Slickie

Year of LS460: 2008
Current Mileage of LS460: 98K
Year/Mileage of Fluid flush/change: As scheduled; changed about every 2 years
Year/Mileage of Actuator Failure: No failure.

terminater

My 2007 LS460L had the actuator changed out at 8,000 ish miles per the Lexus Driver's site service notes. I purchased the car a few months ago with 103k miles and about a month ago it started to make a squawking or barking type of noise when applying the brake. Per my research, I may have air in the lines. I plan to do a brake fluid flush soon to get rid of that noise.

JLAWS

Year of LS460: 2008
Current Mileage of LS460: 99K
Year/Mileage of Fluid flush/change: History shows routine service visit to dealer
Year/Mileage of Actuator Failure: No failure.



When I got my LS460 in May 2017 the fluid looked clear. I've been doing a brake reservoir 16oz flush and fill every year. I use only a sealed bottle and never anything sitting on the shelf that was previously open. I also bought a new brake reservoir cap, the original one no longer felt like it was sealing properly.

Prior to doing the above I heard a faint squawk sound. The only occurred when I was parked on a steep decline driveway and pressing on the brakes somewhat hard. It was also below freezing at the time and I discovered my fluid was a little low. No noises after I refilled it to the proper level.

R Z

I guess my question would be, how would I know if it failed? I hear a sound when I put on the brakes. But the car stops.

icon901

Trying to keep this thread to data points and avoid getting into the same discussion that has been had a bunch of times in other threads... but short answer: noise isn't a clear indicator of pending failure, and failure is obvious (Dash lights up with warning lights).

A quick search will bring up a ton of threads where it's gone over with much more detail.

R Z

I appreciate the info.

DARION

2007 LS460L 2nd owner.. purchase car with 54k miles on it.. first owner was notified for brakeactuator check notice Corporate told me.. they did not respond.. car has 65,000 miles on it now.. no issues don't know if the brake fluid was changed or not.. car has been to four different Lexus dealership always come out with flying colors...

Bocatrip

I'd be curious to hear from the few unfortunate owners that have experienced failures of the ABS actuators.......How much did it cost to replace? Did you have it done at an independent shop or the dealer?

Vicqlo

2011 LS460 AWD: Experienced abnormal braking with less than 20k miles. Extreme hard pedal and soft pedal at times, as well as brake noise (loud grunting and pulsing.) Oddly, this only happened after continued heavy stop and go traffic. Per dealer instruction (TSB), had fluid flushed twice. Then had brake actuator replaced at 36k. Since then...no issues. Also had all new rotors, pads, hardware and calipers serviced at 1,000 miles after actuator replacement. Dealer charged me $1k for actuator replacement, as they could not replicate hard and soft pedal. But, mysteriously, all symptoms went away after replacement. By the way, Lexus Customer Service was absolutely useless to me. What a disappointment! Anyway, car now has 45k on the clock.....no issues.

EricTheD

Year of LS460: 2007 swb
Current Mileage of LS460: 173xxx
Year/Mileage of Fluid flush/change: haven't changed
Year/Mileage of Actuator Failure: presently sitting at Lexus of Maplewood (Minnesota), eagerly awaiting official diagnosis of both my brake actuator assembly issues, as well as a nice Mark Levinson
amplifier issue for good measure. Got the dreaded chirping through the speakers and a week later, started experiencing terrible sticky braking and the lovely 5 dash lights... Stay tuned for official Lexus diagnosis (@ 2 seperate $158 diagnosis fees, of course...)

LS430FL

Year of LS460: 2011
Current Mileage of LS460: 85K
Year/Mileage of Fluid flush/change: changed at lexus suggested intervals
Year/Mileage of Actuator Failure: Failed in 2019

Thomasin

Year of LS460: 2010
Current Mileage of LS460: 77124
Year/Mileage of Fluid flush/change: Flush at 75k by dealer in FEB 2019
Year/Mileage of Actuator Failure: Hasn't failed

supraguy

My dash lit up with all warning messages at 59k miles. $3,100 to repair since out of the warranty enhancement period. Absolutely no goodwill assistance from Lexus after speaking with a case manager.Very disappointed in their lack of empathy for this known safety defect. Reported this as safety defect to NHTSA.

TexasLS460

My 2006 ls460 had the actuator fail @ 75,000. The dealer replaced the actuator @79,500 in Nov. 2015. I used my extended warranty that I had purchased in April 2015.

Now June 2019, this same ls460 with 103,000 miles has another failed actuator.

Lexus won't do anything about it. And I no longer have the extended warranty. Even though there was that 'recommended service' or some kind of quasi recall for the product.

Seems odd that 2 actuator go out in the same vehicle.

Any advise? And is the vehicle deemed safe to drive without changing the actuator again? The car still drives great and I still love it.

icon901

Snapshot at this point:

NEVER had the brake fluid changed: 53% had failures
HAD the brake fluid changed: 14% had failures

78% of the failures had never changed their brake fluid.

VERY small sample size still, far from conclusive.... but interesting. Let's keep this going.