matrix

I have the stock air suspension on a 2002 LS430. A few nights ago I noticed the rear of the car was lifted up abnormally high (almost 6 inches gap between tire and fender). Flipping the height switch had no effect. The ride was extremely rough and there was a vibration on acceleration, which I guessed was due to the drive shaft being at an extreme angle. Drove around for a while and it decided to settle back down, vibration disappeared too. Now today the same thing has happened and I did not touch the height switch since the last time. While I do enjoy the look of a nice rake on a car, I'm worried that the shocks are gonna blow out if I hit a bump with too much pressure in them.

Would the height sensors be at fault here? I would expect only one side to be lifted if a height sensor failed but in this case the rear was level, just extremely high.

matrix

I took both rear height sensors off to inspect, the driver side one is very stiff and doesn't rotate easily. The passenger side I can rotate with my hand, the driver side I need to use a pair of pliers to get it to move. Are these things really $400 that is ludicrous!

matrix

does anyone know if the these height senors are the same ones used on other Toyota vehicles? They look identical...

For example, this one is from a 2004 Toyota Prius for the auto-leveling headlights:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2004-Toyota-Prius-Headlight-Leveling-Height-Adjustment-Sensor-3J22-OEM-04-10-/140931873287?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item20d031ba07&vxp=mtr

matrix

it looks like mazda also uses the same level sensor for their headlights.

matrix

I bit the bullet and bought the rear driver's side height sensor for $340, installed and adjusted. I'm happy to report the car is back to normal ride height.