I bought an LS460 about 6 weeks ago and I'm having a few issues. There's the usual wind noise, and my dealer has ordered new laminated windows. However, there are a few other issues and I'm curious if anyone else has experienced similar problems.

There's a noise coming from the rear of the engine compartment. It appears to be most noticeable when the car is cold, although it is present all the time at idle, and noticeable at low speeds. The noise is hard to describe, it’s like a ticking noise occurring several times per second. It sort of reminds me of tappet noise that remember from my first car, many moons ago, when things were much simpler. The dealer says this is normal noise from the fuel injector, but I'm dubious and it's quite audible and annoying inside the car.

Also, there are intermittent problems with the door locking mechanism. Sometimes the car fails to automatically lock the doors when moving the shifter out of park mode. In addition, sometimes the car fails to unlock the doors when placing the vehicle in park mode, and when this happens the doors cannot be unlocked by using the door rocker switch on the driver’s door – the doors unlock when the switch is depressed and immediately lock again although the car in in park mode. Of course, this is intermittent and it never happens for the dealer.

Lastly there's an intermittent acceleration issue. When I accelerate hard (typically to merge into traffic) the car stays in low gear when I lift my foot off the accelerator. This is disconcerting because the car immediately starts to slow down because it's in low gear. The first time this happened I thought the car behind me was going to hit me! Eventually, after around 20 - 30 seconds, the transmission does move to a higher gear, but I feel this is a safety issue. This has only happened about 4 times in the 6 weeks I've owned the car, and dealer hasn't been able to reproduce this behavior.

Any insights on these issues would be very welcome.

 

Enging ticking at idle and low speeds is a normal condition.
Have your dealer to perform the TSIB that upbgrades your software so the transmission does not shift into neutral after being stopped for long periods,
this should take care of the other problem. If you do have this done it can not be reversed. It was designed this way as a gas savings measure so you
may see a small reduction in gas milage, mostly everyone posting on this forum has had the software upgrade including myself.
I have had the wind noise repair and it helps but you will still hear a little wind noise depending on the wind conditions.

 

Hi Mallory, thanks for the reply. Actually the TSB you mentioned for the transmission (TC009-07) was actually performed on the vehicle as part of the PDI, according to the dealer.

 

Astie,

I'm having the same issue you are describing with trans in my car. It's very annoying and I have taken it to the dealer twice already and of course they can not repro the issue. I finally got fed up with it and I called my dealer and told them to get Lexus involved. I'm dropping the car off on Tuesday for them to diagnose the problem. In addition to the symptoms that you are describing, I'm also having intermittent problems with it not shifting to higher gear when accelerating, like on highway ramps. You are trying to accelerate and the transmission gets stock in the 3rd gear. I have even had couple of my friends with me when it happened and they also mentioned it. I don't think the TSIB that Mellory is suggesting will resolve this issue. Anyway, I'll keep you posted when I pick up my car from the dealer on Thursday. Dealer tells me they'll have to keep it for couple of days. BTW, I have 460L.

Dmitry

 

Regarding the noise from the engine compartment my brother-in-law recently had a similar noise on an ES 350 remedied (after a year of trying) by a Lexus Tech tightening the bolts on the center exhaust shield. One bolt was found to be just slightly loose - it took care of the noise issue. It probably wouldn't hurt to have your dealer at least look at this possibility.

Dave Mac

 

The ticking noise is the flux capacitor. It only goes away when you hit 88 MPH.

 

for the door lock issue, definitely have the dealership check it out. you sure all the doors are closed when you do so, and that the key is fully inside the car right? just sanity check

if that's the case, try to experiment at your home with a video camera, so you can demo back to them at dealership

 

There is a TSIB for engine ticking...

http://www.lambros.net/tsib/2007LS/L-EG014-07.pdf

Craig

 

I used to have the same door lock isssue you had let me put it this way:

Using the TIS computer there are many options. I am going to tell you where the conflict is and what settings should be choosen:


b. When placing vehicle into park, ALL the doors will automatically UNLOCK.







3-when the vehicle reaches 13mph, the vehicle can be programmed as follows:
a. The doors will not lock. (Standard).
b. All of the doors will automatically lock.


So im definitely sure for #3 you still have (All of the doors will automatically lock.)