Narrative:

While on hlywd one arrival to lax we were cleared the ILS 25L. Once on the glideslope; we began to encounter moderate wake turbulence (significant pitch and roll excursions) from the aircraft we were following. At this point; I disconnected the autopilot and manually flew about a dot high on the glideslope. At approximately 14 miles from the runway we were told that the approach clearance was canceled and to maintain 4000 feet and track the localizer inbound. I called for both flight directors off then on and then VOR/localizer and V/south to 4000 feet. We were asked to visually identify an aircraft on a close in base for runway 25R. We were then told to descend to 3100 ft and again asked to visually identify the aircraft still on a base for 25R. There was smog obscuring visibility and we never saw the aircraft. TCAS traffic display was also not showing a target. In the descent we were told to go around and given a left turn to a heading of 140 and climb to 4000'. We began the go-around procedure but did not get 4000' set in the altitude sel window of the MCP before climbing through 4000'. I leveled at 4400 feet and began a descent back down to 4000 feet. We notified ATC. At this point we were told that the aircraft inbound had declared a medical emergency and that was the reason for their short approach to 25R. We were cleared the visual to 25L and landed without further incident.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737NG first Officer reported encountering wake turbulence on approach into LAX. ATC directed a go-around; and the flight overshot the cleared altitude during the go-around.

Narrative: While on HLYWD ONE arrival to LAX we were cleared the ILS 25L. Once on the glideslope; we began to encounter moderate wake turbulence (significant pitch and roll excursions) from the aircraft we were following. At this point; I disconnected the autopilot and manually flew about a dot high on the glideslope. At approximately 14 miles from the runway we were told that the approach clearance was canceled and to maintain 4000 feet and track the localizer inbound. I called for both flight directors off then on and then VOR/LOC and V/S to 4000 feet. We were asked to visually identify an aircraft on a close in base for Runway 25R. We were then told to descend to 3100 ft and again asked to visually identify the aircraft still on a base for 25R. There was smog obscuring visibility and we never saw the aircraft. TCAS traffic display was also not showing a target. In the descent we were told to go around and given a left turn to a heading of 140 and climb to 4000'. We began the go-around procedure but did not get 4000' set in the ALT SEL window of the MCP before climbing through 4000'. I leveled at 4400 feet and began a descent back down to 4000 feet. We notified ATC. At this point we were told that the aircraft inbound had declared a medical emergency and that was the reason for their short approach to 25R. We were cleared the visual to 25L and landed without further incident.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.