Irritating cabin noises antenna and Hatch door
07-04-11, 06:28 AM
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Irritating cabin noises antenna and Hatch door
I have two non-urgent questions about my 2003 RX300.
First, the radio antenna makes all kinds of mechanical noises when going down. It reminds me of lowering the landing gear on an airplane. It functions perfectly fine as it has for 90K miles. It is just that it seems awful noisy. Is this normal?
Second, there appears to be something loose in the rear hatch door. My wife gets irritated with it more than me because her hearing is much better than mine. I took everything out of the wheel well to make sure it was nothing in there. I emptied the cargo space. The noise appears to be coming from inside the hatch panel. How do remove the panel to look? On previous cars I learned to be very careful about removing panels because of the cleverness of the designers as to how they attach. Some hook, some snap in, some pop, some unscrew etc. There once was the story about a disgruntled auto assembler who took a string and tied a nut to one end. Then he taped it to the inside of a door panel pendulum fashion and put a note saying, “I’ll be it took you a long time to find this.” I am sure he doesn’t work at Lexus, but the type of sound is somewhat similar, something loose swinging around.
Dr Dan
First, the radio antenna makes all kinds of mechanical noises when going down. It reminds me of lowering the landing gear on an airplane. It functions perfectly fine as it has for 90K miles. It is just that it seems awful noisy. Is this normal?
Second, there appears to be something loose in the rear hatch door. My wife gets irritated with it more than me because her hearing is much better than mine. I took everything out of the wheel well to make sure it was nothing in there. I emptied the cargo space. The noise appears to be coming from inside the hatch panel. How do remove the panel to look? On previous cars I learned to be very careful about removing panels because of the cleverness of the designers as to how they attach. Some hook, some snap in, some pop, some unscrew etc. There once was the story about a disgruntled auto assembler who took a string and tied a nut to one end. Then he taped it to the inside of a door panel pendulum fashion and put a note saying, “I’ll be it took you a long time to find this.” I am sure he doesn’t work at Lexus, but the type of sound is somewhat similar, something loose swinging around.
Dr Dan
07-04-11, 06:45 AM
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If the antenna is not fully protruding, then the interior cable may need to be replaced. I would generally clean the antenna first and then see how it goes up and down.
The rear hatch panel snaps off easily...just pull it off from the bottom and then you can move the rear door up and down and listen to see where the sound is coming from. You may have to use something like a coat hanger or long rod with a piece of tape around it to pull whatever is loose in there out. Even the smallest hand may have a tough time trying to reach in there. If it is a screw or something, consider getting something with a magnet on the end to bring it out.
The rear hatch panel snaps off easily...just pull it off from the bottom and then you can move the rear door up and down and listen to see where the sound is coming from. You may have to use something like a coat hanger or long rod with a piece of tape around it to pull whatever is loose in there out. Even the smallest hand may have a tough time trying to reach in there. If it is a screw or something, consider getting something with a magnet on the end to bring it out.
07-07-11, 10:45 AM
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sorry to tell you that soon your antenna wont go up or down at all. i have an 02 which started out the same way. it progressively got worse and now it only makes noise but doesnt move.. due to the fact i am BROKE from the repairs on this vehicle, i have decided not to attempt to fix it !!
As stupid as this may sound, your noise from the rear hatch area might be a loose license plate that is tapping against the metal. this happened to me as well and a quick turn of the screw driver ended that issue real quik !!! only if all my other issues were that simple i would have a bank account ....
As stupid as this may sound, your noise from the rear hatch area might be a loose license plate that is tapping against the metal. this happened to me as well and a quick turn of the screw driver ended that issue real quik !!! only if all my other issues were that simple i would have a bank account ....
07-09-11, 08:01 AM
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I bought the RX at 27K miles (fully dealer refurbished, prepped etc.) There is nothing wrong with the antenna. It works fine at 90K miles. It fully extends and retracts. It is just that it makes a lot of noise retracting after the engine is shut off and everything is quiet. So to refine my question, is this a common noise?
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