dsandife

Has anyone ever seen a fix this issue? There is a rattle coming from the roof area at highway speeds. This is a 2004 RX330. It sounds like an intermittent tapping coming from the roof over the driver's head. The only thing I found when looking at the roof that could rattle was the bars on the roof rack.

I removed the bars, but the rattle is still there. I can find nothing even remotely loose on the roof now. The remaining parts of the roof rack are solid as a rock, as is the moon roof from the exterior. The sound goes away when I open the driver window part way, or if I open the moon roof.

I saw something long ago about a rattle in the headliner, but searches on this forum haven't found anything concrete. If that is the problem, it makes no sense that it would only occur at 60mph or higher.

Any ideas?

jbl-1985

I had my '05 in more than once for that annoying problem...you have to take the headliner off (I think that's what it's called) and basically secure everything again military style...I was lucky mine was under warranty when I had that issue going on.

That's one thing about my 330...when it was new, it was a real hassle getting all of the rattles and squeeks out of it. Everything is good now, and its been a good few years since anything has ever come back...well, nothing has come back so life is good in that respect.

JBL

mandyfig

This sounds like the old rattle actually coming from underneath and migrating into what appears to be overhead. You are the 2nd person to post this kind of issue, recently. Strange.

ycl1688

It does not hurt to set the luggage coverage latch (plastic ones) point to to the inside of car like 9:15 position, see if this fix the problem. I know this is a temporary fix yet the dealer wants $110 to get the parts and installation. It is a rip off.

GrandSedanFan

iTrader: (1)

I had this in my 07. It was a lease and we returned it that way. I wonder if it was something in the sunroof mechanism.

noz34me

If you removed the crossbars, I would say it has to related to the sunroof and/or it's operating mechanisms. When you open the sunroof, is there anything you can see that's loose. With the car parked, you could try to take your fist and lightly pound around the edge of the sunroof (with it open) to see if you can hear something rattling. Sorry not more help, but logically, this is the only thing I can think of.

HEMIkiller

All Canadian made RXs have a potential rattle coming from underneath the driver's side of the car. There'a a TSB out there to trim off the plastic shield and stops the constant and annoying rattle at hwy speeds. It took the dealer less than a minute to correct the problem.

Also experienced the rattle coming from what I thought was the moon room; the dealer buckled the rear seat belts and the low speed rattle has not been heard from since.

Just sharing my thoughts; hope this helps...

vg1134

look at my post on the gas tank cover. the noise this produces at highway speeds-makes it sound like it coming from the roof. when I fixed it-I could not beleive that the cover was causing that racket. its a $5 fix-you can do.

ZERO5RX330

Dont have that rattle yet but I have the annoying rattle coming from the movable plastic thing by where the seatbelt comes out of the driver and passenger door pillar. Especially when I play music with any kind of bass it rattles a bit till I hold it. oh man does it drive me crazy lol.

Maybe we should start a "Rattle" thread so we could all detail our rattles and any fixes we may have found/done.

This should have been the Lexus Rattlesnake instead of the RX330. Mine has quite a few that I will be tackling soon.

brendam24

I had the exact same problem with my 2004 RX330, i couldn't figure out if it was the rack on top or something by the seat bealt...and it only happened at high speeds well I took it in for my 60K maintenance and tehy told me it was actually coming from underneath the car it was the shield underneath the gas tank that needed to be replaced...they wanted $200 to fix it but i declined as i figured my husband could do it so when I got my RX back the noise was gone i guess the technician went ahead and fixed it and charged me not one dime....I got lucky on this one...

tadclark

Most likely the problem is not the roof rack, it is the plastic gas tank liner under the car and the sound radiates to the top. There is a simple quick fix on other posts. All it takes is some simple padding. A great easy fix is 3M tape. There is another post with a great picture showing where to put the tape. A $2 fix.

jbl-1985

Hmmm...there was a post with pictures but now the pictures are gone. Would anyone care to post those if they have them?

SEA

I washed my car last week and noticed it was leaking in underneath the cargo cover guide in the back of the car - leaking out from the vents near the light. It's never done this before. Lexus says it's probably not covered under my Lexus extended warrantee.

I also had to have the transmission replaced at 97,000kms - not from abusive driving. They said they've never seen this happen. It was covered under warrantee but I am astounded $7300. they billed Lexus.

Also, the evaporator on the air conditioner went last year and they said it wasn't covered under warrantee. They wanted to charge me $1600 for it so my air con didn't smell like a mouldy jock bag.
I argued and they finally paid for all but $500. Still a lot.

I have been quite disappointed with my Lexus. It drives nicely but I expected it to be more reliable than this.

jbl-1985

Wow - I think this is the first time I have heard of a Transmission going out on a 2nd Gen RX.