How I Fixed The Famous Rattling Sound From The Front

[rhkwon]

Thank you so much for the info. I'll bore you with the details. I have a '98 ES300 with 235,000 highway miles on it. It started as a rattle in the front end, especially on rough roads and more pronounced in colder weather. I mentioned it to my mechanic (whom I trust), and after road testing the car suggested new struts ($500).

I declined, but over time the rattle turned into a loud clunking noise. I had the car back to the mechanic to balance the tires, described the noise, and even showed him a printout of this thread. He told me he didn't think the fix would work, because the struts were hitting "metal on metal", and no amount of lubrication would work. I again declined the new struts, and decided to fix it myself.

I followed the instructions in the first post, and took it a step further by cleaning and lubricating the bump stops on the strut (inside the boot). Problem completely solved for about $4 and 30 minutes of my time.

Hey Everyone,

I am having the same problem with my 94 ES, with the somewhat crunching sound when I drive over a speed bump or a bumpy road. And this seems to be more pronounced when it's cold. I too was told that my struts needed to be replaced. But after reading this thread, I believe that this could solve my problem. My question is how do I sray the rear struts as this is where the majority of my noises are coming from?

I have this same exact problem in the rear. Sounds like a long loud squeaking noise when going over speed bumps. Is the fix the same as the front?

[realweb]

Thank you so much for the info. I'll bore you with the details. I have a '98 ES300 with 235,000 highway miles on it. It started as a rattle in the front end, especially on rough roads and more pronounced in colder weather. I mentioned it to my mechanic (whom I trust), and after road testing the car suggested new struts ($500).

I declined, but over time the rattle turned into a loud clunking noise. I had the car back to the mechanic to balance the tires, described the noise, and even showed him a printout of this thread. He told me he didn't think the fix would work, because the struts were hitting "metal on metal", and no amount of lubrication would work. I again declined the new struts, and decided to fix it myself.

I followed the instructions in the first post, and took it a step further by cleaning and lubricating the bump stops on the strut (inside the boot). Problem completely solved for about $4 and 30 minutes of my time.

Hey Everyone,

I am having the same problem with my 94 ES, with the somewhat crunching sound when I drive over a speed bump or a bumpy road. And this seems to be more pronounced when it's cold. I too was told that my struts needed to be replaced. But after reading this thread, I believe that this could solve my problem. My question is how do I sray the rear struts as this is where the majority of my noises are coming from?

I have this same exact problem in the rear. Sounds like a long loud squeaking noise when going over speed bumps. Is the fix the same as the front?

Any solution for the rear, when I go over the speed bumps it makes squeaking sound. Please help.

[iolmaster]

Why does jacking up the front make a difference in the fix?

[ESxxx]

My 97 ES300 had the famous fornt end rattling noise problem. The noise was very obvious when going over bumps or uneven roads when the car was cold. The noise was less obvious when the car warmed up. I read many posts in LOC and concluded the culprit of my car's problem to be the strut mount and/or bump stop.

I fixed the problem last night and want to share my fix here. I was able to fix it the simple way - by spraying silicone lubricant spray from inside the hood. Now the noise is gone. Here are the steps:

1. Jack up the car until the left front tire is off ground

2. Remove the left shock absober cap from inside the hood by removing the 3 nuts (if the suspension is the non-adjustable type it may not have this cap and this step probably can be skipped. My car is with adjustable suspension and has this cap)

3. With the top of the strut mount now exposed, spay silicone lubricant inside the strut mount along the edge from the hole at the top of the strut mount. That is, spay around the boundary between the inside wall of the strut mount and the round-shaped rubber piece at the centre of the strut mount. Spray slowly and give time for the liquid lubricant to flow down the strut mount. Repeat the spay many times. I did it about 10 times for each strut.

4. Lower the car and repeat the process for the right side.

Problem fixed. Noise completely gone. Very happy

Hope this helps.

Thank You So Very Much for posting your solution. It solved my fairly severe front end rattle problem.

I noticed that when driving my 1999 ES300 over small cracks or imperfections of small bumps on regular roads (say in an apartment complex), I could hear a rattling type noise from the front left and right side of the car. The right side was more pronounced than the left.

I basically used the principle of the solution above but In my case I did not jack up the car or remove any cap or remove any bolts.

Here is what i did:

I bought a silicone based spray lubricant (for metal to non-metal surface contacts) from O'reilly parts store for $3.99. I tried looking for this in Autozone but could not find it there.

Open the hood and from the top found the place where the strut mounts are positioned. Each of the strut mounts are on the extreme left and right side close to the passenger compartment just above where the tires are located. You can see these when you open the hood. Just look for 3 large bolts with a cup type depression in the middle with a central bolt. If you touch the inside of the cup, you can feel the rubber.

All I did was spray the lubricant near around the boundary between the inside wall of the strut mount and the round-shaped rubber piece at the centre of the strut mount. I sprayed a few times changing the position of the spray each time. Basic idea was to get some of the lubricant around the surface between the rubber and metal.

I did this first for the right side since that was where the problem seemed worse. After an hour or so, I drove the car and the noise from the right side was completely gone. I couldn’t believe it. I could still hear the rattling noise from the left side.

So I repeated the procedure for the left side as well and the car was completely rattle free. It was an amazingly simple solution and worked wonders.

Here is my hypothesis on why it works: The rubber piece between the metal contacts acts as a dampener. When it hardens, It doesn’t absorb the vibrations as well and hence the noise. Some people have complained that it gets worse in winter. I would imagine this is because of contraction of the metal parts and the hardening of the rubber. Now my thinking is that its not really the lubrication that solves the problem but rather it’s the rubber becoming supple or soft due to the lubricant and that's what solves the problem since the rubber piece is not able to act as a better absorber or metal to metal impacts or vibrations and hence dampens the noise.

It did work for me. Hope it does for others with a similar issue.

[Sexus ES300]

can anyone post some pics on what to spray

[99lexus]

I tried this way and the problem came back.

Replaced the strut mounts, the noise never come back for 3 years.

[Sexus ES300]

Can some on just take a quick pic of what to remove and wear to spray please

[cu2cool]

Can some on just take a quick pic of what to remove and wear to spray please

I would also like to see a picture please...