Hearing a loose heat shield like rattle when hitting bumps...checked everything underneath , can't find anything loose... any clues ?? 09 GX-470 56K miles

 

driveshaft? :/ I had 2 bolts loose on mine upon ownership

 

Broken swaybar link?

Chip H.

 

Skid plates.

 

Checked all that... but, the front skid plate does rattle when I bang on it with my hand...but the bolts are all tight.

 

what do you mean by Sway Bar "link" Chip ??

 

The swaybar runs left-to-right across the vehicle. But the ends of it have to be attached to the suspension, so there are short steel links that run vertically (more-or-less) to do this. There's rubber bushings in there to add compliance and noise reduction, and over time it wears out and the link pops out. I've also had the weld on them break. They're typically a pretty cheap part - and the labor to replace one isn't too bad as it's pretty accessible.

This isn't from a GX, but is a good illustration of the part:



Chip H.

 

Got ya Chip...Thanks for the info...I'll check the links and sway bars.

 

the heatshield above the center resonator tends to fall down and rattle sometimes.

if your skid plate is rattling when you hit it but the bolts are tight you maybe dropped something on top of it like a bolt etc..

 

What Ali said. Every time I'm getting closer to an oil change (5k miles) my heat shield rattles and squeaks when the passenger door is slammed. I just did my oil change a couple weeks back on my own, and saw that there's a lot of debris on the heat shield that doesn't fall off without any human intervention. Removed everything, and now it's rattle free and squeak free too. Very annoying if this'll be a trend.

 

on my brothers 100 series he dropped a 12mm socket while changing out a coilpack, we searched for hours and couldn't find it, took a break, searched some more, took off all the skids, nothing nada. everytime the car goes over a bump though you can hear the socket, man its so annoying. even tried to bounce it out from bad roads.. I think its still in there this was only a couple weeks ago.

lesson, try to never drop anything in the engine bay. usually takes more time to find it than it would have to take your time and not drop it in the first place, but that being said I have done it dozens of times myself too

 

What took you so long....

Heat Shield Rattle - https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gx-...xus-again.html

I never did re-install the heat shield and though occasionally the tunnel felt a bit warmer than usual, experienced no issues when absent for the year or so I retained my GX following.

Good luck (and yeah, make sure vehicle is cool before you reach up there to remove it )