Okay. Hopefully you guys aren't sick of me yet. Overall, the car is very solid feeling. However, there are a few shakes and rattles that seem to be coming out of the woodwork. For example, over certain bumps, the dash seems to be a little loose. Is there any quick way to "tighten" it? If not, can you insert felt or some other material in some hidden places to reduce the slight movement? Anyone?

 

might be the glove box

be known to rattle

as well as the sunroof

 

Does sound like the glovebox. . . here's a very comprehensive fix:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...light=glovebox

Or maybe it's the sunroof black plastic lower covers (4 total):

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...x&pagenumber=2

While you're at it:

Check your car for loose body plugs (my car had 4 missing, and it allowed a lot of wind noise intot the car):

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...ighlight=noise

Check your instrument cluster bezel for squeaking (halfway down on the 1st page for info):

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...ighlight=noise

Three more dash items to check:

1. Another thing, put some felt in between the main dash plastic and the 2 parts of the central dash that houses the radio and climate control--i.e. looking at the radio, move about 8" to the side plastic dash material, and where it meets up w/ the main dash plastic, put some felt in between there to minimize the noise. Push w/ your finger where the 2 plastics meet, if it squeaks--felt it.

2. On the L side of the main dash (the part that faces the driver's door) is a vent that feeds into the driver's door. Felt it if it's squeaking when you push it in (like mine was). It pops out w/ a flat screwdriver.

3. The console wood piece on the central console--it can occasionall squeak. You'll need to remove it and felt the heck out of it on the bottom side. I haven't done this fix yet, but it's on my list for a free afternoon.

Anyways, an aside, but my last car was a 2000 Acura TL, and it just had an occasional headliner rattle--I'm wondering why my Lexus GS400 had rattled so much (maybe it's just the 17" rims and 30 mm wider tires). . . but at least my rattling has been fixable for the most part.

If I think of some more things, I'll let you know. Others can chime in w/ their problems and fixes. . .

 

Thanks Seattle GS400. Great tip about the plugs. I have noticed excessive wind noise, but figured it was just because it's windy outside. I'm definitely going to check out the plugs tomorrow. I am also going to check the glove box and the other items you mentioned. Thanks so much for taking the time to write your post. I really appreciate it.

e-man

 

SeattleGS400, thanks for taking the time out to look all this up!!!!!!!

e-man, I have a weird ticking sound from the dash area as well. I'll look into that when I have some time. I also noticed that the sound is present when I DON'T have a front passenger with me.

I do recall hearing the very very very low ticking sound even with a passenger, but most of the time, the noise is present when no one is occupying the passenger seat.

e-man, let me know what you find. I may be in the same situation you're in.

 

e-man/Cadd:

No problem fellas. I had all of the above problems, and worked along the way to get those noises fixed, but if any of the posts seem lacking, just PM me or others that worked on the noise countermeasures and we'll try to get you more info. There's nothing like a rattle-prone luxury car, as it makes it seem cheap. One noise at time. . . the relentless pursuit of getting our cars quiet. . .

 

I am in the same battle with noises. Although do not feel bad. I was the the dealer yesterday and drove an LS430. It had more creaks and rattles than mine but then again I have about 30 hours in to noises, a huge disappointment. I will tell you the 430 engine was impressive!!! other than that my brakes felt much firmer. I should have got a GS 430 it would have been a rocket. I have driven numerous GS300, 1 LS430 and two ES300 and that all snap crackle pop, it is a lexus thing. I told the sales manger and he said that the service shop is always plagued with customers complaining about noises. Any way I solved all my center console creaks by disassembling the inner plastic housing from the wood part. So remove the plastic that houses the shift benzel from the larger housing. Take sensor safe silicone and put it where the two meet, it is much better than felt, reassemble and you will hear no noises. DO NOT GET THE SILICONE ON ANY PIECES THAT ARE VISIBLE after they are assembled YOU WILL NOT GET IT ALL OFF AND YOU WILL END UP BUYING A NEW COMPONENT. FYI, SHIFT BENZEL PIECE = $400 AND CUP HOLDER = $100.

A high pitch noise I found in the engine compartment was the heat shield under the mass air flow sensor. It was dangling by 1 tang, the other two had broken off. Open your hood, follow the air intake hose, just prior to the engine you will see a box look under at there is a heat sheild make sure it is not hanging and ratlling against the exhaust manifold.

