Oil filter was clean but like I said It's only an early oil change because the car is new to me. The next change will be around 5k miles.

My 460 had issues with the plastic housing leaking after my second oil change. I changed this one out as a preventative measure. It'll be 120f here in a month, any extra aluminum to help with cooling can't hurt.

My struts are oem too. There is always the possibility they are clones but I doubt it. One possibility is I need to tighten the 3 strut mount nuts tighter. They were crazy tight when I removed them. I used a 1/2" cheater bar to free them. I tightened them very tight with a long 3/8" ratchet, maybe it wasn't enough. I suppose I could use my torque wrench if someone has the torque. I don't really understand why they need to be smoked down so tight but at this point I'm willing to try it as long as a stud doesn't bust off.


Today I did reproduce the popping sound from the left front. While making a left circle in a parking lot I can make the popping sound repeat by turning the wheel left and right. (maybe a bad wheel bearing)

 

It makes sense to me now. I lost some of details, thank you for addressing my questions.

I meant, my whole front suspension was replaced with OEM parts.

Failing bearings, I believe, do make noise when turning but it could be aftermarket control arms if you have any.

Get a torque wrench, air struts are way too expensive to risk rounding one or more pins.

 

My lower arms are oem. The upper arms I didn't replace. The fwd uppers appear to be aftermarket. Rear uppers are possibly oem. All of the arms and bushings appear to be in good shape.

I have torque wrenches. Any idea what the torque on the strut mount nuts is supposed to be?

The popping sound does appear to be happening more often. Sooner or later the defect will be easy to spot. I'll cross my fingers the ah ha moment isn't as my tire passes me by on the freeway.

 

The top 3 nuts are 67 N*M

 

Thank you ALK, 50 ft lbs. Mine are likely tighter than that, still might be good to verify.

 

This might help

 

The upper arms endure a lot of force/stretching the more the wheels are turned, and worn bushings are difficult to detect visually when the wheels are pointed straight. I have a feeling the noise I had when making sharp lefts was due to a worn/split bushing in the upper forward passenger side arm.

 

All my arms are a mix of aftermarket but I had none of these creaking/clanking sounds when I installed them. All the upper arms are Febest and I installed them 3 years ago and the like EXACTLY like the OEM arms that I replaced. I replaced them at 100k and the ride improved slightly with NO detrimental effects. The bushings in the OEM arms were still good after 100k but the balljoint in the arms had lots of play.

I did the lower arms in October/2019 at around 13xxxxxk. The bushings in both the rearward and forward arms were shot and I was getting the clunking over bumps in the road. At this time I was starting too hear the clank noise when going over potholes which is not too be confused with uneven road surfaces. The new lower arms I got from A1auto in eBay with limited lifetime warranty. When installed they solved the clunking sound but the clanking sounds was still kind of there. This put the quietness and smooth ride back to LS standards for the most part.

Since then I've changed both motor mounts with OEM parts as well as front struts with OEM parts. I used Febest balljoint and a Timken passenger side wheel bearing. I also used a reman Denso starter.

One thing I did notice when I removed the Superpro bushings from the upper control arms is that BOTH rearward arms had too much play from side to side and up/down. I'm suspecting that is where my clank is coming from and will most likely order more Febest upper arms since the did last 3 years and 50k miles. It's weird because BOTH forward arms the balljoint was still tight. I guess the rearward arms take more abuse.

My alignment was done twice in the last couple of months because of all the suspension work. I had to do it all over again when I did the inner and outer tie rods.

One final not is that I KNOW my ride height is most likely not in spec with OEM specs. Especially in the front. The front struts are not dampening like I know they should because I feel too much road when I get to the rough patches on NYC streets and these are not even deep potholes. Anyway the saga continues.

 

Thank you guys!

I made some progress with the noises. Even though the upper arms looked ok they were causing the creaking over speed bumps. I sprayed both sides with silicone, no more squeaking. The car was silent over speed bumps! I'll be ordering new aftermarket upper arms. (squeaking started to come back after a 30 minute drive) It was really nice to drive it without any odd noises.

I also silenced my front left lower popping sounds. The bolt which holds the lower rear arm to the subframe was loose. I was able to tighten the bolt an entire turn. I didn't remove these arms when I did my mounts. The arm had a new toyota upc type sticker on it with the dealers name I purchased the car from. I guess they didn't tighten it enough. I attempted to tighten a bunch of other nuts before finding the loose one. I assumed it was something I didn't tighten enough during the engine mount replacement.

I've been holding off on my alignment until I figured out some of these issues. Luckily the car has been tracking mostly straight.

Does anyone know if the arms are interchangeable between models? The upper forward arms appear to be interchangeable. https://www.ebay.com/itm/164860880460

The upper rear arms on my 600 appear to have a different type of bushing. I'm guessing the rear arms are identical but the bushings are different, not sure if the bushing design matters.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/35226393646...53.m1438.l2649

Big rubber bushing on the rear arm.

 

That bushing on the upper control arm looks like a 2 piece poly bushing so I'm guessing someone pressed the OEM bushing out. That's probably why it's squeaking and quieted down when you sprayed it.

 

ahh that makes the most sense. I didn't realize those were possibly aftermarket poly bushings.. I think I read on one of your previous posts you were able to swap out the upper arms without removing the air strut. Am I correct or dreaming?

Thanks again.

 

You're going to have problems unless you go with OEM upper arms. You will have to drop the strut down in order to unbolt them from the frame.

 

Lilevo, I removed the standard coil over struts on my 460 when I pressed in new bushings on the upper arms. I'm pretty sure the bolts holding the control arms into my 460 were facing head closest to the frame. I had no choice but to remove the strut, bracket and control arm. I've been happy with the cheap bushings which I pressed into the oem arms on my 460. Granted I have only put 15 to 20k miles on them over the past few years. The bushing kit I used was from ebay it came with 10 no name bushings for $50. After installing them I purchased another kit as a backup which hasn't been needed. When the time comes I will try to use my backup kit to replace the poly bushing on the 600 upper rear arms.

There seems to be more room on the 600 to possibly slide out the control arms without lowering the air struts. The control arm bolts are orientated with their nut near the frame. If the bolt clears the strut it seems possible to leave the strut in place.

For now I may try to lube up the poly bushings with something more permanent like oil before I replace them. At the moment I'm happy to check a few more items as done / figured out on this car.

Today I replaced the rear ac filter. It was quite nasty and pricy at $40. This is another one of those items where I now buy oem. With the temps we have here our ac is on max quite often. Last year I installed an aftermarket cabin air filter. On high it caused a high pitch whistle. I believe it was too restrictive.








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There is no need to remove any of front struts to remove upper control arms on LS460 AWD, at least, I did not. Offset box wrenches make such job relatively easy.

 

I had no issues replacing the upper arms without having to remove the air strut or even loosen the top 3 bolts. Keep in mind though, that I was replacing all of the control arms at the same time, so my lower rearward arm had already been removed by the time I got to the upper arms. At the very least, you might have to remove the lower strut mount bolt (and clear the strut from the lower arm) to allow for some lateral movement of the air strut. Knowing your work, I'm pretty confident you already have the box wrenches needed.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...l#post11039706