lexsy

Hello fellas,

While driving on the highway, I noticed a rattling noise in the front, passenger area of my 2008 ES350 with 100k miles.

Here's a video (you may have to increase your volume to hear it): https://imgur.com/xBtwLMQ

The noise can be heard halfway into the video (around 15 seconds). This only occurs while cruising at highway speeds (60+).

Any ideas what it could be?

spaceballs

Does it happen if you go over bumps or if you're just cruising on flat road?

Could be a lot of things but I would start with the prime suspects and go from there:

- Control arms
- Sway bar links
- Suspension parts
- Steering components

Also, check your exhaust pipe heat shields at the rear, these pretty much rust and fall down all the time, but the sound can travel to the front of the car. You can just remove them and get rid of them entirely.

ESh

Check all the plastic shields underneath the engine and around the tires, one of them may be loose.

JRA2000TL

Sounds metallic like a heat shield rattling.

Nelsons

I had a similar problem that sounded kind of like dry leaves rustling in the wind somewhere, so I cleaned out all the areas of the front cowling and engine compartment that might have leaves, cleaned up the cabin filter and it's housing. Both needed cleaning anyways, but it didn't solve the problem. Eventually I lifted her up enough to do a proper inspection along the muffler heat shield and found the problem on the front mount bolt that allowed the shield enough movement to rattle at hi speeds. The bolt was rusted enough that it would likely break off rather than come out, The fix was easy enough, but a little tricky to get at. I wedged the shield into position and worked in JB Weld SteelStick 2 part Epoxy around the bolt covering the cracks in the shield and making a nice big epoxy glob. It has held for at lease 5 years with no problem so far {I shouldn't say}.