ripratama

Hy everyone, greetings from Indonesia! I purchased an '01 Harrier 3.0 Four (RX300 AWD) just 4 months ago with 50k KMs on its odo. Overall I'm satisfied with it with the exceptions of the following:

1. While making sharp turns or passing over inclinations or potholes, I can hear few squeaks coming from the front. Seems like only relatively-long suspension travels cause the squeaks and short ones don't. The car has been visually inspected by 2 Toyota service centres, but they couldn't find any solution.

2. The rear seats have developed metallic rattles every now and then despite frequent retightening of the bolts. This only happens when there's no one sitting in the back.

Has anyone experienced either one? I'll be grateful for any advice you can give me to solve the problems.

Luckily the engine, transmission, brakes etc are running fine. I particularly like the ride quality and the truly comfortable seats.

Thank you for your kind assistance and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Regards,

Reza

Lexmex

Welcome to the Club.

I can't speak at all for number 2 as I have never encountered an issue with the rears seats in my RX. Most of the time they are in the down position as I rarely have more than 2 passengers.

On number 1, I assume these are rubber squeaks, not metallic ones. A common issue is the lower support shown here

Lexmex

They chewed up a lot as shown (this is the same one as shown in the previous picture).

Lexmex

And so what I did with this one was replaced it with some more durable flexible hosing as shown.

Lexmex

Now that is not the only place that can cause squeaks, at the top of the shock tower is a rubber mount that occassionally gives me squeaks and I have to spray some WD40 lubricant in the area to quiet it down. The lubricant can also help with the rubber support shown above, but eventually they need to be replaced and this requires for the shocks and springs to be removed from the vehicle.

Lexmex

I know of other areas that cause noise, but they are more clanging than squeaks. Let me know a little bit more about where you hear these squeaks coming from and the type of noise.

salimshah

Why do you have re-tighten? It should not be needed if you set proper torque (only in a long run you may need to re-tighten).

Salim

ripratama

Thanks Lexmex I'm going to ask the garage to have a further look into it. I've also noticed that the noise occurs mostly when driving over speed bumps or inclinations at an angle. The noise is like a cricket's... not exactly squeaks or clangings.

Hello Salim, I thought the bolts had gone loose so I took them out and retightened them occassionally. Anyway the rattles have gone now. Seems that they only occur if the seatback is reclined to the backmost position. I moved the seatback a click forward and the noise dissapeared.

Lexmex

Let me know what you find out. There are some other areas that can cause noise as well, but we will eliminate possibilities as they come.

ripratama

Hi Lexmex, I followed your route and intalled a hose around the spring. I've also sprayed some WD40 into the top shock tower. Noise is still present however. Can you think of other possible causes? Could it be the top strut mount or sway bar bushing going bad?

Lexmex

It's still tough to say without hearing it, but I will offer up the possibilities in addition to those above. Key would be to have windows open when this noise occurs (and have a co-pilot) to try to identify the side where the noise is coming from.

The engine mount on the front can go bad, but this is rare. And when one of these goes, the noise is QUITE noticeable.

Lexmex

Lower suspension arms have some bushings that go bad. I had to replace both arms (the bushing is a major PITA and I couldn't get it off even with machinery). These arms run about $300 USD each.

Basically just lift the front of the vehicle and shake the wheel and see if this area circled in white has some play. When they go bad sometimes you will feel it in your steering...it gets jerky. However, when they aren't so bad, they can squeak slightly.

Lexmex

This stabilizer bar sometimes has to have its nut tightened as it has a rubber piece that can make squeaks. This right off of the shock.

Lexmex

Ah yeah, that bushing stopper. Key thing is to see how frayed it is. I want to replace these in the future with polyurethane (can probably just buy it industrially here) and carve the piece myself. My problems with this have been having to tighten down the bolts that hold it into place, they like to magically loosen themselves. However, this doesn't make much of any noise unless loose.

Lexmex

In fact, anywhere there is rubber, you should check to see the bolt is tight.

Now, the shims on the brake pads themselves. These Akebono pads (that were recommended to me by TunedRX300 ) and notice the shims on the back of them. When the pads get worn down, sometimes (as occurred with the old Lexus pads) the shim can get loose and you get squeaks. In addition, if your rotors are uneven, warped slightly, you can also get some squeaks on braking. However, if the shim is loose or that pad isn't set in its place correctly, you get rattles. I know this, because one time I didn't use the shims and I could hear the rattles.