact points, then reassemble everything and lube up the backside of the connectors so water has zero chance of ingres. I also lube the air bags themselves with fluid film semiannually (with it on the highest setting) to keep the bags themselves from drying out ever and I do my best to cycle the ride height quarterly so the vehicle (and bags) don't stay at any single height for too long... I do this while I'm also exercising the 4Lo and CDL since those also need done at slow speed (above 10 mph the vehicle will go back to Neutral height automatically)
I was messing with the GX460 the other day, using it to get a trailer out of a snowbank, which involved raising/lowering the air suspension a few times to get the ball connected as the trailer was pretty snowed in and the tongue couldn't be lifted by hand. After a few ups and downs, the button on the center console became unresponsive, and the suspension was "stuck" in H. I took it for a short drive and when I exceeded a certain speed it returned to N, but the button remains unresponsive days later. What should I be checking here? There's no dash lights or anything to suggest a problem.
It was maybe -15C, some blowing snow, nothing crazy while I was doing this. Truck has sat in the garage overnight a few nights since, at about 0C, so may have melted out anything frozen underneath, maybe not. Has anyone experienced similar?
Could just be ice in the air system (pump, lives, valves, etc) Is there some place you can bring it to thaw everything out that is warm? The smallest amount of moisture in an air system can freeze and cause problems. Hopefully once things thaw out everything returns to normal
I can pull it into the shop and let it thaw out, but the problem seems more that that button has no effect. I would expect the dash display to register a button press and TRY to raise or lower the suspension, hear the compressor run or a valve open, but it does nothing, which leads me to believe it's an electronic issue rather than a blocked airline or similar.
07-24-20, 08:32 AM
