LX Jittery Ride (1 Viewer)

[TG1]

2013 LX currently with forgiving passenger all seasons on it. New to me.

I've been noticing a kind of slight jittery ride in all three suspension modes and on smooth asphalt roads. It never seems to really be a smooth ride.

Comfort is a more soft jitter while Sport is a slightly sharper jitter. It has also vibrated pretty badly a couple of times but both times it went away on its own. Lexus did a full CPO type inspection and didn't find anything wrong as it wasn't doing the significant vibration at the time of the inspection and I don't think they do much of a road test.

So the question is do most of you guys feel that the ride is always moving a bit on these or is this a potential issue??

Thanks!

 

[grinchy]

The number one thing to look at is an AHC fluid exchange / service. Here's one thread among many.

'14 LX570 AHC Bleed/Fluid flush...by an unprofessional

Hey guys and gals, My LX is now 6 years old (45,000kms) and I'm going to attempt to flush the AHC system to hopefully smooth out driving. Tires are Geolander G015's at 38psi. Maybe its all the job walk-thru's available online, but I'm feeling a bit over confident...and I don't think I should...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[grinchy]

Setting aside suspension, you could also have an out of balance tire. So go in and do a tire balance.
Or it could be the alignment, so have that done too.

And of course, maybe your shocks are at end of life, these could be improved by the AHC flush, but if leaking they will need to be replaced.

 

[TeCKis300]

Could be a number of things. How many miles does the 2013 have?

Potentially suspension (AHC fluid or suspension globes), control arms, wheel bearings, even crazier things like something in the driveline.

As you mention it's intermittent and it's a vibration... leads me to think it might be something obscure like the issue @jtcu had. Turned out to be nothing in the suspension but a universal joint in the rear axle

2013 LX 570 Drivability Issue

I just purchased a 2013 LX 570 130k miles and discovered a issue afterwards that no one has been able to diagnose. When driving, some bumps in the road feel quite harsh and there is a shudder sensation (almost the feel of a transmission slipping). Doesn't seem to happen on smooth roads, and not...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[TG1]

Setting aside suspension, you could also have an out of balance tire. So go in and do a tire balance.
Or it could be the alignment, so have that done too.

And of course, maybe your shocks are at end of life, these could be improved by the AHC flush, but if leaking they will need to be replaced.

Thanks.

I think I'm good with the AHC Fluid as it was done at 62k and I have 74k on it now.

First thing I did when it started doing the bad vibrations was lightly touch the steering wheel to feel for vibrations and I don't feel much of anything. Not sure if that's really a good balance test or not but it's what I've always done first. Didn't think of an alignment and I'm pretty sure the dealer that put these crappy tires on didn't do one. I didn't realize that could cause vibrations but that could be something to have done although I really want to swap out these tires with an A/T so not sure I want to have 2 alignments done within a short time but that would be the best way to try and isolate the issue without changing too many variables.

 

[TG1]

Could be a number of things. How many miles does the 2013 have?

Potentially suspension (AHC fluid or suspension globes), control arms, wheel bearings, even crazier things like something in the driveline.

As you mention it's intermittent and it's a vibration... leads me to think it might be something obscure like the issue @jtcu had. Turned out to be nothing in the suspension but a universal joint in the rear axle

2013 LX 570 Drivability Issue

I just purchased a 2013 LX 570 130k miles and discovered a issue afterwards that no one has been able to diagnose. When driving, some bumps in the road feel quite harsh and there is a shudder sensation (almost the feel of a transmission slipping). Doesn't seem to happen on smooth roads, and not...

forum.ih8mud.com

74k and the AHC flush as done at 62k. This also had the 4WD fluids (FD, RD and TC) done at both at 30k and 62k which for all the ones I looked at service records on is very rare so I think it was taken very good care of. Do you think Lexus could easily miss control arms, wheel bearings or the universal during a CPO type inspection?

 

[TeCKis300]

Sounds like it's barely broken in. Anything is possible and I don't put it beyond the service techs to miss things because inspection can only see so much. Glad to hear she's had her flush done and fluids baselines.

As you say it's intermittent with pretty bad vibrations that go away. That leads me to think it's not wheel or tire balance. Can you localize whether its at the front axle or rear? Or characterize when it tends to happen and at what speeds? Either engine speed or vehicle speed?

 

[TG1]

Sounds like it's barely broken in. Anything is possible and I don't put it beyond the service techs to miss things because inspection can only see so much. Glad to hear she's had her flush done and fluids baselines.

As you say it's intermittent with pretty bad vibrations that go away. That leads me to think it's not wheel or tire balance. Can you localize whether its at the front axle or rear? Or characterize when it tends to happen and at what speeds? Either engine speed or vehicle speed?

I like to hear that about not being broken in ;o)

The first time the bad vibration happened I did a full turn left U-Turn and when it straightened out even at low speed it was shaking a lot. It seemed like the only way to reduce or eliminate that shaking was to make the opposite u-turn a while after after I did the first one. Then it was good for about 50 miles and then on a straight road at like 55 it started to shake ... just not nearly as bad. I switched from Comfort to Sport and it seemed to pretty much go away. Not sure if that was a coincidence or not. But as I said it seems to always be jiggling just a bit even on smooth asphalt which I wasn't sure was normal for this suspension.

