I had about 800 miles on my new 2001 RX300 AWD. The car is very quiet in general, probabbly that's why I keep noticing 2 kinds of strange sound:


1. Every time I start the car, after changing the shift and releasing the brake padel, and start to drive, I can hear a clank probably from the front wheels - sounds like some mechanic device get activated (ABS check?). Has anyone else experienced that? Is that normal? What is it?


2. Sometimes during the stop at traffic light (with foot on brake), I can hear a high pitched whistling sound from the engine compartment, not very loud but noticeable if you really try to listen to it. It disappears when I start to drive again (I'm not sure if it goes away or is disguised by the usual driving noise). It happens often but not regularly like the first sound. Sometimes when the outside is really quiet (late night), I can hear this whistling while the car is moving (foot not on the gas pedal). Should I be concerned?

 

I'm not sure about your sound #2, but #1 is no problem. You had it right with the ABS activation. When you first start your RX and start to drive you will hear a little clunking sound from the front - it is the ABS engaging. This noise is noticeable on many vehicles with ABS, it is just a slightly different noise depending on the vehicle. I've noticed it as more of a whine than a clunk on many GM vehicles.

Very common, and nothing to worry about. As a matter of fact, it there was something to worry about concerning you ABS, the little dash light would probably warn you

-Nick

 

About the second sound, someone suggested it is from AC compressor. Maybe I'm a little bit paranoia here - the sound is very faint actually - my wife never noticed it at all. I can hear it once in a while when the surrounding is really quite and when I really tried hard to listen to it. Again, if my RX300 wasn't so quite at the first place, I might never notice that background whistling sound. Love the Rex.

 

Hey guys, well.... I've experienced the same exact problems with my 2001 RX300. I've complained to my local Lexus service dept about the clunk sound at first acceleration, but they said it was a normal thing. The engine noise though has gotten rather anoying. During my last service, the mechanics found a slight oil leak, but said that it didn't have anything to do with the whistling noise coming from the engine compartment. I've got about 9000 miles on my RX since March, and that whistling sound has only been there for the past month. I'm not too sure, but my brother thinks it has something to do with the alternator. When I rev the engine higher, it goes away. But when I'm at a moderate speed or on stop, it comes back and gets rather anoying. It's really starting to give me a headache. As for the ABS thing, I've never heard of ABS activating as loud as that. In the loaner RX300's, I never hear anything of the sort. Anyway, I'm going to check with my service guy today. I'll keep you guys updated.

 

ZoomSport, yours sounds so serious, now I'm not sure if I was hearing the same noises - neither my starting clunk nor the periodical whistling from the engine compartment is "loud". Are you sure you never hear any ABS activation clunk at the start of other RX300?

 

I have a 2001 Silversport FWD and notice the same higher pitched whining noise as well. It is definitely more apparent at stops when the car is quiet. I have noticed that the noise goes away when you turn the steering wheel slightly from the middle position. My dealer told me the noise was an engine vibration, but I don't really buy that. I suspect it may have to do with the power steering. I had a loaner and it did not make any of those noises. For those who hear the higher pitched noises, could you try turning your steering wheel to see if the noise goes away? We maybe talking about the same problem here. Thanks!

 

Bruin2K,

Your suggestion of power wheel problem being the source of the high pitch whistling noise rings a bell - I remember seeing a similar case report from another forum about fixing power wheel to deal with high pitch whistling sound in RX300.

I've never tried to turn the wheel to get rid of the noise though because I'm so fixed on that being an engine noise (as intuition and your dealer suggested). But now I think you're right, it couldn't be engine noise because in my case, first, the noise comes and goes without any regularity, sometimes I can't hear anything during an entire trip; second, I tried to play with various foot pressures on brake and gas padels and found neither of them is related to that noise.

Next time when I hear the noise I will try your suggestion - turn the wheel. I will bring my Rex to the first 1,000-mile check and ask the service about this noise this Friday as well. I will keep you posted.

