Xreas replaced under warranty

[Masaro]

Hey everyone. Had a leak in both front shocks and have the platinum warranty. The dealer wanted to just replace both front, but I was able to talk to Toyota financial and convince them that xreas had to be replaced all-or-nothing. They reached out to the dealer and all 4 shocks were replaced. After I got home I noticed the cylinders (I don't know what to call them) that connect front and back and sit midway, were still the old ones. Does this not defeat the purpose of keeping the xreas system connected as a whole unit? How can I have new shocks but the old cylinders? Would this mean that the new system was depressurized and replaced incorrectly?

Maybe I should just be thankful that I got 4 new shocks at 70k miles but I want to make sure I get as much as I can out of that platinum warranty.

Thanks!

 

[NB17Limited]

Having just ripped out my failing Xreas and replaced with Dobinsons at 67k miles, I learned a couple things about the system. There are double check valves near each shock that you can disconnect. I didn't lose any fluid through those. If you want to completely remove the Xreas and replace with a new one, I don't see any way to do that without removing at least one check valve. The lines to the front go through the body mount and I could not figure out how to get them through there with check valves in place. I did lose some fluid removing those to fish them through the mount. The dealer likely knew that and chose to disconnect the check valves and replace the shocks and reconnect to minimize fluid loss. Replacing everything would have ended up with less fluid than you have now

 

[BlackWorksInc]

So, something that isn't really clearly explained in the literature or training, the XREAS system doesn't always have to be replaced wholesale.

Basically over the years we've found that if the leak isn't very serious (just seepage, not like a drip or a run of oil) then you can get away with a one time replacement of the shock.

The factory recommendation is to replace the entire pair including the center dampener, that's still the preferred way to do it; but warranty doesn't usually go along with that unless you have a lot of documentation (then again, don't get me started on warranty and their annoying crap.)

All that being said, XREAS is broken into three main components, the front shock, the center dampener, and the rear shock. There are disconnect points with check valves, so at most you'll lose a couple drops of fluid and no pressure loss in the system (this is why if the leak is minor you can get away with just a shock replacement, because the pressure in the system hasn't bled off through the leak completely.) So what happened is probably that your conversation with Toyota Financial got them to issue a one-time goodwill of all 4 shocks, but since that side of things probably doesn't realize or care that there is also center dampeners they only authorized replacement of the shocks.

At the end of the day, you're probably perfectly fine and your system should be as functional as it was when you bought the vehicle (I have only seen 1 XREAS shock fail drastically requiring the replacement of the center dampener and companion shock, and that was at 55K; the rest have been relatively minor seepage.)

I apologize for the information dump, but hopefully that helps put your mind at ease.

 

[obxbird]

XREAS is JUNK!!! Rip it out and replace it with a good set of aftermarket shocks.