(See a few posts below to see what worked pretty well for me using an old sock... a clean one...)

So now that the weather has gotten a bit colder, I've started to notice that on the driver side lower corner of the windshield a rattle/click/tick noise that is driving my bananas whenever I go over any rough road.

Car is out of basic warranty, so I don't think I will get any help from Lexus/Toyota on this one as far as removing the dash and doing the official TSBs.

Is there any DIY fix for this, that may not be perfect but helps significantly? I ran into this:



Is it really as simple as going under the hood and sawing something off??

I've tried to wrap many layers of electrical tape together and wedge them in as tight as I could between the dash and the windshield but I haven't been able to go for a drive to see if that does any good. I've also read some people had luck removing the speaker cover and spraying silicone on the clip that is apparently right under there but I didn't really find any information about how that speaker cover is removed.

Anyway, just looking for any tips if anybody has managed to lick this on their own using low tech methods.

I found this post, and I'll try a few of those things.

1) I'll try jamming vacuum hose in, that sounds a lot better than my spot treatment of wadded electrical tape.
2) I'll take a look at the cowl, and the clips.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...dshield-2.html

 

Hey Jay, Lexus did the warranty on my car, and it was the dash that was rattling. They removed the whole dash, insulated, re inserted new clips, etc. I have the part numbers that they used but unfortunately I am at work. I will post the part numbers so people out of warranty who want to do this can, but it may be a big job for some people. Good luck.

chris

 

I haven't taken my cowl off to check the windshield retainer pins, but I just went ahead and used a butter knife to stuff some pieces of thick black sock in between the windshield and the dash and between the dash and the A pillar. I plan on going for a drive later today, so I'll see what good if any this ridiculous fix does.

I really don't want anybody taking my whole dash apart because so far my rattles are pretty much limited to that upper left corner even in sub zero temperatures. I'd rather just drive around with some ghetto sock cushioning (can't see it anyway) if that gets me most of the way there.

 

What year was your car? I have the same issue with a 2007 450h. I guess the prior owner didn't care, but it grinds on my nerves. Lexus said they weren't aware of such problems for my model year but i'm bringing it in anyways. It's at 79,996 kms. Dealership is being difficult and saying warranty will not be honored if they recieve it past 80 clicks. The drive to the dealer ship is around 8 kms, so it'll be around 80,004. They said, sorry, can't help me, it's lexus canada. Gonna tow it in.

 

I had the TSB performed this Summer, to no avail. Interestingly, they said that three of the clips were broken. Not sure if this was B.S. or not, but it obviously did not correct the problem.

I hate to take it back in again, even though it's still under warranty. I'm sure if they take it apart often enough they're gonna introduce problems rather than fix them. I agree with others in the forum though ... the noise just irritates me to no end.

Has anyone else had luck with the TSB service?

 

Here's my report guys. In *my* rattle, liberally stuffing pieces of thick cut sock in between the windshield/A pillar and the dash reduced the amount of ticking/rattle dramatically. At least on my 40 km bumpity Toronto road test. It used to be so bad on the drivers side that it sounded like something was cracking whenever I drove over a pot hole of even modest size when the temperature dropped.

It's about 2 degrees Celcius out there now, and my drivers side noise is almost completely gone except for a small tick on occasion. The noise has reduced so much that now I've started to notice some small ticking sounds coming out of the center of the windshield at the dash. :| I will be going back to the car with the rest of this sock and I'm just going to stuff it in the middle and the passenger side for good measure.

Anyway, this is worth a shot before you do anything drastic if your only issues are near the windshield and pillar areas. It only costs a pair of old black winter socks. I can see myself needing to go back in there occasionally to pack the material in again but whatever this is good enough for me as long as it holds up as the temperatures continue to drop.

 

you can use some of the door insulation as pictured in this link...some useful info too
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...ght=diy+rattle

Dash removal is a last resort....look at this post
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...-dash-tsb.html

 

as much as I hate that these rattles are back with the cold weather I would not take my dash apart to try to solve this.

Your very brave to tackle this project

 

The dash rattle issue finally got solved. It only had to come out 4 times. Actually 2 times due to tech error. Long story, but the new clips did the trick. In the future I would say only do it if it really bothers you because it can turn into a cluster

 

Your ticking problem is most likely the dashboard clips, they need to be paded. You can try cutting of the windshield clips, there is one set on the top as well as the bottom.

 

I'm happy to report that BinaryJay's (black) sock rattle fix worked!

I bought my '07 GS350 about 1.5 weeks ago. During the test drive I noticed the windshield/dash rattle coming from the driver's side of the car. Rattles annoy me so much that I almost passed on the car. In any event, I cut up a pair of thick black socks and jammed them between the dash and the windshield on the driver's side (I used a butter knife). I just completed a 8 hour road trip and heard absolutely nothing from that side of the car! Hooray! Eliminating that problem did allow me to hear an itty bitty intermittent rattle from the passenger side. So what the heck, I'll stuff that side with a black sock too!

Thanks again to BinaryJay!

 

If it sounds like mice are squeaking then it is from the lower windshield cowl piece, it is the big plastic piece that sits under the windshield wipers, wiggle it back and forth see if you hear the same noise, if you do so put some felt between the plastic cowl and the windshield.

 

I've had it done twice, made absolutely zero difference. It just constantly clicks and ticks. All roads, all weather, all the time. In the end, having become increasingly frustrated with this, my 06 GS (the absolute worst year of the 3rd gen. I'm an F'ing moron for buying it) I have decided that it is my fault. It is my fault because Lexus has given up on the 3rd gen GS. They couldn't fix the inherent dash design problems, they won't honor my piston ring rebuild because I'm a few months outside the official CSP date, they have just written me off as a future customer. So I feel stupid for basically trusting 20 years of their brand reputation for perfection when I bought my 06 in 08. I didn't notice the dash noise when I test drove it, and I certainly couldn't have predicted their first direct injection engine would become an oil burning nightmare.

After 6 years of ownership, I feel like I may as well have gotten a 5 series or E class. Why not? they are the more desirable sedan, everyone (the buff books) dumps all over the GS for being boring and ugly, and without rock solid 200K miles of reliability and perfection, what's the point of the GS? The worst part is, I can't just foist it off on some starry eyed kid who wants to slap on 20" chrome dubs, tint out the windows, and lower the suspension settings to "kidney damage". He'll know it's a burner, and he's not gonna want to blow $6300 just rebuild an inherently defective engine that was underpowered in the first place. Somehow, after months of research, and being a car nut my whole life, I manage to purchase the worst, most defective lexus ever made. Owning this car has been such a massive blow to my self esteem and made me feel so stupid and helpless in the face of a giant, uncaring multi billion dollar company... whom I foolishly trusted.

 

Ouch, I would suggest getting an engine from a junk yard and just swapping it out much cheaper,

 

If i could swap out for a 3.5, I would. I'll let it keep burning oil until it fails emissions or runs dry on the side of the road. At which point I'll just take out a gun and shoot it like a horse.