Do Not Sell My Personal Information Jump to content


Gs300 Sunroof Rattle Driving Me Nuts


Recommended Posts

I've got a 2000 (pre-facelift) GS300 SE which is completely great apart from an annoying rattle from the sunroof.

I know that sunroofs rattle and I've never had a car where they don't, but in the quiet of a GS300, the noise (which sometimes sounds like there's an agitated hamster stuck in the roof) is driving me mad.

I've taken it back to the Lexus Hatfield as I've only had it a month or so, and they had a look at it, altered a few things, but haven't cured it. They reckon it's normal for a car of that age and isn't covered by the approved used car warranty.

I've tried sticking felt onto the places where the wind deflector comes into contact with the inside of the roof opening, and I've put some rubber dampeners under the center of the wind deflector. It still rattles like a rattling thing.

I suspect that the noise is coming from the two 'rollers', where the front edge of the wind deflector is anchored to the inside of the roof opening - but have no idea how to stop it.

If anyone has managed to cure a sunroof rattle, it would be great if they could post a note on how it was done - photos would be even better.

Cheers

Dave

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Is the rattle not just coming from the sunroof retractable cover? That tends to rattle.

Can you press on the sunroof whilst driving and it stops the rattle?

I know of people in the US who have had the sunroof replaced under warranty because of noise but that would be very costly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

exactly the same noise in my series 1

sounds like a mouse or hamster... well annoying.

tend to open the tilt and close and it solves it a little.

some days its not there.. i think it depends on outside temprature.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've just found the rattle is still there when the roof is half open - definitely think it's temperature related though, seems much worse some days than others.

There seem to be loads of plastic mouldings in the sunroof area that rattle when you push them, I guess it could be any of them. Pushing the sunroof glass up seems to make the rattle less bad although I think it has less effect than it did before Lexus adjusted it... :sad: Opening and closing the roof doesn't seem to help unfortunately.

Turning up the stereo and drowning it out is a pretty good solution, but I'd like to fix it eventually.

There's another rattle from the sat nav area - I think this is one that's been mentioned in another thread - very loud but tends to go away once the cars warmed up a bit. Might have a go at fixing that this weekend... (Hope it won't lead to loads more rattles though!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Me too. If the blind is shut, mine rattles too! So, if it's a few mm open then it stops.

Even then it rattles sometimes! And i've got a rattle around the centre column. Blimey, you don't half notice rattles in these cars. At least with my Avensis, it was just one big rattle! :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites


I know EXACTLY what you mean! I've had 2 x MK1's, a MK1 sport, a MK2 SE, 2 x MK II sports and they ALL had the old sunroof problem.

The only fix that I've mahnaged find is, when it does rattle (and yes, it's not ALL the time) is to open the top blind FULLY and then swiftly close it again!....

Sounds silly, but it works....

Oh yes, another cure I found for it......I bought a :D GS430 !!!! :D If I still have a driving license this time next year, it will be a miracle :duh:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm a new member and don't normally frequent bulletin boards, but this post drew me in.

I bought my first LS in 1990, my second in 1994 and now have a '98 GS 400. I truly love the car, but a few months ago, the sunroof rattle surfaced and I too find it maddening. As an aside, I never experienced it on either of my prior LS models.

The noise seems to come from the right rear corner of the sunroof, but it's tough to localize, even with a passenger using a stethescope. Moving the cover closed only mutes it slightly. It persists with the sunroof in open, closed and tilt positions. It does seem to be sensitive to weather, but I can't determine whether it's temperature or moisture which affects it.

With some research, I learned that Lexus released a TSB on 12/3/99 on the subject of "moonroof creaking and popping". The TSB # is BO004-99. This resulted in a production change, presumably taking place on or about that date. This essentially involves R&R of the glass and adding a variety of felt washers and strips which come in an "interior noise kit" (P/N 08231-00801). The purpose seems to be to isolate the plastic garnish pieces from other hard surfaces. For post change production the fix was covered under warranty, which of course, does me no good.

I wouldn't tackle the job myself without a shop manual, which is price prohibitive for just one task. I do suspect that this is a plastics problem (weather sensitive), but don't know for sure. I shrink from the idea of taking it in to the dealer. Rattle fixes have wildly unpredictable results and price tags. Also, it isn't replicable all the time.

So I seem to be stuck, unless anyone out there has any other ideas...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

It's fixed!

I noticed that the rattle went away if you pulled down hard on the 'lip' at the front of the sunroof, just behind console with the sunglasses holder on it...

I took it back to Lexus Hatfield and one of their technicians (Mark) came out for a drive. He reckoned he knew what the problem was and it took the morning to fix it - they had the roof lining out and I suspect drilled out some of the rivets in the sunroof frame (well I suspect that's where the rivet I found on the back seat came from anyway).

They did all of this for free as I'd only recently bought it.

They've stopped most of the other rattles too while they were doing it and the sunroof rattle hasn't come back since.

I'm really impressed - I'd definitely recommend them - excellent service when many other dealers would have walked away from the problem.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share



×
×
  • Create New...