 

jyin,

You should definitely give it a try. I mentioned turning the wheel to my dealer an basically he said that turning the wheel changes the rpm of the engine thereby changing the vibrations of the engine which gets rid of noise. I don't agree with that because I hear the noise while the car is in motion. As long as the wheel is straight, the noise appears. Obviously when I am drving the car or coasting down a hill the rpms are still higher than neutral. Yet the noise is still there. Also the noise only appears after the car has been driven a long time. I have a long commute to work. When I first start, I do not hear the noise. But by the time i get to work, the noise is pretty loud and annoying. See if you notice that pattern. I would really like to get it fixed but I haven't had the time to go on a test drive with a technician.

 

Sorry for getting back on this late - I couldn't demonstrate the noise to my service person at the dealer so they asked me to stop by whenever the noise comes. Lately I found it is very rare to hear that high pitched whistling and it is definitely from the power steering - it starts only after at least 10-mile drive and even if I turn the wheel a tiny bit it disappears (if I turn the wheel back to its original position, the whistling starts again - isn't it weird?). In other words, I can hear that whistling sound only when the wheel is at certain angle and I can make the sound come and go by turning the wheel (very tiny twitch actually - doesn't change my direction at all). Now I'm completely baffled by this and I can't find a reliable way to duplicate this phenomenon to my service person. Luckily this noise didn't visit me very often recently - I didn't hear it during my last 2 trips (50 miles).

One thing I got confirm from my service person is that the first noise (the clunk when I start to drive) is indeed the ABS brake activating from the resting state. It is normal, I was told. And if you can't hear that reassuring clunk when you start to drive after long parking, you should have your ABS checked.

 

JYIN:

I have an '01 with about 2900 miles. I've NEVER experienced the "noises" you and others are referring to! ABS starting??? I've had ABS on cars since 1986 and have never had a start-up noise. I have an '01 Z06 Vette and have no ABS noise. My RX is so quiet that it's a joy to drive after a day or week in the Z. I'd be all over your dealer about this if it is annoying you. If you have more than one in your area (I do not), I would go to another one. I think you're being fed "BS". Good luck!

 

JYIN-

THe ABS sound is normal. Don't let anyone scare you on this. Just some folks are more sensitive to hearing it.

 

Thanks, RX300TC. I'm not worried about the ABS sound any more - it sounds very normal and predictable - I heard it in another RX300 AWD as well.

You're right - somebody may not be sensitive to that sound - it is not loud and only happens once when you start to drive forward. My wife never noticed it.

I wonder if the mechanic is different between AWD and FWD - Mike either is not sensitive to that sound or he might have a FWD. My wild guess.

 

jyin:

Sorry, mine is an AWD. I turned off the "tunes" going home last night just to see if I could detect any "strange" noises. The only sound was from six empty CD cases stored in the console when going over some rough asphalt. The only sound that I have heard in the past is the ac compressor cycling. Like I said, this SUV is QUIET and an absolute pleasure to drive.

 

Folks, the ABS "engaging" noise can only be heard when you first get in the vehicle, take it out of park, and start to move slowly. It doesn't happen during normal driving.

 

There's a ABS engaging sound (clunk or click or ...) at the very first move of your car from the start, someone can hear it while someone can't, it is NOT a defect. Case closed.

The high pitch whistling sound from the power steering (occurs after driving for a while >10 miles) can be eliminated simply by twitching the wheel a little bit. It is a defect I think, but a lot of people can't hear it anyway - faint, easily thought be the engine noise) and it happens so rarely even for a sharp earred driver that it is very hard to demonstrate to the dealer. If anyone has his/her service people noticed this problem and has a permanent fix (instead of turning the wheel on the run), please let us know. Thanks.

RX300 is very quiet in general and I love it. Don't confuse my "detection of noise" with "complaint of noise". I'm not complaining - the "noise" here is actually "sound of silence".