What's the status of getting a frame weight?
Painful low frequency drone/pressure in cabin
- Thread starter LJE
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- #62
At $350, it seems silly to gamble on that - especially since that was a fix for frame resonance at idle, and lots of people seem to have zero issues without them.
Don't get me wrong - I'd certainly pay that if I had confidence it would take care of the issue, but I think there's a very low chance of that being the root cause here.
But, it's on the list.
Damn that's outrageous.
@LJE did you check that all the bolts holding the skid plates are tight? A loose skid can vibrate and cause something like that.. maybe remove them both and take for a spin to see if there’s a difference?
If the loose hood skin repair helped, maybe this too..
But, after reading this thread again and trying to understand where the issue is coming from, the first thing I’d do is look at the tires again.
I see you just spent money on balance, but a balanced tire can also be noisy..
If you don’t want to replace tires without knowing that’s the issue, maybe a friend with a 100/200 or tundra can do a quick swap and see results. Or find a cheap set of take offs and it they don’t work sell them.
If the loose hood skin repair helped, maybe this too..
But, after reading this thread again and trying to understand where the issue is coming from, the first thing I’d do is look at the tires again.
I see you just spent money on balance, but a balanced tire can also be noisy..
If you don’t want to replace tires without knowing that’s the issue, maybe a friend with a 100/200 or tundra can do a quick swap and see results. Or find a cheap set of take offs and it they don’t work sell them.
- Thread starter
- #65
Right? I have no idea why that frame weight is so expensive - is it depleted uranium or something? Hah.
I actually started this journey with the skid plates off. I've got the front one on now (and tight), but no change.
Unfortunately I don't know anyone around here with compatible wheels - new/bigger tires are on the to-do list anyways, but the probably is I don't want to buy tires that'll fit my 18" wheels, since I'm planning on switching to 17" Rock warrior wheels - assuming I can even get a decent deal on them.
However - I would expect tires/u-joints/prop shafts (all of which I've checked) to cause a noticible vibration - which there's really not. You don't feel the sensation in your body, just your ears.
I'm going to recheck my tailgate/hatch again today to make sure there's absolutely no way that it's wobbling and acting like a giant speaker cone. Apparently the new grand highlanders are super bad about that exact thing. No idea why my particular LX would develop that though.
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- #67
Yeah, sunroof feels/looks good. Gonna seal it with Painters tape today though to double check - thanks for the suggestion!
Sorry you're still dealing with this. Went back through the thread and trying to recap...sounds like possible issues:
1. tires
2. windshield - you said it's cracked but OEM glass? unsure if original factory install?
3. window/door seals - I think you said all are present. have you cleaned them and tried dressing them with a silicone grease - will freshen them up, also clean mating surface - especially on cargo pop out glass.
4. exhaust? I know you said you checked this. new headers aren't making contact on anything? rest of exhaust is all tight and not making contact?
5. having replaced so many different parts on the truck, could there be a loose bolt or component somewhere. are the cowl pieces/wiper blades all tight?
6. roof rack?
1. tires
2. windshield - you said it's cracked but OEM glass? unsure if original factory install?
3. window/door seals - I think you said all are present. have you cleaned them and tried dressing them with a silicone grease - will freshen them up, also clean mating surface - especially on cargo pop out glass.
4. exhaust? I know you said you checked this. new headers aren't making contact on anything? rest of exhaust is all tight and not making contact?
5. having replaced so many different parts on the truck, could there be a loose bolt or component somewhere. are the cowl pieces/wiper blades all tight?
6. roof rack?
My proposal would to find someone nearby (a shop, a club, another member traveling through your region, someone else heavily into cars, ...) and let them drive. Perhaps you're already so stuck that you can't find it. Not seeing the forest due to all the trees (not sure if that's the right translation of the saying, but you get my point :-D)
- Thread starter
- #70
Alright - just got back from driving/trying different things for a couple hours. I recorded a short (4 min or so) video talking about things I tried & their effects (spoiler alert, nothing fixed it). You'll have the excuse the odd 'talk while I both think & drive at the same time', lol. The video is still processing on Youtube, so you may have to give it a few minutes:
#1: You're not wrong, those still are a question - but I think they've been bumped to near the bottom of the list of culprits. I just think I'd end up with more actual vibration if that was the case.
#2: That's correct - I actually swung by to setup an appointment next week to get the glass replaced. It'll be Pilkington rather than OEM Lexus, but folks here on 'mud seem to think that's fine. I'm also confident that this shop knows what they're doing in regards to the trim/rivets (which I'll be providing - ordered all the OEM trim/rivets a while back). So once that's taken care of we'll be able to rule out the windshield as a culprit.
I did notice that my windshield cowl on the passenger side was a little looser than on the driver side - but I don't think it would be loose enough to cause any issues... I might try to see what it takes to pop that off just in case.
