X-REAS Leak

[Borderfolle]

I have fluid leaking from the center control absorber on the drivers side. Has anyone replaced this component of the X-REAS system? Does it need to go to the dealer for recharging or can it be done at home? Thanks for any input.

 

[cknsls@adelphia]

Do you have an extended warranty?

The X-reas is covered under a Toyota extended warranty if you are lucky enough to have one.

You can use the term "X-reas" in the search button. Much has been talked about this system on this forum.

If I recall the details correctly, the only way a dealer will fix a leak in the system is by full replacement of all components.

But I am not sure...do a search!

 

[Uneek]

It's a self contained system and it cannot be recharged.

 

[Borderfolle]

I am going to have the dealer take a look tomorrow, but I think I am going to end up taking the X-REAS off the vehicle and use standard shocks. I am not interested in a raise kit. Rock Auto has some KYB shocks, and I wonder if I need to change springs too? Has anyone else done this?

The salt in Upstate NY is doing a nasty job on my 4Runner. I have taken good care of it and store it in an unheated garage. Much the same, I have had to replace the front calipers, unfreeze a rusted rear latch and have rust stains from under several door handles and the molding on the rear window. Pretty sad for such a nice truck!

Thanks for any input.

 

[cknsls@adelphia]

XREAS Replacement

I am going to have the dealer take a look tomorrow, but I think I am going to end up taking the X-REAS off the vehicle and use standard shocks. I am not interested in a raise kit. Rock Auto has some KYB shocks, and I wonder if I need to change springs too? Has anyone else done this?

The salt in Upstate NY is doing a nasty job on my 4Runner. I have taken good care of it and store it in an unheated garage. Much the same, I have had to replace the front calipers, unfreeze a rusted rear latch and have rust stains from under several door handles and the molding on the rear window. Pretty sad for such a nice truck!

Thanks for any input.

There was a guy in Hawaii and a few others on this board who have replaced the X-Reas. A good off road shop will be able to help you. It seems there is some fabrication involved.

Here is a very short post I found -

"Took my xreas out and icon coilovers handle bumps better and corner just as flat as xreas"

 

[wolfgang]

I thought you could replace opposing corners together? Say vice all 4 corners.

Not to steal thread - but after getting new Michelin CrossTerrain tires from CostCo, I noticed that my right rear wheel opening had a good 3" more space than the other side (lip of wheel well is good 2-3 higher off road too). I first though they had installed a different size aspect ratio tire but all are stock 265/65x17. I can't find any crimped hoses for the XREAS. I thought it was just from car being jacked up to fit tires - but after a month or so it hasn't settled back down. I don't take it off road so I wouldn't have bent anything. Can't see a dead cat or anything jambed up there. Any ideas?

 

[MrTom]

Just had one shock of the XRES package replaced under extended warranty buy my dealer. Now one shock has a lifetime Toyota replacement/no labor charge warranty. The others are still on the extended warranty.
Dealer indicated if another one fails they will have replace the control module for the system. Time was about 1 1/2 hours to do the work and test drive.

 

[cknsls@adelphia]

What Year 4Runner do you have?

And how many miles? I have an '05 and was informed today (and I verified) that I have the front strut leaking on the passenger side.

It's an '05 Sport 2WD with the V8 and 50,000 miles.

 

[MrTom]

Drivers front at 66K with a slight bit of oil "weeping". People at the Toyota warranty told me to take it in and have the shock replaced. There was absolutely no negotiation involved.

25+K of desert off or no road driving. The leakage did not surprise me. I have oil changed every 3K and always have the brakes and shocks looked over then. First brake job was front pads and turned rotors at 66K.

Was talked out of doing the rears by the service rep. He indicated the rear pads had about 60% left on them. Am very fortunate that the service reps and techs seem to be working for me. They try to put the same tech on whenever possible for their regular customers.

 

[cknsls@adelphia]

I tow a trailer...

Drivers front at 66K with a slight bit of oil "weeping". People at the Toyota warranty told me to take it in and have the shock replaced. There was absolutely no negotiation involved.

