Thanks, Jugdish!

 

Here's the explaination I received from the Service manager. There is not a new TSB issued by Lexus. What is happening is Lexus replaced the regular splines with teflon coated splines within the old TSB. The manager told me that they have monthly quality meetings within the region and this was discovered by accident by a tech in Milwaukee. The tech realized the driveshaft was different because it called for a different type of lubrication, from what they had been using. After some investigation, they found out that Lexus had teflon coated the splines and that is why a different lubrication was called for. So, he said that they are recommending to all of their customers with GX's to have the driveshaft replaced with this new teflon coated one.

 

Very interesting. Thank you for the update.

 

Since this TSB is not applicable after a certain VIN #, wouldn't most 05's not be eligible for this?

 

If it is the SAME TSB (DL001-04) then it affects 2003 and 2004 models prior to VIN # JTJBT##X#40032069. Based on that 2005's would not be affected.

 

Does that mean that even though Lexus has found a fix for the thump with the enhanced driveshaft, they will not change it for '05s which do not have the teflon coated shaft?

 

No, not usually, unless something really strange is going on.

When they post a TSB (or recall) with a certain VIN# range, that means cars built with later VIN# already have the "fix".

 

My car is an '05 with built date Jul 05 and I stll feel the thump. So you don't think they'll address that at all??

 

You'll have to discuss with your SA.

The issue with the "thump" (if you wanted to take the time to go read all about it, starting in '03, and then also on other 4WD car forums, but I don't recommend it! ) is there appears to be more than one kind of "thump", and then once the discussion really got going, different people were feeling all kinds of different things, once they started "looking" for it.

The TSB covers a specific issue.

I do not know for sure in this case, I'm just speculating, but it usually goes like this...

In general, there are different types of TSBs. Some are purely to address customer complaints/concerns. In many cases the "fix" is not warranted across all builds of the car (and in fact may have other issues it creates), but is only in place if the customer dictates it is a problem for him/her. For those, there is a test procedure, but not a VIN# range, as it could apply to all builds (since they are not changing the normal build). See the "fluttering steering wheel" TSB as an example.

For other TSBs, they make a change to the new production builds (though that change may NOT be the exact same "fix" that is used for fixing the cars already built and sold), so that after a certain build (i.e. VIN#) the service "fix" is not needed.

So, again, if you have a issue that you feel should be addressed then talk with your SA (and come armed with all this knowledge that might (or might not) apply!).

P.S. As an example on TSBs, on my Mercedes went I went in for the new car check up, I asked the SA to check for all TSBs that might apply to my build (my MB is a new design in '05, so there were a number of "fixes" that applied to early builds). He refused and said that is NOT how it works. There are too many TSBs for them to go thru, everytime a customer brings in his/her car (unless of course it is a RECALL for a safety issue). He went on to say a customer must have a complaint about something not working for them to check to see if there are new Service instructions (i.e. TSBs) that would apply to that problem.

 

I have an 04' and there was no issue with them replaceing it, they did it within a day.