spaceballs

So, being in Canada, this is my first winter with a car (2007 ES350), which I park outside (I only have street parking).

I noticed that the car makes a grinding noise immediately at the end of the crank when the outside temperature hits below zero on the first start of the day and it gets worse the colder the weather is. It only happens on the first start of the day, if I immediately switch off the car and start it again it I don't hear it again and it goes away for the rest of the day.

My best guess is that because of the colder weather, the grease on the starter motor has hardened overnight and as such, the starter motor is experiencing some resistance when retracting from the flywheel, but after it's done it once, it's properly greased and doesn't happen again until it re-hardens overnight.


I showed the video to my mechanic who is a ex-master Lexus tech who said he never encountered this issue on the ES line before. He did say it's unlikely the VVTI controller as that's more of a rattling/ticking noise. Only other reference I was able to find on a similar issue was this thread which was sadly unresolved.

Car otherwise drives fine, no warning lights or codes, no unusual noises and recently oil changed with mechanic saying everything looks fine. Does anyone have any ideas before I leave it overnight at the mechanic shop so he can try to replicate?

ESh

I think your starter needs to be cleaned and lubed.

jkayca

I hear the same sound when it's cold. Been like that since I bought it new

spaceballs

Interesting, does it get worse when it gets colder? Has it gotten worse over the years?

jkayca

I'm not sure if the noise gets worse as temperatures drop. I think it stays the same once it gets below a certain temp. Always seems to happen on first start when temps are around -10 C or below.

To me, it sounds like the starter isn't disengaging fast enough when it is cold. At 185K kms and 13 years I haven't given it much thought.

spaceballs

Thanks, if you get the chance, can you post a video of the noise that you hear so I can compare vs mine?

I'm only at 127k kms.

EDIT: The ClubLexus website quite helpfully suggested this thread and it's the same noise! Turns out it's the power steering pump having a hard time when the weather gets cold and the power steering fluid becomes a bit more viscous. It makes sense as the previous owner put in Lucas to stop a minor seal weep.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-...art-noise.html