mydayjob

Good to know, cec327. At least they can't call it a design feature then....

Sxelexy

Yup, that's the sound... It is only when the A/C is running and it gets louder the hotter it gets outside as the unit has to work harder. The only thing that the Lexus Service manager could offer for now was to turn off the Auto A/C in the background vehicle settings menu so that it doesn't run as often.

Problem with that is that it isn't fixing the problem but rather just turning off a feature of the vehicle. Plus as soon as the vehicle gets too hot for comfort then you are back to the noise because you need the A/C to cool things down again. I sure hope Lexus gets enough complaints so that they will do something.

Paying over $70,000 for a vehicle that doesn't have something as basic as a properly functioning A/C is unacceptable. Having said that, I have faith that Lexus will rectify the issue and if not then I say we make the head engineers & executives drive one for a whole month in the dead of summer. Lol

cfhnola

I have the same problem with the 2016 RX 350 I purchased in mid-December. I don’t know if it’s a significant factor, but as some others have noted here mine was built in Canada. I brought it in for service in mid-March. I was told then that it was a known problem and under investigation. The refrigerant was drained and measured. Then a new refill of the specified quantity was added. That resulted in no change to the noise. All of that was reported by the dealership to Lexus corporate in support of the ongoing investigation. As the weather gets warmer, I imagine there will be many more customers reporting this. So there shouldn’t be any lack of data to help diagnose the problem. I just find it hard to understand how an obvious issue like this wasn’t caught in testing the new model. I was told that I’ll be contacted if a fix becomes available. But I’m not holding my breath.

andrewyang

Hmmm..... my AC also makes a sound, but it is really different. If you have the fan on high, it sounds like drilling at a construction site from somewhere in the trunk area. Very annoying and high pitched, and it seems to be related to the set temperature. I think it must be a defect because mine doesn't make that gurgling sound.

calfrank

1 month tomorrow with my rx450h, A/C ON all the time and no gurgling noise whatsoever. I don't think it's a design flaw, otherwise it will happen to all of them and it would be more noticeable on the hybrid since the cabin is dead quiet when driving on electric mode. Maybe poor quality control?

JH48

iTrader: (3)

I got the same problem. It looks like water running somewhere on the passenger side

mydayjob

I emailed Lexus corporate and they are supposed to call within 2 business days. Will report back.

toyotaman7

Rx 450h and rx350 have different a/c systems.

Richstang

Looking forward to their reply.

Jorgenamm

I've already been down this road since November of 2015. I must have been some of the first to report this as they tried to tell me it was normal. I kept complaining and they sent a regional FTS to diagnose it. It was always "normal" or "we can't hear it". Lexus corporate at that time said "we stand by our FTS' evaluation". I kept at it and eventually got them to realize it wasn't "normal". They drained the AC and refilled it to the top of the spec allowed and that did no good either. Finally, another customer brought hers in to complain also. So now I had some support. They did mention it could be some sort of expansion valve issue, but as everyone already knows, there is no fix at this time.

toyotaman7

I noticed mine you. It's noticeable when the car is not moving with radio off.

I would think design should know that there is an issue by now.

clwu

I found this forum because I have this noise problem. I was actually surprised to find my youtube video posted here.
After reading many of you having the same problem, I actually might cancel my appointment with Lexus service, Im just afraid they do more harm than good. since i got my RX i have only been able to use the AC about 6-7 times because of the weather here. the noise have seem to be getting a little better with more use. hope the problem is just that it is new and need time to "break in."

mydayjob

Reply is: (1) deny the existence of noise; when they doesn't work (2) accept existence and call normal; when that doesn't work (3) acknowledge not normal and no fix is known; and finally when customer indicates that this is not acceptable for this type of car (4) say sorry, there is nothing else to be done.

e60528i

I bought my new RX350 on 4/30/16 (Saturday) evening. I drove it home and I didn't notice the gurgling noise until the next day. I made an appointment and took it in to the service department on 5/5. The service consultant told me that the mechanic supervisor knew what exactly the problem was. They gave me a loaner car (RX350) and I drove it for a day. The loaner car didn't have the gurgling noise. For the fix they did on mine, they flushed out all of the refrigerant (I don't think it is called Freon these days anymore) and refilled it to full. When I took it back in the evening and drove it home, I still could hear the noise. It is still the same and no change. The next morning, I took it back to the Lexus service department, the service consultant told me that they had to call the engineer at Lexus to find out the fix and they again gave me a loaner car. This time, this loaner (RX350) car had the gurgling noise like mine. Around 3-4pm, I got a voice message from the service consultant that they had got my RX350 ready for pick up, and said however they did not perform any fixes. The Lexus engineer told them not to attempt any fixes because Lexus still has no solution for this problem and they did not want to create other bigger problems by attempting to repair this noise as of right now it was only a nuisance noise. When I brought the loaner car back to the local Lexus, I told them that that particular RX350 had the same noise too, hoping that they would use it to troubleshoot the gurgling noise, but I doubt they would do it.

This is my first Lexus car. I had owned European luxury vehicles (BMW and Porsche) in the past and I still own a 2014 Porsche Cayenne now. I was considering the Acura MDX or Lexus RX350, but eventually decided to go with the RX350 thinking Lexus would have better quality. I guess my decision was wrong and very disappointed with Lexus quality.

clwu

Hey guys,
update on the status of the AC noise.
Took my RX350 into service today for the AC noise.
Got a loaner car(a turbo NX). Actually noticed a little noise from this car as well, but very faint and goes away rather quickly.
Anyways, got a call about 2 hours later from service. The mechanic told me that he actually just had a meeting about this issue this morning with Lexus. As of right now, they have been instructed to not touch the AC at all. Until Lexus finds a solution to this problem, there will be nothing done to it. However, they will contact me as soon as Lexus figures out how to solve this problem.

Guess we'll just have to wait it out.