Strut Replacement: Serviceable Or Sealed?

[66zoomie]

I have a 94 ES300 and I want to replace the struts and mounts/bearings all around. I've talked with the KYB folks as well as Lexus technicians in an effort to find out whether my vehicle has "serviceable" struts - replaceable cartridges - or sealed struts - the whole strut must be replaced as one unit. The answer: "both types of struts were used on the 94-96 ES300s." The concensus answer seems to be that the only definite way to tell is to remove the struts from the vehicle! That makes it a tad difficult to order the replacements and have them on hand; otherwise the down time could extend to multiple weeks.

The VIN number is: JT8GK13T4R00658xx, mfg 06/94, and it was not a Special or Limited Edition. Does anyone have a contact number at Toyota/Lexus that I could query to see if production records can reveal whether the struts on my vehicle are sealed or serviceable?

[i did a search for "strut replacement" and went thru every post on 14 pages, but this question was never raised or discussed.]

[Toysrme]

You can lookup when your frame finished assembly.

http://toyota.mnc.ru/framno/longindex.html

Using mine as an example:

VCV10 0158887

November - December

0152363 - 0163278

So we know my 1993 ES 300 was probably in November/December of 1992.

Look your car up. If your car is in the last production run it will have sealed struts. (October 1994)

From the Toyota Nation Ultimate Camry FAQ:

Sealed

Serviceable

It doesn't matter what you use, either strut will bolt up. You might as well buy a new strut. It costs the same as buying a new cartridge.

The only differance in mounting is that the factory sealed struts have a bearing mount. Nothing changes about suspension geometry / mounting.

My vote is you buy brand new sealed struts. There's no reason to pay the same amount of money to wind up with half a strut that is over a decade old.

(Tho that is a testimate to the original design)

[66zoomie]

You can lookup when your frame finished assembly.

http://toyota.mnc.ru/framno/longindex.html

Using mine as an example:

VCV10  0158887

November - December

0152363 - 0163278

So we know my 1993 ES 300 was probably in November/December of 1992.

Look your car up. If your car is in the last production run it will have sealed struts. (October 1994)

From the Toyota Nation Ultimate Camry FAQ:

Sealed

Serviceable

It doesn't matter what you use, either strut will bolt up. You might as well buy a new strut. It costs the same as buying a new cartridge.

The only differance in mounting is that the factory sealed struts have a bearing mount. Nothing changes about suspension geometry / mounting.

My vote is you buy brand new sealed struts. There's no reason to pay the same amount of money to wind up with half a strut that is over a decade old.

(Tho that is a testimate to the original design)

←

Toysrme - I appreciate the info; the chassis matrix confirms the information I pulled off the door sticker, i.e. the car was produced in June 94. [MCV10 chassis, 65823; June production goes up to 69xxx beginning in July 94] How did you know that the end of the production run had sealed struts? I'm not questioning your statement: I just want to know how you arrived at it!! If sealed struts with new bearing mounts are interchangeable with the serviceable strut housings and new cartridges, I agree with you that it's best to go with new sealed struts to get the most new parts replacing used.

[Toysrme]

All the Camry plants swapped over in October 1994. The Tsutsumi assembly plant built the full Camry platform family during that time period:

ES, Windom, Sceptor, Camry, Vista.

So in the intrests of keeping the same parts bin, it's safe to reason the ES / Windom's swapped over at the same point the Camry's did. Doesn't make since to build a few practically identicle car lines, but swap parts out for no reason.