Do Not Sell My Personal Information Jump to content


Need Opinion - Should I Drive It Or Not?


Recommended Posts

Hi all,

I picked up my 95 LS400 a week ago today, which I bought from a dealer in Milton Keynes, and I've got to drive up to Liverpool tomorrow (from Surrey), and I'm concerned about a knocking/rattling noise coming from the nearside front wheel.

The dealer I bought the car from serviced and MOT'd it before I picked it up, and they also supposedly fixed a 'knock' from the suspension. I'd also got a full VCS inspection done before agreeing to buy the car, so I was pretty happy that all was ok. The car seemed absolutely fine on the drive home, and for the next few days, but then on Monday morning I started to notice a knocking sound when going over any kind of bump at low speeds. This stayed the same until this morning, when I had to drive to Brighton, and when I got there I noticed that the knock sound had got considerably worse when going round the back streets of Brighton, and was actually beginning to sound like a metallic 'rattling' when going over any kind of bump in the road. The sound definitely gets better the faster I go, to the point that by the time you hit around 50mph it's pretty much gone.

The dealer has said they will fix it on Saturday, but I have to drive to Liverpool and back tomorrow, and I'm really unsure whether I should be taking a chance on the Lexus, as I don't actually know for sure what the problem is, or whether I should suffer the journey in my girlfriends MX5 instead.

I did find a post on here from a while back, that described a problem very similar to mine, in that it was a knocking noise that got better at higher speeds. and some seemed to suggest that it could be due to a warped break disc and the calipers opening more the faster you go. So it could well be that, or it could be suspension related, but as I'm a complete muppet with regard to mechanics I really don't know.

So what do people think? Will I be ok driving it to Liverpool and back tomorrow, or am I better off not taking the chance?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


could be control arm bushes worn? weird that it disappears after 50

why not take it for a MOT (somewhere you can trust) before your long road trip? personally, knocking noises from the suspension and a long motorway journey in a big heavy car sounds risky to me...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for all your advice everyone, but as I had to leave at 7.30am this morning I didn't have the chance to get the car checked out, so I went ahead and took the plunge and drove it to Liverpool and back today.

The first half of the journey up was much as expected i.e. knocking/rattling every time I went over any kind of bump below 40mph. However, when I got to around the Stoke area on the M6 and I heard an almighty CLANG! My initial reaction was that something had fallen off the car, but on looking in my rear view mirror there was nothing bouncing down the road behind me. The truly bizarre thing is that the car has been completely fine ever since, the knocking has gone completely.

I'm still going to take it to the dealer to have a look at tomorrow, but I just thought I'd relay back the info. of what happened.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Thanks for all your advice everyone, but as I had to leave at 7.30am this morning I didn't have the chance to get the car checked out, so I went ahead and took the plunge and drove it to Liverpool and back today.

The first half of the journey up was much as expected i.e. knocking/rattling every time I went over any kind of bump below 40mph. However, when I got to around the Stoke area on the M6 and I heard an almighty CLANG! My initial reaction was that something had fallen off the car, but on looking in my rear view mirror there was nothing bouncing down the road behind me. The truly bizarre thing is that the car has been completely fine ever since, the knocking has gone completely.

I'm still going to take it to the dealer to have a look at tomorrow, but I just thought I'd relay back the info. of what happened.

Ahh. The magic of Lexus :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well the upshot is that I took it back to the dealer yesterday, and their mechanic got it up on a ramp, and it turned out that the bolt attaching the suspension arm had sheared off, which would obviously explain the loud CLANG! I guess it had been loose all week, and finally sheared off on the M6 on Friday.

When I bought the car they replaced the arms on both sides, however Lexus in Milton Keynes only had one in stock, so they replaced them with one Lexus part and one aftermarket part (as that was all they could get), and it was the aftermarket part that failed.

Anyway, it's all sorted now, so hopefully that'll be the end of the problem.

I now just need to sort out the sticking aerial and the failing stereo LCD and I'll have one beautiful car.

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...