pab12

>I really believe the dealer knows exactly what’s wrong

Why not take it to your local Toyota dealer? They might be very happy to perform the repair and charge Lexus for the warranty ...
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My karma just ran over your dogma
Current Hers: '13 Lexus ES350
Current Mine: '15 Jaguar XF (it's aubergine)

jgscott

iTrader: (1)

Not saying they did change the Axel, or not? IDK? But.... that's the thing I was trying to explain. So if the gears inside the Trans, which contain the differential also on front wheel drive. They put in a new Axel, the new one will click and malfunction the same due to the damage inside the Trans. Sounds like that was what they did if, ... and that's what happened? It clicked still. If they can't figure it out, that is a Lexus customer service call and case created for it. I would personally do that 1st. I don't think Toyota can bill and/or do Lexus Factory new car warranty work and get paid. Now if its a extended service contract that a different story.

Go back to the Dealer. Is it a Lexus Dealer? Ask them: so you put in a new Axel right? Still clicking right? So then that tells you, that you determined it was that side and Axel related. So if the Axel did not correct it, then it has to be the Transmission, that contain the differential that the Drive Axel gears fit into that turns the drive Axel. That's how the ES350 FWD works. BTW again is it a Lexus Dealer? And is there anymore missing to the story like the car was in a accident, or some other place has repaired, damaged or worked on it before? What year ES350? How many miles?

ESully

While it may indeed be a problem with the axle, there are a couple of other areas to look at.
There are a few of issues I have experienced with my 2004 Civic, 2005 Corolla, and 2016 ES350. Years back I before I sold it the Civic had an occasional clunk in the drivers front. I replaced the axle on the Civic thinking it would fix it. The noise persisted, and closer examination with power braking showed I had some play in the axle to wheel bearing junction. This past year the Corolla developed the same issue. I figure just replacing the axle as I did on the Civic will not help, as the splines in the wheel bearing probably are a bit damaged also. I will probably replace the axle and bearing to have good spline contact.
The ES is another story. I have another posted in a thread on this. https://www.clublexus.com/forums/hyb...ers-noise.html
The clunk is from the design of the brakes and in my case greatly reduced after freeing up and greasing the slider pins and pad to clips surface.

BradTank

Also, check your sway links. That's one of the first suspension parts to wear out. My ES has around 78k miles, I just replaced them, they were completely shot. Car has had an easy life of smooth roads. Probably should have been changed years ago. Didn't solve my rattling noise though.

If your car is under a factory warranty, just take it to another Lexus dealer and let them diagnose. Dealerships in general are very dismissive in my experience about noise complaints when it comes to warranty repairs. But if you're paying for the repair, they have no problem shotgunning thousands in repairs to try and fix it.

ESully

Good point on the drop links for the sway bar, as I have seen quite a few cars in my friends shop over the years with play in the bushings clicking over bumps. I have had a couple clunking issues on other cars with worn ball joints and drop links.

Gerf

If you want to be sure it's the cv joint, take it to an open parking lot and crank the wheel to the stops then drive fairly hard in a circle one way then the other. the outer joint will make a pretty loud repetitive clunking if it's bad, inner joints are less likely to fail.



Lots of people choose not to replace cracked boots which will eventually open allowing dirt and gravel entry that takes out the joint, inner boots rarely split unless you have very cold winters because they don't flex like the outers.
You cannot confuse cv joint noise with any other noise once you've heard it.

You can also get half shafts without the inner joint.