Have A Slight Hiccup With My Es

[Lexusfreak]

Hi everyone,

Need a bit of advise & help here. I have a slight apparent 'Hiccup' with my ES. I will try my best to describe it as best I can...

After I park my car (which has been driven long enough to reach full operating temperature) & I turn the car off......well you know the sound one hears from the cooling system & front end of the car when you walk by.......the faint 'tick, tick, tick' sound.....well between say 15 - 45 seconds I hear a good, loud bang! in between this time.......just one real loud one. It's one of those 'tick's' I mentioned, except it's about 20X as loud. Occasionally I can hear this sound just before I shut the car off after it is in park.....but very rarely......90% of the time it happens when the car is shut off. All guages on the dash are normal.

I'm taking the car in next week anyways for my 60,000 mile (96,000km) inspection at the Lexus dealer (and also a complete cooling system flush) & the car is covered under a 'Lexus' extended warranty until the end of January 2006.

I'm thinking possibly a heat shield from the Cat converter, or maybe an loose exhaust clamp noise? I don't think it's serious, but it is annoying.

I've noticed this now for about a month, but since I've gone back working night shift & the nights are getting colder.......it seems louder than it did a while back.

If anyone has any idea's, suggestions or needs more details (although I'm not sure exactly how more specific I can be....) etc, I would appreciate hearing from you. Many thanks in advance. B) This will help me when I deal with the Lexus tech. ;)

[Toysrme]

Heat shield sounds good. Check to see if one is warped, bent, or dented.

[steviej]

have you tried to pinpoint the sound with a friend?

Drive around until it is normal temp. Then pull into a parking lot with your friend lying on the ground. Park next to him or her and shut off the car normally. Hopefully it will make the sound and the ears on the outside of the car and better pinpoint where the noise is eminating from, especially if it is coming from under the car. You could also try opening the hood before you shut down, have your friend stand by the open engine bay, then shut off the car. See if they can see or hear any where the loud tick is coming from.

steviej

[Lexusfreak]

have you tried to pinpoint the sound with a friend?

Drive around until it is normal temp.  Then pull into a parking lot with your friend lying on the ground.  Park next to him or her and shut off the car normally.  Hopefully it will make the sound and the ears on the outside of the car and better pinpoint where the noise is eminating from, especially if it is coming from under the car.  You could also try opening the hood before you shut down, have your friend stand by the open engine bay, then shut off the car.  See if they can see or hear any where the loud tick is coming from.

steviej

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Haven't yet, but a pretty good idea steviej! B) I am going to look info this...& try to narrow the problem down.

[Lexusfreak]

Wouldn't ya know it......this noise I have been having was making the sound right up until I was stopped at the traffic light just before the dealer on my way in for the inspection.......the tech (shop foreman) who was doing the inspection has been ubable to find anything! They had to keep the car over night (parts were on order) so I am going to follow up this morning to see if they have any 'good news' for me. Will update... (I took your advice steviej, detailed the problem on the work order, but the tech can't seem to make the noise recur).

If still nothing, I might ask the shop foreman to go for a drive with me so I can (hopefully) have him hear the problem. If anyone has any other ideas.....I am all ears.