25+K of desert off or no road driving. The leakage did not surprise me. I have oil changed every 3K and always have the brakes and shocks looked over then. First brake job was front pads and turned rotors at 66K.

Was talked out of doing the rears by the service rep. He indicated the rear pads had about 60% left on them. Am very fortunate that the service reps and techs seem to be working for me. They try to put the same tech on whenever possible for their regular customers.

about once a month a 150 miles. My guess is the weight distributing hitch I use puts pressure on all 4 axles. (Two of the 4Runner and two on the trailer). But I am well within my tow ratings for the hitch tongue weight and trailer weight. I have the extended warranty purchased through Shaun on this board...so it looks like it's going to come in handy. I was told both were leaking up front...but I cannot see the leak on the driver's side. I am taking it in on Saturday...well let everyone know. I do not expect the parts to be in stock. We shall see.

 

[MrTom]

Hello cknsls@adelphia,
Suggest you call Warranty first and tell them what you have and ask if it covered by your particular policy. I did this in anticipation of the eventual failure. When Warranty told me to take it to the dealer and have them contact Warranty, I asked him to make a notation in the file notes per his instructions to me. I have an excellent relationship with my service dept as indicated but wanted to cover ALL the bases.

Saw service on Friday, parts were in on Tuesday and installed today. Could have had a free rental vehicle but it only took about 1.5 hours.

Service was surprised Warranty told me to bring it in as it was only slightly weeping oil and had not really failed. Warranty said Toyota wants it fixed before failure for safety reasons.

Hopefully your dealer will think they have to replace all 4, then shocks will be covered for life of ownership when the Extended warranty runs out...

 

[wcarrington]

Hopefully your dealer will think they have to replace all 4, then shocks will be covered for life of ownership when the Extended warranty runs out...

so are you saying once you replace the shocks, it is covered under a lifetime warranty? it looks like i have to replace my xreas shocks due to a leak, but i don't have the extended warranty. would it be covered for a lifetime after i replace it, or only if i had the extended warranty? i don't want to spend another $2k five years down the road for the same problem ..... thanks.

 

[MrTom]

....i don't have the extended warranty. would it be covered for a lifetime after i replace it,.......

Yes
SEARCH "Lifetime Warranty" at the Toyota website

 

[cknsls@adelphia]

I know it's covered.....

The ONLY REASON I bought the Toyota Platinum warranty was to cover the X-Reas. The warranty at the time was $985.00. I knew X-Reas full replacement was around $2,000.00.

That is why those who have had trouble like the above forum member scramble to find another solution is because of the replacement cost. BTW-knowing what I know now I would stay far away from the X-Reas (even though I like the way it makes the 4Runner corner). It turns out we are seeing a small number of failures of this system anywhere between 50K and 100K.

And everyone was under the impression this system would last the life of the vehicle. NOT!!

 

[wcarrington]

Just to give you an update on my situation:
After calling corporate Toyota headquarters to verify what I had been told by the dealership that I had to replace all 4 of my XREAS shocks since one of them was leaking, I was told that I did not have to replace all four of them, just the one that was leaking. I was told it IS possible to not have to do a replacement on all 4.

Corporate Toyota called the dealership, the guest relations person at the dealership said sorry for the trouble and offered me a 20% discount.

Suspicious about their activities, I went to another Toyota dealership and specifically asked them to look at my shocks to see if it was leaking. They looked at it and said there wasn't any problem with my shocks.

So I will be calling Corporate Toyota again to complain about the first dealership's business practices. It is really disappointing to know that they would stoop to that level just to get more income. For those of you in the Dallas area, beware of the Toyota dealership in the Richardson area. They have some shady business practices.

 

[cknsls@adelphia]

Re: I know it's covered.....

The ONLY REASON I bought the Toyota Platinum warranty was to cover the X-Reas. The warranty at the time was $985.00. I knew X-Reas full replacement was around $2,000.00.

That is why those who have had trouble like the above forum member scramble to find another solution is because of the replacement cost. BTW-knowing what I know now I would stay far away from the X-Reas (even though I like the way it makes the 4Runner corner). It turns out we are seeing a small number of failures of this system anywhere between 50K and 100K.