 

Seattle GS400 and others:

Well, this morning I got under my car (nice clothes and all), and, sure enough, the plug on the front passenger side was missing. Unbelievable. I went to Lexus and for $1, problem solved (the part is on order). Anyway, thanks a lot for the info. Isn't the Internet great? I will let you guys know how I come out on the rattle issues. I was so excited about the plug (or lack thereof) that I forgot to ask for a few sheets of felt. Anyway, have a good weekend.

e-man

 

This should be a sticky This should be a sticky

 

Here's a brief update on the wind noise issue. When I went into the dealership to buy the new plug, I took the one plug I did have out of the hole in the bottom of the car to show the parts guy what I needed. I did not put it back in for the ride home. Let me tell you, the wind noise was deafening. It's unbelievable that those two little plugs can make such a difference. Thanks to Seattle GS400 and everyone else for their help.

 

Here are the part numbers for the front rubber plugs:

90950-01959 (silver dollar-sized front driver's and passenger rubber plugs; 100% perfect fit; $3.09/each)

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...e&pagenumber=3

For the rear body plug part numbers, the jury is still out, but plugging them up won't have a dramatic silencing effect as plugging up the front holes--but definitely plug those fronts up. My car is a different beast w/ those body plugs in properly in place.

ANOTHER THING TO CHECK: REAR SUNROOF DRAIN TUBE DEPTH

There's one last thing I forgot to mention, and that's to check to make sure your rear sunroof drain tubes aren't hanging too low (they are accessible in the trunk side pockets, underneath the floor board flaps). If they are too low they'll get the wind and tire noise from the rear tires and they'll transmit right into your car--it's esp. louder if your sunroof is open. See some pics and a discussion here:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...ighlight=noise

 

Seattle GS --

I couldn't find the drain tubes (at least not from the outside of the car -- I didn't look in the trunk well). Inasmuch as I couldn't see them, I would assume they were not sticking down to low.

The worst rattle of all is coming from the moonroof. It's a creaking/popping noise. I know about the TSB, and the good news is that the Lexus dealer said they would fix it under warranty (even though my car is well out of warranty).

I am definitely going to felt the gauge bezel. The only other rattle seems to be the dash generally, but maybe it's all attributable to the gauge bezel. I'll keep you posted. Thanks again.

e-man

 

You have to look in the trunk. Just pop open the trunk, take out the trunk mat cover, then you have the bottom cover. It has 2 folds--one on the L and one on the R, just pull them up and to the center (or just remove the whole bottom floor cover) and you can see the drain tubes (the left one is a clear drain tube located right by the car jack, and the right one is on the other side analagous pocket). Check to see how low they are.

That's pretty cool that the dealer is doing it for free--I haven't gotten aroudn to doing this on my car. I know that they will get you 4 new sunroof cover garnishes (they might be a newer, better design than the 98-99 models), and felt the heck out of it, and replace it. It should work great (my sister's GS400 had it done).

Felting the gauge bezel is really easy. I took my time, and did the rim of the gauge in about 20 conservative minutes. I spent another 5 minutes taking out the bezel and redoing the felt as too much showed in the front when I first did it. Lastly, your "dash squeak" might very well be the wood console trim that surrounds your A/T shifter, ashtray, cupholder--it just gets transmitted to your ears that way. Also check where the dash plastic meets the middle, central console plastic (as described a few posts above), and if they squeak (like mine did), put a piece of 1" square felt in between the 2 pieces (w/o removing the sticker on the back of the felt).

Good luck w/ it all

 

Thanks, Seattle. I don't think any noises are coming from the center console or the area around the radio. I've tried to move those pieces around and they seem pretty stable. The only think that squeeked a little was the gauge bezel and the dash. It's almost as if the dash is rubbing against the doors or the windshield. I'll try felting the air pass-through between the dash and each door.

Also, I'll check for the drain tubes in the trunk. I'm sure I'll find them.

By the way, do you have a stock radio? If so, Premium or Nakamichi? Any problems?

 

Cool--let us know how it all goes w/ quieting down those noise gremlins.

As for the radio, mine's the regular one. Its' fine for my purposes. Occasionally, a few of my digits on the radio display don't light up properly (like if it's on 103.7, it might show up as 1[ 3 7 (missing the other part of the 0 and the "."). But it's only cosmetic--if it gets worse (i.e. other digits get affected), I might just get it replaced. But it doesn't bother me. Otherwise, a slight annoyance is that the signal of the FM radio seems a notch weaker than for the CD signal (for a fixed settinge on the volume ****), but I think it's a normal thing for all of us.