Poppa

Bought my es 350 back in January of this year... almost immediately after I bought the car, we had a cool snap down here in Louisiana ( cool snap = temps in the 30's / 40"s...) and then I heard it... this annoying / drive me nuts squeak coming from the dash.. you could actually push on the top of the dash with your fingers and make it squeak.. and of course on any not perfectly smooth road, you would hear the squeak as well.... took it the dealer back then.. said they fixed it... nope.. next cool snap squeak was back louder then ever.. well now that it's cooled off here again, the squeak returned.. and so did I - to the dealership Monday morning... only this time I asked for the service tech to actually come out and sit in the car with me so I could show him exactly what was going on.. I don't want to jinx it, but I'll be darned if he didn't fix it...( or at least I think it's fixed ). he said there are two screws located on the underside of the dash ( directly above the instrument panel / speedometer ) and those two screws had worked their way thru some kind of felt / insulation and were rubbing against some piece of plastic in the dash...when it warmed up, the dash expanded a little and the rubbing stopped.. but in cooler temps the screw tips were rubbing again... anyway he said he re-insulated everything in there, put it back together and then left the car sitting outside knowing the temp was going to get down into the 30's overnight... first thing this morning he test drove it, no squeak.. then he said he ran my defrosters wide open for 15 minutes as cold as it would get - still he didn't hear a squeak... So pick the car up and go to work... tonight on my way home from work, temp is in the mid 40's I don't hear a thing... press on the dash like before and can't get it to squeak... I guess only time will tell, but right now I think the young man got it right... told my wife I kinda felt a little foolish complaining about a "non mechanical" issue, but her reply was.. that's nonsense.. you buy a 45K dollar car, you shouldn't have to listen to annoying squeaks just because it's cold outside... kinda tickled about this because that squeak was the only thing that irritated me about the car... right now, lovin it... hope it lasts.... btw, back when I first noticed the squeak in January I googled it... couldn't find one report of a dash squeak in a es 350 2013 or later.. and the service tech said that this was the first one that he ever saw on a 350 as well... oh well, it's almost like driving a brand new 350 again....

Poppa

jollick

Congratulations on a good resolution!

Canesguy

Wow, this is one of the few times I've head of (or have had) a successful resolution of a squeak/rattle issue. Glad to hear it; it really DOES enhance the ownership experience to have a seemingly minor thing like this resolved.

bc6152

I truly believe that the Lexus mechanics (technicians) are of a higher quality knowledge and experience wise than the Chevvy and Ford guys (and gals). I think that this experience shows it. Just knowing where to look for the errant screws...

Poppa

You bet it does...before the Lexus I had an Avalon....absolutely loved the car, but... again in colder temperatures the moon roof had a rattle... Toyota never could get it fixed, but fortunately that moon roof raffle would stop as soon as the heater warmed up the interior of the car, so no big deal... but when I heard the squeak in the lexus right after I bought it i thought.. "oh no, not again ".... and to be honest it did kind of take away the enjoyment of owning a new car, especially since this squeak didn't stop when the heater warmed the interior...... as for Lexus having better techs than other car manufacturers, I don't know about that... remember I had the 350 back in the dealership back in January right after I bought it and they weren't able to fix it then.. but this past week when I asked for the service tech to actually come out so I could show him what was going on, they sent out what the service advisor called " a team leader".. certified lexus master tech... very nice young man.. and all I can say is it's been 3 nights in the upper 30's and so far not a peep.... YAY!!!! Now watch, I probably jinxed it by saying that... :-)

Amphibulus

well, mine was silent when I got it, then I had the dash rattle (just above the clock), they fixed it for me after 2 try.

Now I have around 7 rattles to get fixed. One in the driver door, one in the glove box (nothing is in there), the head liner is "ticking" when it's cold, I have an other one in the passenger side rear door, I have the center console who crack when it's cold and I think the dash crack as well when I go over bump, the passenger seat rattle sometimes as well.

Basically I'm due for an appointment

Canesguy

I've got the passenger seat rattle when going over a bump. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to pursue this .

lesz

One of the problems in dealing with rattles and squeaks is that whether those rattles or squeaks are present at any given time is very much dependent on the temperature and humidity conditions at that time. When you start taking things apart to deal with a rattle or squeak, it is very possible that you might (temporarily) eliminate the rattle or squeak, but you can also be creating new rattles or squeaks that will only become apparent in different temperature and humidity conditions. When vehicles are built at the factory, they should be "quiet" under most conditions, and it is, in general, not a good idea to start taking apart interior panels unless absolutely necessary because the result of doing so is often to create new rattles and squeaks that may not be apparent until there are changes in the weather conditions.

bc6152

Cold = contraction - Heat = expansion. Cold = more rattles...

Poppa

I think a lot of es owners have seen / heard that... I just reclined the passenger seat a bit more and for the most part that has helped a lot except when I hit a pretty good size bump.....somebody mentioned a click or tick in the headliner... Don't know if this applies, but I had an Avalon that had a click or tapping sound.... turned out it wasn't the headliner, it was the moon roof.... I realized that one night driving home, I heard the noise and gently pushed up on the moon roof... the noise stopped... took my hand away, there was the noise again... fortunately for me, it was only a cold weather thing and whenever the heater warmed up the interior of the car ( usually within 4 to 5 minutes ) the rattle / clicking went away... something to look at anyway.... and as far as my dash squeak in my ES that was recently repaired.. yeah, I was concerned about opening up a whole new can of worms having someone working on / pulling pieces of the dash off, but as my wife pointed out to me, when you pay that much for a car you shouldn't have to listen to squeaks and rattles in the first few months of ownership.. not to mention that the damn squeak was so annoying it really was ruining my experience of being a new Lexus owner.. but... so far, so good.

Poppa

Doublebase

That is one hell of a tech you dealt with right there. No tech wants to find squeaks in an interior...it's a royal pain and often fruitless venture. But yours did. Pretty amazing.

Amphibulus

Yeah, but mine tick/click all the time now, no matter if my car is warmed or not, highway speed or city speed, it tick/click all the time, and no it doesn't come from the sun roof, but the headliner, you can touch the headliner to reproduce the noise.

I know what remove panel can create worst problem, but in that case, I don't know how it could be worst then that. (I have attached the file if you want to ear it by yourself.)

And right now it's even worst then that since it's got colder.

Poppa

oh yeah... hear it plain as day... I can see how that would be annoying as hell... But I kinda agree with you, it's already annoying so if they try to fix it and something else starts "barking", just keep after them to get it right.. I know there's always a chance that another unwanted sound could emerge, but that's what the warranty is for... I had the same concerns about them tearing into my dash for the squeak... but in the end, I just couldn't let that pass on a new car.. good luck with it...

Poppa

Lexus1998

Had this on my 2006 GS430 between dash and windshield. After I saw the fix on other cars which involved taking the whole dash out and cutting a clip on windshield I opted out as I felt more noises or rattles may happen as they were going to take apart whole dash to resolve the one noise. It mostly happened in cold but what annoying noise and made car feel cheap. I couldn't believe a Lexus was making this noise, prior to that I had 2003 GS430 not a single rattle and a 2001. My first Lexus was 98 ES hence my name and I say it did have some rattles but I was 18 years old so really wasn't to particular at that age.

neild

I have the same annoying sound on my Lexus ES 300h year 2013, the sound seem to come from the passenger side door panel, I could recreate the same tick/click in the headliner, I am hesitating to bring the car to dealer to fix that problem scare that other problems or annoying sounds might surge later. Till today I still don't have any annoying interior noises in my 2002 Merecedes C320.