Tony

Hi guys and gals

Did you ever look into the front wheel wells? There is no protection from the wheel wells to the engine comparment at least for the '04 GX. Is this normal or did they leave something off of my truck.

gs400jon

Just went out to the garage to take a look. There are some thick ,flexible looking flaps that separate the wheel well from the engine compartment. It looks like maybe the lines for the Adaptive Suspension and Tire Pressure sensor are coming through the balance of the opening.

Tony

What is this black flap for? It looks like someone has scracthed it Im wondering if I am missing some plastic flap that protects the engine from the wheels that used to hang off of that flap. Please let me know.

Tony

Does everyone's wheel well look like these pics in the front?

Tony

another pic

gs400jon

On your first picture, "What is this flap for?", you are definitely missing the flap that's attached in the area you have circled in red. The flap should mount there and covers an area towards the firewall.

gs400jon

On your next two pictures, I can't see the same thing so obviously, the flap(s) on my car are blocking the view.

brent0226

Uh oh.... has it been in for service before?

Tony

I just picked up the car last saturday and noticed it on monday that the wheel well was pretty shiny so I looked under there and saw it pretty exposed. Ill have to stop by the dealership tomorrow.

brent0226

When you pick it up, be sure to ask why this was missing. Ask them if they had done some work to it. I'm sure the car is fine, but they should have told you if they did any work.

Tony

I saw it getting off the transport truck in plastic and the truck had 5 miles on the odometer when I picked it up hope they have some 04 GX on the lot so I can compare. They had none the day I went to pick mine up.

Tony

Went into my service department and the head service guy said they took off the engine splash guards because there was a TSB bulletin by Lexus saying that all 04 GX trucks were to have those flaps taken off for extra cooling purposes in the desert regions such as Nevada, Southern California, New Mexico, and Arizona.

If anyone else here has an '04 in these regions please let me know if yours are off. I checked two other 04 GX on their lot and they did not have the flaps but all other customers that had 03s did have the flaps.

LEXUS4NZ

Even if that's true, you might want to take the flaps home. Just incase you will decide to move to other states or when you resell it later.

gs400jon

I totally agree. They should leave the flaps with you for use at a later time. There was something about overheating and air conditioning on either this or the Lexus Owners forum. I think the fix there was the addition of another fan. Don't quote me on this.

Tony

Yeah ,

I dont like the fact that the engine is so exposed like that. I figure long term its going to be hard to clean all those nooks and crevices in the engine bay, plus I like to wash my car once a week so I wonder if electrical parts are going to get wet and rot etc. What do you guys think?

I also wonder if it creates more tire noise or noises in general. It seems dead quiet inside the truck right now at 200 miles.

Thanks guys for responding Im going to ask for flaps back from the service guys.