Wind noise is excessive but has anyone noticed a lot of valve clatter on start up. Mine sounds like a diesel until warm. I complained to Lexus and was told that cars with "direct injection" have more valve clatter. The noise sounds like the car is malfunctioning. This is the same engine as the Camry '07 V6 and I am surprised that I have not seen other complaints. This is my second Lexus and for the money, it's a very nice car. Our other car is a Mercedes. It's great to drive but reliability has been poor.

 

IS350 has that valve ticking noise also its normal

 

It's the direct injection you might also you might get a little shake when you first start it the first time for the day. If you start it cold and put it into reverse right away you can prob duplicate the shake.

 

For me its:
1) Wind Noise. Have a meeting tomorow morning with Lexus HO rep to see if this is normal or not.
2) Front window rattles. Passenger side is fairly constant, drivers is just starting to a bit. I'll get that looked at tomorrow too.
3) Engine valve\ticking type noise. I'd gladly take 15hp less for no noise please!
4) Dash creaks\groans. At first my dash speaker grill(s) made these sharp popping\creaking sounds, usually after being in the sun for a while. I thought it would stop, but now it is just annoying.

 

@ wanderer99: when did you buy your ES350?

 

I purchased my ES350 in late May.

 

I have not heard any ticking when starting our car.

 

Neither have I.

 

My ES 350 has that annoying "clacking" sound on a cold start, too. My dealer suggested that I use 91 or 93 octane which I have but I still get this diesel rattling noise. Why would some ES350s have the noise and other not? I just turned 2110 miles. Is there anything that can be done to stop this annoying sound other than turning up the audio system? My RX 330 is nice an quiet.

 

Change fuel grades? Sometimes you just want to smack these guys My Avalon has the same engine and at 10,000 miles I developed an oil leak that the technicians could not find while letting the engine run on their hoist. The Regional reps from Toyota figured it out. They explained to me that this engine has a high pressure oil line that feeds the upper part of the engine only on startup then the "regular" oil circulation system takes over. So if oil circulation is critical at startup for these engines then maybe the lack of quick circulation (high pressure line or blocked oil channels in the casting might cause some people to hear "valve clatter" or ticking sounds ?? However, I am no mechanic and this is only a wild guess on my part.

 

This is great information, David, I 'll talk to my serivce manager again and see what he says this time. I may have mislead him by stating it was a pinging sound when I spoke to him on the phone. At the very least , I will push this issue at my 5,000 mile appointment. I am interested to learn if more of you ES 350 owners have this same problem and how your dealer may have resolved this matter. Is it odd that some ES 350s have this problem and others don't? I wonder if it is damaging the engine. I bet it will sound worse on a cold winter start in Maine.

 

I had the same noise problem from rattling driver side window. I took it to dealership to fix it and after two days they told me it is fixed. I hadnt driven 100 yards out of dealership, I noticed the same noise problem. They either didnt know what the problem is or they knew and couldnt do anything about it. So, they simply lied to me. I think the problem is the rubber seal around window is not holding window tight enough to prevent it from rattling. I am saying this because whenever I put my hand on upper left side of door panel and push it, the noise stops, I take my hand off, noise comes back. I am a little bit disappointed with lexus. Imagine you have bought this perfect house and you come home to sleep and there is noise coming from bedroom walls. I would have expect problem like this from other car manufacturers but not from lexus. I read somewhere you never buy a new designed car with new engine and transmission on the first year it is introduced. I broke that rule because I was inpatient and thought it cant happen to lexus with their track record. I am curious to know if lexus has done anything to any of these noise complaints.

 

I have just got my ES330 probably the final edition of 330's late last december (Dec to Remember sale) I am suprised that I have exact same problem you r having.. I have completed my 5000 mile service and the problem started since then. My noise is like ( when you take a ruler and hit against a table slowly but in high freq) on the passenger side. I tried doing many things like pushing / holding tight the seat, headrest, seatbelt housing.. it's just getting on to my nerves.. maybe I should start looking at the rubbers around the door as you said.. I ahve appointment made tommorow.. and I am hoping the guys can fix it.. I get the sound at any speed and one thing I noticed is the passenger seat vibration.. does yours do the samething?? but the point here is.. don't worry that you broke the rule because you got one of the best ES I have seen Lexus produce.. and I am regretting every inch for not waiting ... but I love my car...

Will Update on what the dealer have to say....

 

My 2002 ES does this when I drive around 65+ Luckily, my 2007 ES does not.

 

I am surprised ES 330 has the same problem. my brothers have both ES 300 and none have window rattling problem. I have a camry 98, it has a lot of noise driving on rough streets but it still doesnt have window rattling noise. I dont have any noise coming from seats or anywhere else . It certainly has some noise driving on rough or bumpy streets. If I had this problem after a year or two I wouldnt care , but not just after 2 weeks. Anything starts to breakdown after you start using it. things are not built to last forever, but you have certain expectation from everything you buy new.