1. To fix cold start tapping, diesel noise warm car up for 3-5 minutes before driving I have 11,000 miles on my car so this cannot be a fatal problem.
2. Turn on defroster at hi temp after warm up and squeaks, rattles go away. So must be cold weather here in Ohio as there were none in summer.

I know Lexus are not supposed to do these things but my Build 03/06 has these problems and Lexus resists any of my complaints. I have had car in at least 4 times for engine noise and nadda results "this is normal"
Other wise I love my car and no other problems.

 

Very cool. I'm glad you found a fix that works for you.

Too bad your dealer wasn't interested in fixing at least your squeaks and rattles.

Regarding your tapping noise, it might not be fatal, but I don't think you can rule out a fatal problem with only 11,000 miles on your car. If it dies at 71,000 miles (out of warranty), I personally would not be happy with the result.

 

If you love your car, PLEASE dont idle it for 3-5 minutes! Not only are you wasting gas but its detrimental to your car. You should never warm your car up for more than 30 seconds, just enough for the oil pressure to rise and then gently driving it for the first couple of miles. If you dont plan to keep this car for more than 100k miles, by all means idle away. There is some research somewhere that showed idling your car for 5 minutes is the same as putting 30+ miles on your car. Dont quote me on that though

 

Are you suggesting when you get snowed in, to scrape all the snow and ice before starting your car to drive 30 seconds later? Or don't let it warm up for 3-5 min now in the morning when temperature in single digits? That doesn't sound right...

 

I was bored the other day, and checked out jay leno's garage. He had a guest that firmly believed in warming up the engine before driving.

How is this any different from getting stuck dead in freeway traffic and putting the car in Park?

 

Idling isn't good for two reasons.

1. Low oil pressure

2. Rich fuel mixture

Never heard the 30 mile thing before, #1 is the worst enemy to an idling engine, especially with top end lubrication.

 

Firstly, I don't believe that idling for long periods of time on a cold engine is necessary before driving off, but you should drive the car easily until it reaches operating temperature.

1. Low oil pressure. Not so! When staring a cold engine the idle speed is increased to over 1000RPM so the oil pump is working at the maximum oil pressure, and if you remember, these cars use multi-grade oil which changes it's viscosity to insure proper lubrication throughout the temperature band.

2. Rich fuel mixture. We're not talking about a car that uses a carburetor that has a choke to adjust the idle/air fuel mixture, but a fuel injected engine that continually adjusts for the proper mixture very accurately. That's the reason why these engines have so many monitoring sensors.

 

Nick,

That is not only a roundabout way to avoid diesel knocking when offered no repair, but sitting there for that length of time would likely offset the number of times the transmission slips too. Twice daily, am start of day sit there for up to 5 minutes and also do it before leaving workplace end of day.