And everyone was under the impression this system would last the life of the vehicle. NOT!!

So I took my 4Runner in Saturday to the dealer for an oil change and inspection of the leaky passenger side front shock. They said it would have to wait until Monday because Toyota Warranty is closed on Saturday. They called early Monday and said the shock was leaking and Toyota Financial approved the repair. There was only the one that had a leak.

It's funny because I was told by one of those "National Tire Places" that both the front ones were leaking. They also said the cabin air cleaner was bad even though I changed it two weeks ago.

I took the 4Runner there because they had the Hunter balancing machines.

P.S.-just got off the tire stores website and sent an email to Corporate regarding some very dishonest practices I encountered at this particular "Franchise Tire Store". It won't do any good...but makes me feel better!!

:awais:

UPDATE- Here it is Tuesday (14th) and they still don't have the part. It's not stocked locally (Southern California) so it's coming from San Francisco. They have provided a rental car. The parts due in Thursday morning!

Another update on 8-14-08. My wife finally picked up the 4Runner. Mind you, even though we dropped it off on Saturday they didn't get warranty approval until Monday. Those X-Reas shocks are very hard to come by!

 

[Borderfolle]

Follow-up on my origninal posting. Dealer said it would cost close to $800.00 to replace 2 lines! The parts guy unofficially suggested I just take off the X-REAS and replace it with 4 shocks. The dealer had no intention of helping me with this matter since the vehicle was out of warranty. I called Corporate Toyota, and they could not care less about it. Sad to say I had a similar experience with Ford a few years ago and that was my last Ford.

So, I bought 4 Bilstein Shocks from shox.com for $289 and took off the X-REAS. The fronts were tricky to replace, and I cut the top studs off the rears to get them off. The car handles fine, and I am glad to be done with this issue! BTW, the guy at Shox.com was very helpful and I got the shocks right away. I definitely recommend them! I hope this is helpful.

 

[cknsls@adelphia]

GREAT!

Follow-up on my origninal posting. Dealer said it would cost close to $800.00 to replace 2 lines! The parts guy unofficially suggested I just take off the X-REAS and replace it with 4 shocks. The dealer had no intention of helping me with this matter since the vehicle was out of warranty. I called Corporate Toyota, and they could not care less about it. Sad to say I had a similar experience with Ford a few years ago and that was my last Ford.

So, I bought 4 Bilstein Shocks from shox.com for $289 and took off the X-REAS. The fronts were tricky to replace, and I cut the top studs off the rears to get them off. The car handles fine, and I am glad to be done with this issue! BTW, the guy at Shox.com was very helpful and I got the shocks right away. I definitely recommend them! I hope this is helpful.

The X-REAS shock on my invoice was $175.00 plus labor. I don't know if this is a special price billed to Toyota since it's under warranty or what.
Question for you-Were you able to use the original brackets and everything? Just bolt the new shocks on or what?

There is no way I want to deal with this system if I keep the SUV after 100K! (When the extended warranty expires!)

AS I tell others-knowing what I know now, I wouldn't go anywhere near this system!

 

[Borderfolle]

To remove the X-REAS, I disconnected the hydraulic lines from the front shocks, the front fittings on the center pressure devices on each frame rail, and removed it all from the vehicle. I used a saw-all to cut a bracket behind the rear wheel well that holds the line near the rear shocks. It was just a matter of replacing the X-REAS shocks with the bilsteins.

 

[Punkin1220]

Looking for update on this?

Hi there...I know this is an old post, but my '05 just got diagnosed with a problem similar to the one described in this thread. (Rust ate a hole into the line, lost the fluid, and now my baby rides rougher than a lumber wagon) I am wondering if anyone that has eliminated the XREAS system previously has any input/words of advice/hindsight as to what they did and wish they didn't, or didn't do and wish they would've. Or, if anyone has found a way to hack in or splice into the system, replace the fluid from the compromised unit, and keep the system intact. Any input is much appreciated! Oh, and budget friendly suggestions are especially needed! Thanks in advance!