Front Strut Mount Noise

[bowtie3]

I took my wife's 2000 RX300 [ 52,000 miles ] in to the dealer 2 weeks ago to have the front strut rubber mounts replaced; rattle, cracking, clunking noise when pulling into uneven driveways/parking lots. They replaced them under the Certified Warranty, along with a front-end alignment. For 2 weeks there has been no noise. Today when I used her car I could hear the SAME " racket " as before. Do you think all they did was lubricate the old rubber insulators and gave it back to me? Any comments on this matter?

[OKEH1]

As far I can see, Lexus / Toyota have been having problems with suspension, steering and ball joints for some years now, in fact a recent recall has been anounced for nearly 1 million of their vehicles for poor quality ball joints.

My vehicle and Iam sure a number of others have this problem , but Lexus are more arrogant and will hold out on any repairs as long as possible.

My guess is a lot of people just put up with the RX's and live with all their misgivings, which is ashame because in the end the ratings don't reflect the poor service and quality, so more people buy the vehicles and are then trapped without little recourse but to throw money away and buy another manufacture.

I can live with the wind noise but feel when it comes to safety , lives come first and I only hope Lexus see fit to sort this problem out before lives are lost.

I recommend to all with the aforesaid problems to regiter a complaint with the NHTSA and hopefully they will persuade some action to be taken as they did with Toyota.

[RX in NC]

Replacing the front strut mount rubber bushings this past January flat-out fixed the noise problems in my wife's 2000 RX300. If you suspect that you did not receive new bushings when your Lexus receipt says that you did, you should take the vehicle to another Lexus service department and try to get confirmation from them on whether or not you actually received new bushings. Ask to be present during the inspection so you can see them yourself. You should be able to recognize old, cracked, dirty, worn-out rubber.

If it indeed turns out that your original Lexus dealership lied to you about what they did and you have the receipt to prove it, then you should go back to the original service department and explain that unless they fix your problem immediately and get it right this time, you plan to sue for misrepresentation and dishonesty. If they are caught in a documented lie, they will take your vehicle apart piece by piece if they have to in order to get it right for you. Good luck and keep us posted.

[Jonathan]

I had the same fix done on my old 99RX. It would rattle/creak/etc over uneven ground while turning. The strut/bushing fix did not stop the noises. It turn out it was the wiper motor bushing. After replacing the wiper motor bushing the sound completely went away.

Lexus did not find this problem, a neighbor with another 99RX told me about it and Lexus fixed it.

Jonathan

[kh046]

I for one am having a similar problem with my 2004 RX330. I am still currently waiting for a reply from Lexus Customer Care department to see what they have concluded with my dealership.

[cephraim]

Has anyone been able to get Lexus to perform the TSB service for the strut bushings on a 2000 RX300 that doesn't fall within the VIN number range?

Mine is outside the range, and my dealer is telling me I'm out of luck.

I could use some ammo when I approach him next...

Thanks

[Dave_02RX300]

What is the VIN number range? Or where do we go to find the VIN number range for this TSB?

Thanks

-Dave

[cephraim]

What is the VIN number range?  Or where do we go to find the VIN number range for this TSB?

Thanks

-Dave

←

http://www.clublexus.com/index.php/article...iew/1960/1/432/

[THATCH]

I took my wife's 2000 RX300 [ 52,000 miles ] in to the dealer 2 weeks ago to have the front strut rubber mounts replaced; rattle, cracking, clunking noise when pulling into uneven driveways/parking lots.  They replaced them under the Certified Warranty, along with a front-end alignment.  For 2 weeks there has been no noise.  Today when I used her car I could hear the SAME " racket " as before.  Do you think all they did was lubricate the old rubber insulators and gave it back to me?  Any comments on this matter?

←

Not likley the problem with the mount is the rubber bushing inside the metal housing seperates,nothing short of replacing will eleminate noise.two possale causes of return are,jounce stops were not lubed and are stuck at the top or

they did not get the tabs of the mount properley seated on the strut shaft.the bearing could be bad but this is a slightley diffrent noise,I would take it back

[THATCH]

As far I can see, Lexus / Toyota have been having problems with suspension, steering and ball joints for some years now, in fact a recent recall has been anounced for nearly 1 million of their vehicles for poor quality ball joints.

My vehicle and Iam sure a number of others have this problem , but Lexus are more arrogant and will hold out on any repairs as long as possible.

My guess is a lot of people just put up with the RX's and live with all their misgivings, which is ashame because in the end the ratings don't reflect the poor service and quality, so more people buy the vehicles and are then trapped without little recourse but to throw money away and buy another manufacture.

I can live with the wind noise but feel when it comes to safety , lives come first and I only hope Lexus see fit to sort this problem out before lives are lost.

I recommend to all with the aforesaid problems to regiter a complaint with the NHTSA and hopefully they will persuade some action to be taken as they did with Toyota.

←

I have owned a rx300 for three years no problems at all,the only ball joint problem ever on any lexus was the 95,96 gs300 .short of accident damage lexus ball joints are very good,as far as suspension the upper mounts on the 99 and 2000 rx300 did have a problem with the rubber seperating from the metal housing,this is a noise but not saftey related.I have been a lexus tech for 15 years and I am very curious as to the suspension,steering problems you have experinced.I am not being arrogant I would like to know of any unusual conditions ,lexus has a system in place for the diagnostic specialist from each dealer to communicate each day to the engineers any abnormal conditions we come across first hand,this system has huge sucsess in countermeasure and updated design very quick.My family has many auto techs in diffrent lines none of wich has the same commitment to perfecting product design and saftey as lexus.

[THATCH]

I for one am having a similar problem with my 2004 RX330.  I am still currently waiting for a reply from Lexus Customer Care department to see what they have concluded with my dealership.

←

The problem with youre rx 330 is likley much more simple the rubber spring seat cushion is too thin allowing the spring to rub on the metal spring seat,this is no problem other than a noise.the best repair is to add a small piece of vinyl tube to the base of the spring,the factory repair is to rplace the spring seat cushion this is also a good repair.

[THATCH]

Has anyone been able to get Lexus to perform the TSB service for the strut bushings on a 2000 RX300 that doesn't fall within the VIN number range?

Mine is outside the range, and my dealer is telling me I'm out of luck.

I could use some ammo when I approach him next...

Thanks

←

likley if you are not in the vin range you have the updated design and will not have any problem .2000 had the secong generation update to the strut bushings there was a vendor change in 2001 wich had a slight design change .If you do have noise related to the strut support [bushing] then it does not matter if there is a tsb or not the problem is warranty

[THATCH]

What is the VIN number range?  Or where do we go to find the VIN number range for this TSB?

Thanks

-Dave

←

You can contact youre local dealer they would be happy to provide it to you,youre

2002 rx has the updated upper support on it and likley will never have a problem.

Tom H