garsarno

Have had cold weather knock / noise since day one (10/06) with my ES350. Dealer changed the oil in March (initial free one) and no improvement. Today, my local gas station changed the oil to Mobil One 5W30, new Toyota filter and added an oil additive to the mix to see if we can't quiet this engine down to Lexus past standards. Did sound very quiet all day today but with mid 50 degrees temps tonight, I will see if this makes any kind of difference. Knock / tick noise has been with the car every morning, even the low 70 degree ones we had in June.

jerfitz

I have no idea how you could test this but sometimes a tick tick tick tick noise is the sign of an extremely micro exhaust manifold crack or possibly a micro exhaust manifold gasket leak.

Maybe a smog inspection station's exhaust probe can detect micro amounts of exhaust gases?

Pheonix

Get that trash out of there. Oil is pre-formulated. It doesn't need any help.

garsarno

And a Lexus engine is supposed to be quiet. That's what we bought into. It is not suposed to sound like a diesel engine in the morning. If I wanted a diesel, I would have purchased a diesel E series MB. I do not have high hopes that this will be the cure but if the service writer says to me one more time that that's the way they sound / that it's the fuel injection, I'm going to.....

Pheonix

Oil addatives are the devil.


Why on earth would you want to unbalance the hundreds of billions of dollars or search that exxon-mobil put into developing your oil with some $5 jug of what will be almost always 50% oil to begin with?

It's not the fuel injection, you're just putting up with someone more knowledgeable than youself telling you crap to shut you up. It's the exact same fuel injection that's been in use since 1997 on millions Camry platform v6's, and many many millions of Denso supplied engines Toyota, or otherwise.

49-51psi Denso pencil injectors. The only differance is the size of the fuel pump, and the pintel in the injector. (and the color of palstic & number stanmped on them, but taht's irrelevant lol!)






If you're getting a ticking when the engine is cold. Go find the problem. Use a $1 mechanic's stethescope. THEN go back & shove it down his throat. BS him like he BS's you until he pops the valve covers off & checks every single little tolerance in that valvetrain. That'll be a good $1000-$1500 hell eat up in labor. hahahahahaha

garsarno

Well, we leased the car anyway, it's theirs after 3 years. I have it documented that it is the fuel injection noise on their work order from 11/06.

MD350

It is a much large issue than that. My car has it too, so did the service loaner I drove. Worse in the winter time when it is cold. I call mine an ES 350 TDI. I, too, am told it is normal. I agree, these service writers must be on some kind of bonus. They get $50 everytime they send a customer away with an issue. "It's learning, it's normal, etc". I am so sick of it too. This is my first and last Lexus just for this reason.

garsarno

Ditto me too. I went outside this morning, 7:30AM, temp overnight was high 40s. Drove the car around the block. Still light clickety clack / no improvement. There goes that theory....
Next car - back to American made.
I had a RX350 and a IS250 during the transmission replacement era - no cold noises whatsoever.

chuckb

I'd never have put oil additives in.

garsarno

I never do / did either as I always use Mobil One. But I thought I'd give it a $6.95 shot.

kingofire

This weekend, it was beautiful outside so decided to change my dads ES350's oil after 800miles on the factory oil, a lot of crud and metal shavings when I cut open the oil filter so I was happy I changed it. I used Pennzoil Platinum 5w30 with a pint of Schaeffer's Moly E.P. oil additive that my friend mechanic recommended. I drove the car today for the first time after the oil change to bring it to the tint shop and it also has the cold engine diesel knock even with 70 degrees outside but it went away after driving it for 2 minutes and then the car was buttery smooth and very very quiet! Though my 2006 ES330 is quieter than the ES350.

nyardich

also has the cold engine diesel knock even with 70 degrees outside but it went away after driving it for 2 minutes and then the car was buttery smooth and very very quiet! Though my 2006 ES330 is quieter than the ES350.[/QUOTE]

Ditto for me since 05/06.

I would give anything to get rid of this noise as it really aggravates me.
Service first said it was fuel injectors then said piston slap and then told me that this noise is a characteristic of the ES350.
Many have this noise and many don't. What baffles me, my background is computers and electronics, is after a few minutes engine is perfect.
So, if this is normal then why dont all ES350's exhibit this noise.
I have done everything I could with my Dayton Dealership to resolve this issue but got no place..............................................................................
I have no other issues with my car but this one stumps me. I just can't believe that Lexus can't correct this and it surely must affect sales.

garsarno

I related the problems to two friends from church (they could hear me coming). They bought 2007 BMW 535 instead. Unrelated - aren't you disappointed in the tinny sound the trunk lid makes when you close it?
My Impala SS trunk lid when closing sounds much more substantial.

MD350

I am actually glad that Garsarno tested an additive on his car to see if it made a difference and caused this knock to go away. His is leased, so any long term damage from the additive is not his problem.

Interesting to see many people stepping up to say they have the same issue. I have given up on this one, it is a normal characteristic of the car. All 5 that I have driven have the noise. I live with it. It bothers me, but I don't want those service techs ripping up my engine and making things worse. It was Dunnojack that stated sometimes it is best to leave things alone, those techs actually can make things worse when they start tearing things apart.

I believe the powertrain warranty is 70K miles. So, drive the car and when that warranty is about to run out, kiss it goodbye. If you can live with the noise, that is.

I really hope Lexus has made huge improvements in quality on the 2008 model year units. I can't wait to find out!!

<VENOM>

If your car was delievered to you at the dealer sounding like a diesel why would you anyone except it

My ES350 has a loud startup and when the colder months roll around I'll see if the diesel knock comes back but it's smooth and quiet, seems like the engine improves with mileage