Grinding Acceleration, I need help.

jpd1501 · September 5, 2004

I just bought a 1994 Lexus ES300 with 117,000. When I accerlate I hear a slight grinding noise right about at the 2000 rpm mark in what for this automatic would be "second gear"... This correlates to a speed of about 45-50mph. What can I do to fix this? Does it just need a tranny flush, or do I have more problems on my hands?

chuckb · September 7, 2004

my 95 had grinding when accelerating when it needed cv's. is it worst on slight turn.

steviej · September 8, 2004

-does it make the grinding when in neutral and you bring it up to 2000 rpm?

-can you pinpoint the noise to the front, the left side, the right side, both,

-when it is grinding in 2nd, does dropping it into 3 make the grinding go away?

a little more info would help since we can't ride in the car and hear exactly what the grinding is.

I am thinking in the direction of cv joint (as noted above), wheel bearing, and lastly tranny. I tend to think in increasing dollar amounts.

steviej

tckcumming · September 8, 2004

My '92 and '93 ES300's both had this same problem. The "grinding" sound occurred when the accelerator was pressed while the car was in motion on the road, steering straight ahead. My sound occurs at around 3000 rpm or so, on acceleration. I spent a lot of time and effort diagnosing this problem with my '92. CV joints, transmission, motor mounts, exhaust - all checked out perfectly OK. It turned out to be caused by a stamped steel "dust shield" mounted between the engine block and the transmission. Corrosion and road grime cause the shield to lift slightly, and then it contacts the spinning flywheel. The teeth of the ring gear just barely touch the edges of the shield under just the right conditions and RPM, causing the noise. I had the problem corrected on my '92. The transmission has to come out and a new dust shield installed. The part is cheap (it's just a stamped steel piece), but labour is expen$$ive! Once the repair is done, you can be sure that it will eventually re-occur since problem that caused it in the first place is still the same.

I just put up with the sound in my '93. It doesn't cause any damage to leave it - it's just annoying. My sound seems to have gotten better lately... or maybe I'm just getting better at ignoring it!