ES350Bob

Seems only fair.

That and a set of Alan's ear plugs, only customized to be color coordinated with the interior or exterior color of your car.

Alan, where is that pic, the day you put it up cracked me up.

MD350

What is the procedure for asking for this warranty? Dealer? Lexus corporate?

dunnojack

i use only the highest octane gas in cali. still clatters like that

dunnojack

now that's amusing. this car definitely turns heads.

for the past 20 years, i thought only beatup old cars could make this noise.



oh man. i just watched your video again, and adjusted the volume so that both our engine hum was about the same in our recordings. and considering that your camera was around the same location as mine, mine sounds a lot worse no doubt. and mine wasn't even a cold start, strictly speaking.

onsknht

Not to kick sand or anything, but another thing to consider... I started mine in a garage, so there was a lot of "rebound" noise from the walls. The part where I close the hood sounds to be night and day between our cars.

amf1932

I can't find it Bob.

ES350Bob

No problem Alan, I can still remember it and that's just fine.

Adam2562

iTrader: (2)

doesnt sound right lol.. take it to them?

toneman

I can hear the clatter/clacking, but that wasn't the noise that really caught my attention--for lack of a better way to describe it, I'll just say that it seems to be along the lines of what onsknht described.

Nextourer

holy crap... and I thought our 02 Camry (4 cylinder) was bad. I've heard the 1MZ-FE at idle and they're quiet and more pleasant sounding. This sounds worse than our 4 cylinder (no offense). I can understand the issues that you guys are having better. I don't own an ES350 so it's hard to follow these kind of threads without any hands-on experience.

dunnojack

can someone do me a favor and put your ear next to the left-front side of the 350 engine block (as you look at it from the front of the car), and tell me if you hear the jangling noise from my video?

dunnojack

well, i got an es350 loaner. Used my handycam to make another video for comparison to my diesel sedan. nightvision this time.

47 F cold outside. 1600 miles on the odometer.

http://files.filefront.com//;6548037;;/
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...25194102384850

sounds just about the same as mine. This one has the extra whistle noise.
the 3.5's are just noisy engines we have to live with.
That tin can with the "do not touch symbol" and spark plug beneath the engine cover seems to amplify the jackhammer noise.

pocky

iTrader: (12)

My IS350 isn't quiet by any means when it's cold for sure. Under acceleration, it sounds horrible! But I got used to it.

What I did notice is, you said that was after coming home from driving and your car idles at 1500RPM's when it's warm? That doesn't look right at all. It sure shouldn't be idling that high.

I drove a ES350 loaner last week, that car was silky quiet compared to my IS.

ES350Bob

dunno,

Don't mean to put salt in the wound but they are capable of making these where the idle is near silent by comparison. The cold started demonstrator I drove before buying the first ES350 was very quiet from cold start and also when hot, we popped the hood after test drive so sales guy could show me it had an engine...LOL...he had a sense of humor and wanted me to know it was included in the price and at no extra charge.

Since then though, my 2, and each loaner I have driven the engines are all over the map and this has also been said by Wanderer, Riley. So your loaner experience does not surprise me.

Let us know your observations of the start of the day am cold start.

BobBass

As someone sitting on the sidellines waiting for this, the transmission, and wind noise issues to be resolved before committing to an ES350 purchase, has it been definitvely determined that the excess engine noise is due to the changeover to a timing CHAIN from a timing BELT? Or, is it also "piston slap?"

This was probably discussed before, but did Toyota engine designers make the decision that the benefit of using the longer-wearing timing CHAIN outweighed the negative of increased engine noise?

Does this make living with the noise any more palatable? Do ALL engines with timing CHAINS exhibit an unacceptable level of engine noise?

Just posing some questions to ponder.