Losiho

The left rear suspension on my 95 LS ocassionally creaks and groans. It does not make a noise over potholes and sharp bumps, but it does groan when turning into driveways, curbs, braking etc. In other words, the creaks seem to come from body movement, not sharp suspension movement.

I am thinking it could be worn suspension bushes - has anyone had this problem, or offer a diagnosis ?

brit_lex

Could be anti roll bar bushes, strut bar cushions, lower ball joints, upper ball joints? Have you had the car checked out at a garage?

Losiho

Not yet, it's almost due for the 150,000km / 90,000mile timing belt service. I'll get it checked out then.

brit_lex

Dude, I misread your post. I thought you had an issue with the front suspension.

The rear suspension might be anti roll bar bushes ($20), upper control arms ($600), axle carrier bushes ($60). Rough pricing indicating cheapest available parts if needed for replacement.

Losiho

Ouch. I hope it's not the upper control arms.

I should also mention that it creaks and groans more during hot weather. It also stops groaning after washing the wheel well and underside of the car - which reinforces my opinion that it's worn bushings.

brit_lex

sorry, rear upper control arms are about $200 to buy, not $600 as I stated. Hmmm, creaks more in hot weather, that's strange. The bushes would expand the hotter it gets, and contract in colder weather.

SharpLS-96

I doubt it's your control arms, sounds more like bushings to me IMO.

Losiho

Ok, I just picked the car up after its 150,000km / 90,000 mile service.

The front lower ball joints need replacing (which we suspected, the front end makes a mild thump over bumps). They don't have any in stock, it needs to be ordered in (approx 2 weeks). Also on order is a drive belt tensioner bearing.

The rear end squeaking / groaning turned out to be rear sway bar bushes. They lubricated them, but they still squeak a little I'm going to get them to replace the rear sway bar bushings at the same time as the front lower ball joints.

Other than that....the car is purring ! Ready to do another 90,000 + miles with the new timing belt. It's also running on Mobil 1 SS 10w30, and it's whisper quiet. The timing belt was $40 (aussie dollars), labour was $785 ! The water pump was also replaced.

TooPhat

how much are the lower front ball joints?
my beauty is suffering from teh same symptoms.......creaks and groans going into and out of driveway. Basically turning at slow speeds with the brakes applied.

Losiho

TooPhat - the car is at service right now getting the lower ball joints done. I'll post here later tonight (Oz time) with a price. In the meantime, I have an IS200 loan car ! (a car not available in the USA)

The rear groaning / creaking was just dry rear sway bar bushings. The service department simply greased them and now it's fine.

Losiho

$A 291.40 for the lower ball joints (each)
$A 150.63 for a drive belt idler bearing
$A 244.54 labour.

TooPhat

funny....hehe...we have the exact same problems....my idler bearing is starting to go too..

Losiho

I apologise for bringing up old threads, but this problem is still not solved

I have traced the squeak to the left rear shock ansorber. Because the squeak occurs right at the top of suspension travel (just fractionally below normal ride height) I am guessing that the shock shaft and/or piston is causing the squeak.

Is there any sort of aerosol spray lubricant or grease I can use to spray up the shock shaft ? I've heard that you have to remove the rear seats to remove the rear shocks, so that's a last resort.

Any advice would be appreciated.....this squeak is driving me nuts

95BlkLS

test

95BlkLS

Sorry for the test message. I just had spent 10 minutes typing up a previous reply and lost it.

I had a similar creaking/clicking/knocking sound, that I put up with for 8 months up until last weekend - when I finally fixed it. After replacing the rear carrier bushings, to no avail, it turned out to be either my struts or springs. I'm not sure because I replaced the whole set, taking no chances. I think it may have been the springs, similar to a bed spring creaking after some time. Anyway, the creaking is gone!

Don't let removing the rear seats scare you off. It's not hard at all. I deviated slightly from service manual steps by not removing the driveshaft. Removing the suspension brace gave me just enough clearance to get the struts in and out.

I got my parts from newlexusparts.com ($300+). My research found them to be the cheapest and easiest to order parts from.

Let me know if you have any questions. Good luck!