The service manager told me it was the fuel injection system. Would not take it any further. So, after the first free oil change, this dealer will not get any non warranty work. And I tell everyone who asks about the noise "hey - its the new Lexus". This dealer has lost some local sales to my comments but hey, payback is a b****.

 

it's been 6 months of whining and complaining, and not a damned one of you has even found the problem yet. which would take all of 20 seconds, and doesn't even get your manicured hands dirty.



I think it's karma because the entire lot of you are obviously lazy.

 

Again, we bought into the fallacy that once you buy / lease a new Lexus, everything is beatiful, no problems etc. Realization is that, mechanics wise, its just a Toyota and has its limitations and problems like any other make out there. Hey, I love the car outside of the engine noise,transmission problems and the lack of some standard features that are now standard on lesser makes (remote start and integrated satellite radio from the factory). Will I consider another Lexus? Not until there are more standard features, the cold engine noise is gone and they throw in a $2,500+ factory rebate on top of a respectable dealer discount.

 

Can you elaborate on what you think the problem may be? We are not as car saavy as you might be pheonix. Some here may not even know where to locate the air filter let alone change it!

 

You just wait until my manicured hand dries out so I can biatch slap you

In a meantime, try to make some sense out of your random-thought posts...

 

The ticking noise is a 100% normal and UNHARMFUL characteristic of the new low friction roller rocker arm valvetrain of the ES350 V6 (the low friction contributes to the outstanding fuel economy of the ES350 V6). No one will ever link the noise to wear because wear isn't happening. Historically, Toyotas most fuel efficient and durable engines (e.g the 3AC and 4AC Corolla motors and the 1985-95 22RE motor) made alot of cold engine valvetrain racket. But when owners and mechanics examined the valvetrain parts of these engines that are making the racket they found no significant wear, even after hundreds of thousands of miles.

So 15 years from now garsarno will likely read about 2007 ES350 or Camry V6's with 400,000 troublefree miles on them despite the ticking. And you can be sure the 2008's will tick too just like the 2007's and 2006's did because it's normal (although Toyota might someday try some sound deadening tricks like a sound dampened valve cover to help cover up the noise)

 

I have the clacking engine sound from day 1 (technically day 2, since I was too excited picking up the "already warmed-up car"), it was louder during the past winter. Now it sounds much softer (barely audible), probably due to the warm weather.

To avoid hearing such sound in the coming winter again, I moved to from NY to CA. lol...

One sad thing though.. two days ago, a pebble from a 16 wheeler chipped my windshield and made a 1/2" crack..anyone has an idea of cost of replacement? Any recommendation of repair shops/dealers in the bay area?

 

Well, if that's the case, then my saying that "hey, it's a Lexus" is true! Next time a V8 equipped car.

 

Lets me clear on a few things.

1) It is not a tick, it is a knock

2) If you rev the car in P or N, it does not make the noise. Only when in drive and actually moving.

3) I know what you mean by the tick. My wife's 2001 and 2004 Siennas had that. This is much louder. It sounds like a diesel.

4) Worse in cold temps, not too bad in warm temps.

Any ideas?

 

My oil change prescription did not help (Mobil One and friction modifier). So..
I probably should be adding a D at the end of the ES350 emblem? At least, the ES350D emblem would answer a lot of comments about the noise of the car.

 

Well, I got another chuckle yesterday. The cold weather is now upon us. My wife and I went out last night and we took the Lexus. I was not 200 feet from my house and my wife said, "what is wrong with your car?". She heard the cold engine knock and thought my car was falling apart.

The car was quiet all summer, it is only when it is very cold outside. If my wife hears it and comments on it, it is really bad. This is not normal.

 

Welcome to the ES350D club in the colder weather. The D stands for diesel.

 

Today was the first sub-50 degree day that I drove my ES350D. And it certainly lived up to that name. It sounds like a freaking dump truck.

I am so glad I won't own this car much longer.

 

The noise is anything but normal and anything but attributed to some low friction roller rocker arm, ....low friction... is counter to the banging noise. It is a valve defect. Odd that LS owners have had it addressed when they have complained via a valve job performed on their car and ES owners are fed total BS on the subject and forced to live with it.

 

"Driven 5 & they all sound the same" what will it take to get some of you to accept it is as it was designed??? Do you know we're no longer using timing belts--saves you money on the major service, but guess what you sacrificed for saving that $650.00??
And a little hint for you that say "they must get $50 for everyone they send away" GROW T.F.U., what other job can you name where less than 1% of your customers can effect whether or not you'll actually receive your entire paycheck??? Every dealer out there ties 25-35% of every service advisor's,service manager's & general manager's check to CSI, I service over 3000 vehicles per month and it only takes 3 people to bone us on a survey out of spite to make sure the company keeps a fat portion of my check. This is a 2 way street, we don't address the issue when there is no problem to solve, but those of you the SCREW US ON THE SURVEY for not re-engineering your car to what can be unreasonable expections should know a couple of things. 1) Your survey is NOT anonymous - IF YOU SLAM ME, I KNOW WHO YOU ARE!! 2) Most of us are graded on just 2 questions on your survey, Will you recommend this dealer? & will you return? DON"T SAY NO & THEN ASK FOR MY HELP,YOU JUST F*$#ED YOURSELF WITH ME & MY CREW. 3) If you don't think we're being up front with you, call 800-25LEXUS and tell them what's going on, but don't take it out on us.
We truely changed the way the car business treated people when we came on the scene and went from a question mark to the benchmark of this industry in product quality and customer service. Those of you who want to act like we are a backroad,sleazy fly-by-night bunch of crooks---I wonder how downright crappy your life was dealing with everyone else. Just a few words of advise, Loyalty pays in the long run w/Lexus, there are people with 150,000 miles on old RX & ES that are getting free engines put in their cars, not because there was a defect in the engine, but Lexus told them they only needed to changed their oil every 7500 miles & they sludged up. Now these people did all their services with their local dealer & Lexus stood behind the dealer and the customer. NAME ANOTHER CAR COMPANY THAT WOULD DO THAT___CAN"T THINK OF ONE CAN YOU??? And the other thing, don't F@#K with your service consultant's check - he / she has a family to feed too and although it's not fair their checks can be taxed like this, it is reality.