RC-F Damper Failure

Toothy · June 16, 2018

Quite surprisingly, one of the rear dampers has failed on our RC-F. Noticed a spot of oil on the floor, checked the damper and the whole thing was soaked.
Car is just over a year old with 6,000 miles on it. Not spoke to Lexus yet. Hope they will replace both rears without any hassle...
Anyone experienced anything similar? I expect you'll all be rushing out to check now 😅

Big Rat · June 16, 2018

@Toothy David that's unfortunate that's a substantial leak, funnily enough I've just left Lexus Cheltenham to book in my Rcf for its major service, will get them to check.

In my experience other manufactures are reluctant to replace pairs on such a low mileage vehicle, let's hope Lexus are different, my belief is Suspension components are best replaced in pairs.

🐀

NemesisUK · June 16, 2018

19 minutes ago, Big Rat said:

In my experience other manufactures are reluctant to replace pairs on such a low mileage vehicle, let's hope Lexus are different, my belief is Suspension components are best replaced in pairs.

The Mercedes tech doc on replacing shock absorbers states only replace in pairs if the mileage is greater than 80,000 km unless the part number for the component has been superseded, in which case both must be replaced irrespective of mileage. Curiously ABC (the active body control system) suspension components are never replaced as pairs as the plungers work "wear free"!

It'll be interesting how Lexus deal with such a low mileage failure. If it failed due to a manufacturing fault, surely the second unit is at similar risk (bad batch?)

Big Rat · June 16, 2018

@NemesisUK Peter yes I'm watching with interest as well, never had any luck with Bmw changing pairs, the rear PASM pair failed twice on my 3.4 Boxster S and oddly enough Porsche changed the fronts on both ocassions as well quite odd but I was obviously not going to disagree.

🐀

June 16, 2018

Is it cracked? That would almost certainly be a manufacturing defect if it is.

If mine went I'd ship them off to Nitron to make me a set.

http://www.nitron.co.uk/catalogue_item.php?catID=12297&prodID=73832

I have one on my bike and it's beautiful.

In fact I might start saving anyway, a big advantage of non electronic dampers is ability to easily swap.

Group buy @Big Rat ??

Britprius · June 16, 2018

It is noticeable that on the RCF they use ZF Sachs instead of the usual Toyoa/Lexus KYB shocks. I wonder if this is because of the seeming poor reliability of the KYB units.
I would also ask for both to be changed as it is considered bad practice to replace just one across an axle.

John.

rayaans · June 16, 2018

Interesting.

It affected some IS, RX and GS too. The earlier 13 plate IS's had a few failures.

Manufacturing defect but yes, Lexus will usually replace. They should be replacing both.

Sachs is a great manufacturer of performance dampers. KYB shocks are fairly reliable and OEM for a lot of manufacturers like BMW. However, BMW also use Sachs or Bilstein for their performance vehicles.

Big Rat · June 16, 2018

@Comedian Heard plenty good about these units from Nitron, and was speaking with Alex at Lexus Cheltenham only a few hours ago and he has them on his own Gt86, but his is out of warranty and I'm guessing a suspension swap out would invalidate I believe.

🐀

June 16, 2018

The whole warranty or just suspension element?

I have trade account with them so ......... it's tempting.

Warranty starting to feel annoying

Britprius · June 16, 2018

Interestingly Nitron do not list anything for Lexus.

John.

June 16, 2018

3 minutes ago, Britprius said:

Interestingly Nitron do not list anything for Lexus.

John.

Indeed, but they will make stuff if approached. They will even build one offs.

mrfunex · June 17, 2018

My wife’s RX450 had a slight leak on a rear damper a few years back. This was only known to us when, upon collecting the car from a normal service, we were told that both rear dampers had been replaced free of charge.

It’s that level of service that means she’ll buy another RX from the same dealer when she fancies a different colour one! She’s not interested in even sampling any other manufacturers.

On an RCF as new as yours, I shouldn’t imagine you’ll have any trouble getting it sorted.

June 17, 2018

with rcf may find have to wait for the parts to be ordered in. Be interesting to see how long they take. My wheels took about 6 to 8 weeks although I was not prevented from driving so no problem.

Sent from my STV100-4 using Tapatalk

Toothy · June 19, 2018

Car's been to Lexus Coventry. Turns out both sides are leaking!
Got told that a few RC's have been affected and another model in their range. One only had 2,000 miles on it.
Waiting to hear what happens next.

NemesisUK · June 19, 2018

Does look like a duff batch of shocks then.

Surely all Lexus can do is replace both under warranty?

Toothy · June 19, 2018

They've taken photos and will send them off to the warranty department to get claim agreed. Probably a few days after that before they get parts.

Toothy · March 23, 2020

Update to this post from a couple of years ago.
The car went for it's 3rd year service today. And to our surprise, one of the shocks has a slight leak again!
Waiting on parts as it's still within warranty.

Anyone else had similar problems?