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cfo

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  • Lexus Model
    2008 ES350

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  1. I have a 2008 and have been complaining about this problem every time I bring my car in for service. At my 40,000 mile service the dealer said they had a possible fix, which they will do next week. I believe it involves replacing a camshaft gear. I will report back when I have more information.
  2. In regards to your issue #1, I would be very concerned about that as it is not normal and should be investigated. In regards to issue #2, I have never had a fan belt squeak with my current 2008 ES350, but prior to this car I had a 2005 ES330 that did frequently have the fan belt squeak when I started it in cold weather. I did mention it once to the dealer who said it was a minor quirk with some lexuses. I occaisionally checked the tension on all of the fan belts and none of them ever seemed too loose. Since I had no other issues with that car, I just lived with it as it didn't really concern me. If I had to do it all over again, I would have bought that car as I think it was made better than my current model.
  3. This may not be relevant, but I bought a set of Continentals many years ago for an Infiniti I30t I had at the time. They were cheap but after a few thousand miles I had an annoying problem with road noise. Had them re-mounted once and rebalanced twice but still could not eliminate the problem. If you shop around, I would think you could get Bridgestone Turanza EL400's for a decent price. These are the original tires on my ES350 and have performed well so far (33k miles).
  4. I'm not sure if this will directly answer your question, but I will share my recent experience. I had a problem with shift flare. The first time I reported it (at 5K service), the dealer added extra transmission fluid, but that didn't help. It started happening more frequently, so I complained again at my 20K mile service. This time, the dealer "reprogrammed" the transmission (their terminology) which was covered by warranty. I haven't had any problem with transmission flare since and now I have almost 24K miles on the car.
  5. I was told by a service advisor not to reset the tire pressure monitor unless I had checked all tires including the spare. When you reset the monitor it uses the lowest pressure of the 5 tires as its new reference pressure.
  6. I have a one year old 08 es350 whose engine makes a "clicking" noise when it is cold and which subsides when the engine heats up. I have complained about it every time I have brought the car in for service. The most recent service advisor that I had claimed to be a former technician and claimed to be familiar with the noise. I am going to paraphrase what he told me because I didn't completely understand what he said. He claimed that the design of the fuel injection system was changed in the 07 and 08 models so that when the engine is cold the fuel injectors work differently than when the engine is warm and they vibrate excessively when cold which is what causes the noise we hear. I'm not familiar with what fuel injectors look like or how they work so I don't know whether this explanation is plausible. The reason I am so skeptical is that the noise sounds very similar to a valve tap or to what has been described as piston slap. I hope that it is not indicative of some condition that is harmful to the engine. To be safe I have not pushed the engine above 2k rpm until the noise subsides. I wish Toyota would come out with a bulletin about this noise because it seems to be fairly common.
  7. I leased a 2005 ES330 and leased a 2008 ES350 last Dec. If I had to do it all over again, I think I would have bought the 2005 at the end of the lease. The 2005 was a flawless car and was one of the most enjoyable I have ever had. While the 2008 is an improvement in many areas, the one I got has an annoying tapping noise (piston slap) in the engine when it is cold and the transmission doesn't always shift smoothly when the engine is cold. These two issues make me uneasy about buying this one. Hopefully, over time, these issues will be resolved but right now....
  8. I am new here and this is my first post so please be tolerant of me. I have a 2008 ES350 that I leased in Dec. My engine makes a tapping noise (sounds like valve tap) when it first starts up. In the winter, the noise is much louder and lasts for at least about 5 minutes or more, depending on how cold it is outside. It is more pronounced when accelerating. Once the engine seems to be fully warmed up, the noise subsides. Now that it is summer, the noise is barely audible and only seems to last for a few minutes. At my 1000 mile check up, I questioned the service rep about the noise and was told it was normal for this engine. However, at my 5000 mile service, I complained again about it and described it as piston slap and the service rep was aware of it. He asked if I could leave the car overnite so they could listen to it after a cold start but unfortunately, due to circumstances irrelevant here, I could not leave the car overnight at that time. I will definitely keep complaining about this at each service interval, until either the noise goes away or I can determine whether or not it is harmful to the engine. I have done some research on piston slap and while noone says it is good, I can't find definitive evidence that it is harmful, especially if it goes away once the engine heats up. Although I shouldn't worry about this since I am leasing, I may likely want to buy the car at the end of the lease, but not if this issue isn't resolved. Right now I am sorry I didn't buy the 2005 ES330 I leased since that car had no quirks. If piston slap is harmful, I think it would be unforgiveable for a car at this price level.
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