LonelyHiker

I'm slowly going through my (new to me) GX470 that I bought about a month ago. I live in the big mountains and many people would say that the road I live on is a 4x4 trail, although I'm often on real 4x4 trails. I noticed that with the air bags raised there is a loud banging sound when I go over any significant bumps. I would tick the switch to lower the air bags while going over bumps and the sound would instantly stop. Based on that info, I presumed that I had a problem with the height sensors, causing them to max out the suspension travel. So I looked underneath and sure enough I have a cracked bracket on the driver's side sensor. So basically the cracked bracket bends as the suspension is going up until the suspension travel is maxed out. I can try to weld the thing, but I'd rather buy a new bracket if one is available for a reasonable price. A quick search on ebay and the like didn't turn up anything, as they went to sell the whole assembly for $200+. Has anyone seen just the bracket for sale anywhere?

Many people will say that a tick is caused by an exhaust manifold leak. So that is the first thing to check... Figure out if the tick is louder on the driver or passenger side and search that area for an exhaust leak at the manifold. I thought that my GX470 had a manifold leak when I bought it a couple months ago, until I changed the spark plugs... I found that one of the spark plugs was loose almost to the point of falling out. A loose spark plug creates the same kind of ticking noise. The mechanic had started turning the plug in a couple of turns and then must have forgot to tighten it. So you might want to check your spark plugs as well. This GX had always been dealer maintained at Stevinson Lexus of Lakewood, so I know where to stay away from.