wekky

About two weeks ago, I purchased a '98 LS400 with 135K miles. It's in excellent mechanical condition as far as I can tell, but today I noticed something a little worrying.

On bumpy/gravel roads, there's a noticeable rattling sound in what seems to be the steering column (or somewhere in the front end). Has anyone experienced this and/or know what the issue is? Should I be concerned?

It drives like a dream on the highway - no rattling whatsoever.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

YoshiMan

Chances are good that it is probably bad Strut bar bushings, which is the one glaring design flaw of the 1st and second generation LS400s.

There is an extensive amount of information about those puppies on here. I don't think they are too terribly difficult or expensive to replace

wekky

Glad to hear it's probably not a serious problem. Thanks for the info, I'll check it out.

LsG86

Agree with strut rod bushings, you can buy OEM bushings online for around $37 each and have a shop press them in. While you're at it check out your lower ball joints and outer tie rod ends.

9000revs

I have the same thing, and have replaced strut rod bushings. My mechanic said it is probably the steering wheel upper column bushings(?). Since it causes no safety issues and is a bit costly for parts (have to replace upper shaft ~ $350), I have decided to ignore it for now.

But, like others are suggesting, if you have not done the strut rod bushings, definitely do them first.

billydpowe

iTrader: (1)

when you do the SRB's be sure you press them in correctly (tab down) and dont tighten the bolt until the car is on the ground

wekky

What's a good online source for bushings? This is all I could find:

http://www.lexussouthatlantaparts.co...867440051.html

2 x $43 + $20 for shipping, so it'd be nice to find somewhere cheaper. Would it be advisable to replace the struts entirely? According to this post, it is:

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums...much/?p=403415

These are the struts I was looking at - read somewhere that KYB is pretty good compared to OEM; no idea if the other strut set is crap or not:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/KYB-341159-S...d4f63e&vxp=mtr
http://www.ebay.com/itm/90-00-Lexus-...|Model%3ALS400

Thanks everyone for your help/advice.

9000revs

Check here http://www.mylparts.com/partlocator/...92&catalogid=0, they give CL discount also.

billydpowe

iTrader: (1)

WARNING, that is not the bushings we are talking about,
look at these and RUN from anything that says POLYanything.....

sha4000

iTrader: (1)

I pick picked up my bushings from south Atlanta as well as most of my other parts. KYB is the way to go with shocks. The excel series is a little more OEM than the GR-2 series though.