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Ls400 Creaky Front Suspension


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Hi and Welcome to LOC :)

It could to many things to list here,have a look through the LS400 of this site and its also worth looking through the LS400 of the USA site for more info that might not be on here..

Heres a link to the USA site...

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/

On a side note a friend of mine asked me to have a look at there car last week because it had a creeking,clunking sound coming from the front of the car,he thought it was going to be something expensive to put right..I had a look around the car only to find the coil spring was very dry because of all the hot weather and was making the noise.Sprayed some WD40 around it and the noise was gone ;) .

Chips..

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If it something big that is wrong, you will get to know about it at the next MOT, otherwise as Chips says, it is probably just a dry joint, either steel to steel (where bolts go through things etc) or a dry rubber. You should cure it with a few sprays of WD40 and after when it's worked its way in after a few miles it will be silent gliding again.

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Thinking of buying an ls400 '98 (S). Front suspension makes a creaking noise when driving and when bounced. Difficult to pinpoint, - any ideas as to the most likely cause?

Thanks

Frank

Hi

I had a similar probem on my 98 LS. It was tracked down to wear on the offside anti roll bar rubber bush, it went away with a squirt of WD40 but came back a week later. I have since replaced both offside and nearside bushes and silence is golden as they say.

Easy job to do just two bolts each side, you will need to raise the front for access and remove the plastic cover panels for better access. I did one side with the cover in place but it was better with it removed, only three bolts each side.

part number 4881550112 £8.56 plus the dreaded VAT each.

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  • 1 month later...
Hi Frankie,

Did you buy the LS400 in the end or are you still looking out for one?

Chips..

Sorry about the delay.... No, I couldn't agree a realistic price with the dealer and when he did decide to 'get real' I'd already spotted another one and bought it, (his loss). It's a Mk4 2000, silver with black leather and very nice it is too. It has got a bit of a clunk from the front when you go over bad road surfaces - it seems to be on the off side and you can feel it through the steering wheel. There's also some vibration under braking at higher speeds. I thought the clunk would probably be a lower ball joint but I've had it checked over and the front suspension all seems ok. Braking vibration may be associated with the clunk or perhaps warped discs? I'm just wondering now if there's perhaps something wrong with the steering rack, - not sure what else could be the cause of it. Maybe someone here might be able to throw some light on these problems?

Frank

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Hi Frankie,

Did you buy the LS400 in the end or are you still looking out for one?

Chips..

Sorry about the delay.... No, I couldn't agree a realistic price with the dealer and when he did decide to 'get real' I'd already spotted another one and bought it, (his loss). It's a Mk4 2000, silver with black leather and very nice it is too. It has got a bit of a clunk from the front when you go over bad road surfaces - it seems to be on the off side and you can feel it through the steering wheel. There's also some vibration under braking at higher speeds. I thought the clunk would probably be a lower ball joint but I've had it checked over and the front suspension all seems ok. Braking vibration may be associated with the clunk or perhaps warped discs? I'm just wondering now if there's perhaps something wrong with the steering rack, - not sure what else could be the cause of it. Maybe someone here might be able to throw some light on these problems?

Frank

Ouch! Clunking on a LS400 isn't cheap. Could well be upper control arms, there's also the tie rod ends and strut bar cushions. Let us know what you find.

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Hi Frankie,

Did you buy the LS400 in the end or are you still looking out for one?

Chips..

Sorry about the delay.... No, I couldn't agree a realistic price with the dealer and when he did decide to 'get real' I'd already spotted another one and bought it, (his loss). It's a Mk4 2000, silver with black leather and very nice it is too. It has got a bit of a clunk from the front when you go over bad road surfaces - it seems to be on the off side and you can feel it through the steering wheel. There's also some vibration under braking at higher speeds. I thought the clunk would probably be a lower ball joint but I've had it checked over and the front suspension all seems ok. Braking vibration may be associated with the clunk or perhaps warped discs? I'm just wondering now if there's perhaps something wrong with the steering rack, - not sure what else could be the cause of it. Maybe someone here might be able to throw some light on these problems?

Frank

Ouch! Clunking on a LS400 isn't cheap. Could well be upper control arms, there's also the tie rod ends and strut bar cushions. Let us know what you find.

Control arms, tie (track?) rod ends and roll bar are all ok. There is a tiny amount of movement on the n/sf upper control arm, but not enough to cause this noise. Out of interest, (and you guys may already be aware of this) I spotted an ad on eBay for cheap restoration of upper control arms. Here's the link:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LEXUS-LS-400-NEW-FRO...5QQcmdZViewItem

Frank

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seen that eBay thing, but that deal is not as good as the deal i got from the states 2 years back..got brand new upper control arms for 170 quid all in, the polyurethane bushes are good, and firm up the handling, but they can squeak like mad, especially in cold weather!

hmmm, what about your strut bar cushions? can't remember what they look like, but on clublexus lots of people end up changing them

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