wizbill

I'm curious as to what problems anyone who's taken delivery since October might be experiencing at this point. Have all the initial build problems been remedied?

twister

Initial build problems (o-ring which caused tranny to go completely belly up) were fixed in June. ES350 production was stopped for a few weeks to correct that problem. Cold start (and recently found non-cold start) flares are still a random thing and hasn't been corrected based on feedback of other CL visitors. If found, dealership either performs TSIB (useless in 100% of the cases) or just replaces tranny. If you are planning to get a new ES350, do a search on the forum to find the checklist of probelms, and come prepared to pick up your new ride early in the morning to run through everything from a cold start. Also, make sure you drive the car for 20-30 min before you sign any papers. This is an extreme, no doubt about it. But, it will guarantee a good chance of getting a trouble-free car

Frozen

picked up in late October, eyes wide open to issues per this forum. No mech. problems to date. Fit and finish appear perfect.

wizbill

Anyone who's recently taken delivery?

BillP

I took delvery in late Oct and it has 814 miles. I have scheduled an appointment to address a few issues: driver's door doesn't close as tight as the passenger side front door leaving a ridge at the front and rear door seam, wind noise and the car drifts to the left, even when the road crowns to the right. Overall I think the car is great. I think the wind noise/buffeting should be reduced with the door adjustment. The drifting to the left is something I haven't seen discussed on CL, so it may be a one off issue.

LexBob2

wizbill, not the timeframe you're looking for, but just FYI. I have a 4/06 build date, purchased in mid-May with no issues/problems after 5,300 miles. The only trip back to the dealership was for the 5K service and a car wash.

wizbill

Thanks for responses so far.

BobBass

BillP,

Have you checked the air pressure in your front tires? One cause of drifting to the left can be too low air pressure in the left front tire.

ES350Bob

I had the same steering problem, only to the right not left. I posted on it here and called it veering steering. On mild crowned roads no matter left or right it would veer right. On roads crowned right it would veer harder to right. It was annoying in general to say the least.

It was something that would have required shims to fix as our cars are front wheel drive and it seems when not aligned require other than in the classic sense of alignment.

BillP

That was the first thing I checked. Pressures were per the tag in the door jam with no variance from left to right side. I did bump the pressures up a little to see if that would make a difference in the drift, but there was no change. I'll post what the dealer says.

riley2620

Bill, My car was delivered with several problems and the front-end was one of them. The car pulled to the left and the car was very "jiggley" on the freeway. In order to get it fixed properly the dealer aligned the car twice and balanced all four wheels twice. They also changed my tires from the Toyos to Michelins. All of this did the trick and the front-end is great now. Also, the dealer insists that the tires should be inflated to 34 lbs. but I keep them at 30 per the car's sticker and this seems to help the ride, noise and rattling.

I would insist that the dealer tries all of these in order to get your car riding correctly.

BillP

I got the car back Thursday. The dealer did an alignment and that took care of the drift, although the technician said it wasn't out of alignment very much. Considering it only has 853 miles, alignment shouldn't have been a problem to begin with, but these cars may be sensitive to these types of issues. When I was playing with the pressures I did bump them up to 32 psi. I like the slightly higher pressure and I don't think it should effect tire wear.

The door alignment/wind noise issues was also worked. Once the door was adjusted inward so the seams are flush the wind noise is pretty much gone. I had it on the interstate at 75 mph and it was good to go, so I'm a happy camper. It seems that both of these problems are production line related vs design. I haven't had the 3rd to 4th shift flare (fingers crossed) so I'm hoping this is the end of my problems.

Lex13

Thanks a lot to wizbill for this thread and to all of you guys for your responses. I don't know if you realize just how much the information garnered from this forum is appreciated by future ES350 buyers like me.

Keep up the great chat!
13

psp

Hi,

I have had a concern about dashboard rattling since I got the car. According to the latest, the service advisor at the dealer says the dash is rubbing against the windshield (plastic vs. glass) (sounds like a bunch of hooey to me). They have had the car since last Tuesday. I sure hope they can get this fixed. This is the 4th time the car has been in for a complaint of dashboard rattles. Is this covered under Lemon Law??

ES350Bob

Anything that devalues the car is covered under the law. I'd say if every single time the car is operated it can be heard, then it does devalue it if left as unresolved. Get ready for teasing on the issue though, I got teased for bucking bronco wipers when on high.

4th time in for this seems like they need to bring in someone else to find the cause of it. If they haven't fixed it by time it is returned to you, double check that it is not simply the junction of the A pillar with dash which seems is where the sound is coming from and if it is let me know and I'll tell you how to fix it so you can tell them.