 

[grinchy]

add bushings to your investigation

 

[TeCKis300]

Can you feel it in the steering wheel, through the seat, both?

 

[1world1love]

I like to hear that about not being broken in ;o)

The first time the bad vibration happened I did a full turn left U-Turn and when it straightened out even at low speed it was shaking a lot. It seemed like the only way to reduce or eliminate that shaking was to make the opposite u-turn a while after after I did the first one. Then it was good for about 50 miles and then on a straight road at like 55 it started to shake ... just not nearly as bad. I switched from Comfort to Sport and it seemed to pretty much go away. Not sure if that was a coincidence or not. But as I said it seems to always be jiggling just a bit even on smooth asphalt which I wasn't sure was normal for this suspension.

Definitely not normal.

Mine had new but terrible tires on it when I bought it and it rode like a bmx bike with flat tires. New KO2s fixed that problem, but seeing as your issue is intermittent, I doubt it's the tires, although they could be contributory.

Although your AHC service was completed on schedule, you may want to have it checked anyways. It wouldn't be the first time that the techs did not put in enough fluid. With CPOs, they do inspections, but depend greatly on the service history of the vehicle too, so they would be unlikely to do anything more than a cursory diagnostic on the AHC since it had been services recently.

I'd go to an empty mall parking lot nearby and see if you can figure out how to reliably reproduce it. Then get a good tech to ride with you and reproduce it while they are driving.

Also, this may seem obvious, but you may want to check that all of your lug nuts are torqued appropriately.

 

[grinchy]

lug nuts are torqued appropriately.

good call

 

[grampswrx]

Could it be the center diff lock? I know when I have locked it then unlocked it the symptoms were similar to what you are describing.

 

[1world1love]

74k and the AHC flush as done at 62k. This also had the 4WD fluids (FD, RD and TC) done at both at 30k and 62k which for all the ones I looked at service records on is very rare so I think it was taken very good care of. Do you think Lexus could easily miss control arms, wheel bearings or the universal during a CPO type inspection?

I wonder why they would change all the fluids so early. That doesn’t make any sense.

Was it serviced at the same Lexus dealer that you bought it from?

 

[TG1]

Definitely not normal.

Mine had new but terrible tires on it when I bought it and it rode like a bmx bike with flat tires. New KO2s fixed that problem, but seeing as your issue is intermittent, I doubt it's the tires, although they could be contributory.

Although your AHC service was completed on schedule, you may want to have it checked anyways. It wouldn't be the first time that the techs did not put in enough fluid. With CPOs, they do inspections, but depend greatly on the service history of the vehicle too, so they would be unlikely to do anything more than a cursory diagnostic on the AHC since it had been services recently.

I'd go to an empty mall parking lot nearby and see if you can figure out how to reliably reproduce it. Then get a good tech to ride with you and reproduce it while they are driving.

Also, this may seem obvious, but you may want to check that all of your lug nuts are torqued appropriately.

Thanks.

is there an easy way to check the AHC fluid level?

Yeh I did that replication exercise in a parking lot and didn’t have a lot of luck replicating it which is frustrating.

I’ll check the lugs tomorrow. Do you know offhand the torque setting ??

something that happened today which has happened a couple of times but I had forgotten about. Backing out of a driveway turned Max to the right (with a slight drop off to the street) there was a pretty loud clang from what seemed like the front right tire/wheel well area. Not sure if that could be the steering/suspension?

 

[TG1]

I wonder why they would change all the fluids so early. That doesn’t make any sense.

Was it serviced at the same Lexus dealer that you bought it from?

Yeh I did scratch my head about that because although I think Lexus recommends they can be changed out at 30k if you’re towing and/or driving on dirt/dusty roads but this vehicle has a very clean undercarriage however it could have been used for towing and I’m not sure how I’d know that.

 

[grinchy]

Do you know offhand the torque setting ??

something that happened today which has happened a couple of times but I had forgotten about. Backing out of a driveway turned Max to the right (with a slight drop off to the street) there was a pretty loud clang from what seemed like the front right tire/wheel well area. Not sure if that could be the steering/suspension?

97 ft lb

sounds like a loose bolt or a possible blown bushing

 

[TG1]

add bushings to your investigation

Thanks. Do you think during the inspection they would have done a thorough check of them? They probably just listened to a wheel spin ??(not sure if that’s a valid way to check bearings but I gave it a shot )

 

[grinchy]

Thanks. Do you think during the inspection they would have done a thorough check of them? They probably just listened to a wheel spin ??(not sure if that’s a valid way to check bearings but I gave it a shot )

i very very much doubt it.

Springs can unload like you describe normally off a curb etc. If you hear anything like this try to repeat it, or better yet, have another repeat it while you are outside the car watching and listening.

 

[1world1love]

something that happened today which has happened a couple of times but I had forgotten about. Backing out of a driveway turned Max to the right (with a slight drop off to the street) there was a pretty loud clang from what seemed like the front right tire/wheel well area. Not sure if that could be the steering/suspension?

Hmmm. Did you drive it after this noise? If so, was Anything else amiss?