TexGX

OK, I need your help. I am taking my GX in on Monday to have them look at the clunk problem again. They have aready replaced my drive-shaft, but it seems like the problem is getting worse.

Has anyone with an 05 or 06 experenced this problem? Has anyone found a solution for the problem? Any information I could bring in would be great.

TexGX

2Lexos

not sure what it is but i think it might have something to do with the height leveling system. I noticed it one time as i got off the highway and came to a stop, it felt like the rear end of the truck was coming up and when it stopped i got the famous clunck. it doesn't happen often but i do notice it maybe once or twice every couple weeks.

spwolf

i think people have found that after few thousand miles, problem largly dissapears...

TexGX

I have close to 20,000 miles on my GX and the clunk is only getting worse. Do the 05 and 06 GX's have this problem?

TexGX

Donger

I have an '05 with a little over 6k miles and it clunks occasionally on stops (started at about 4k miles). Hard to place the source - sometimes feels like the transmission, sometimes feels like the rear end. I usually get it after exiting the freeway. My wife drove it the other day and mentioned it felt like someone bumped into her at the light - and she never notices things like clunks, rattles, squeaks. So my '05 has it and it seems to be getting more frequent.

itsZep

My '04 has it.

Does it maybe once every few days.

Seems like it does it more often if I have to suddenly come to a quick stop.

Like yesterday I was driving in a new area......cruising about 30 mph and came up on an unexpected stop sign......when I came to a quick sudden stop.......CLUNK!

Kind of feels like your vehicle has stopped, but the transmission isnt completely stopped yet?

Like it's still got one last downshift to catch up?

I don't know, I am not mechanical.

purplehazek4

this is an interesting thing that happened on my GX. after i went offroading for the first time, my GX doesn't clunk anymore
it's been about 2 weeks with no clunk. prior to offroading, it clunked very often.
(i'm not saying offroading your GX will get rid of the clunk, but that is what happened with mine)


dan

The G Man

Hmmmm, did you use the low range or lock your diiferential?

purplehazek4

yes and yes.
i guess it would make some sense, since the clunk is due to the drive shaft binding, and offroading would put load on the drive shaft, perhaps "loosening" the tolerences?

dan

Rx900

i've gotten used to my clunk. happens a lot. haven't tried that new teflon driveshaft yet. i think the air suspension has something to do with it also. try this.

1.when you are stopped at the light, try raising the GX. sometimes the clunk comes up.
2. or try backing up while raising the suspension. sometimes the clunk will come up too.

so i'm guessing it has to do with the air suspension.

lepoch

My dealer is telling me one cause of this is the air conditioner idle speed bump-up. Sure enough, when I feel the clunk, it is right when the engine RPM's DROP from the idle speed change. Strange but true. This is the case for at least some of my thunks.

I can replicate the clunk by raising or lowering the air suspension when stopped, in gear.

caha14

It's an interesting observation that tweaking the air suspension height may trigger the clunk. My thought is that as the height changes, the driveshaft pivots slightly about the splines (its angle changes), and this probably accelerates the "unbinding" that then produces the clunk.

I've seen this clunk issue with many other suv's, just like many others in CL, and none of those had an air suspension.

Re. the driveshaft with teflon coated splines, I asked my dealer, and they haven't heard about it. I was told that when things like this occur, Lexus typically issues a new TSIB. This would not necessarily be a completely new bulletin, but rather a revision by adding an 'R' to the original TSIB number, from DL001-04 to DL001R-04, the latter of which I cannot find listed anywhere.

TexGX

Thanks for everyones input. I will follow up after my appointment.

TexGX

lexguynj

I have an 05 GX470 and I remember feeling this once in a while, but it not for some time now, so not noticing anymore. I have noticed that if I do look for it, I get sensitized and feel that it maybe happenning more often. This is all in my head.

We call this the luxury clunk.

I have it now with my new 530xi and it's annoying, but getting better as the vehicle is being broken in, but still happens. Or maybe I am just getting used to it. This feeling that you have been lightly bumped from behind even when stopped and idling at a traffic light is the MOST annoying feeling you can ever have and you keep telling yourself, you spent all this money on a vehicle that does this? You never had any other vehicles do this before.

Think software update?

Donger

A little off topic, but there is a problem with the BMW transmissions and X-Drive - there is a software fix for this - at least for the '05/06 X5's (which use the same X-Drive as your 5er). Some of the early '05's got pretty violent with the clunk.