#3: Yeah, all the seals are there. Tried taping around all the door gaps today, no change. I'll hit them with some dressing, but I don't think that's the culprit.
#4: I'll quintuple check this today, but yeah, nothing making contact. All hangers intact.
#5: As mentioned, I'll have to double-check the windshield cowl.
#6: Tried shoving something in between a crossbar and the roof, no difference.
Thanks all for the continued support - I definitely can't wait to get this over with and actually start enjoying the LX!
#1: You're not wrong, those still are a question - but I think they've been bumped to near the bottom of the list of culprits. I just think I'd end up with more actual vibration if that was the case.
#2: That's correct - I actually swung by to setup an appointment next week to get the glass replaced. It'll be Pilkington rather than OEM Lexus, but folks here on 'mud seem to think that's fine. I'm also confident that this shop knows what they're doing in regards to the trim/rivets (which I'll be providing - ordered all the OEM trim/rivets a while back). So once that's taken care of we'll be able to rule out the windshield as a culprit.
I did notice that my windshield cowl on the passenger side was a little looser than on the driver side - but I don't think it would be loose enough to cause any issues... I might try to see what it takes to pop that off just in case.
#3: Yeah, all the seals are there. Tried taping around all the door gaps today, no change. I'll hit them with some dressing, but I don't think that's the culprit.
#4: I'll quintuple check this today, but yeah, nothing making contact. All hangers intact.
#5: As mentioned, I'll have to double-check the windshield cowl.
#6: Tried shoving something in between a crossbar and the roof, no difference.
I've tagged a buddy to drive tonight while I move around the cabin & see what I can figure out - so we'll see what I find then.
Thanks all for the continued support - I definitely can't wait to get this over with and actually start enjoying the LX!
Maybe dumb, maybe this helps rule out glass: do you have any dynamat or similar? Try sticking pieces of it all over your windows to maybe test them?
My thought, if it is any of the glass, the mat may help reduce the noise?
My thought, if it is any of the glass, the mat may help reduce the noise?
I was so concentrated in your beard that I couldn't hear anything.... 
Are the rear windows (cargo side glass) tight? Mine had loosened up and were squeezing, but maybe something to look at.
^^ this! Congrats to you both on the long relationship, it is truly epic.I was so concentrated in your beard that I couldn't hear anything....
I was thinking about this while driving today, and your video somewhat supports my thought. With all the things that have been ruled out, I’m wondering if it’s not two things working together to make dissonance. I’ve done a lot of live sound over the years, and it’s crazy what bad time alignment can do to sound in certain spaces.
You mentioned that it gets louder when you lean forward - which is either tires or reflection off the glass. However, a reflection off the glass wouldn’t make sense, because the sound wave wouldn’t actually be perceivable at that length. Dissonance, on the other hand, would mean that two sound waves are hitting you and causing the sensation.
Which is to say, my hairbrained guess is that it’s related to tires…and something else. I’m suspicious there’s something with the exhaust as well, potentially making an almost-but-not-quite-identical noise - causing the dissonance. Or two tires making slightly different noises, or…the entire frame vibrating because you don’t have the golden frame weight attached.
When you have someone else drive it, pay close attention to where it is loudest in the cabin. Also, thank god for that beard I bet it is a great sound absorber.
- Thread starter
- #75
Hahaha. If the windshield replacement doesn't take care of it, I'll give that a whirl on a couple of the other windows.
Hey now, my eyes are up here!!I was so concentrated in your beard that I couldn't hear anything....
They seem to be compressing the seals pretty decently - but I plan to check this tonight.
Hahahha. I wish the beard did a better job of absorbing the noise...
Yeah, it's almost like I'm getting constructive interference in the front. Some screen shots of my sound analyzer app sorta of proves this - although I'm not quite sure if I had cruise control on at this point, so it might not be quite A:B, but, check it out:
Phone held near windshield - look at that -8dB peak right at 40ish hz:
VS phone held behind my head - that same peak is now down to -13dB, which is a big change!
I'll verify that this data is real when I drive it with my buddy tonight. Doesn't solve the issue, but it's another data point...
Another one that comes to my mind: I had a loose windshield on my van, tape version didn't work as it wasn't pushing the shield back on the frame. But when I pushed it to the outside while driving I could get significant changes of noise! replaced windshield, done.
Another one: fold in your mirrors.
the main reason for fins on the mirrors today is that the air flows around and hits the side windows. This causes strong noise.
Another one: fold in your mirrors.
the main reason for fins on the mirrors today is that the air flows around and hits the side windows. This causes strong noise.
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- #77
I've tried pushing on my windshield with no apparent change in sound - same thing with folding my mirrors in.
Oh s***, we're breaking out recording devices and charts and graphs and stuff. This is serious.
But actually being serious, I'm sure I speak for at least a handful of others here that we're friggin committed to figuring this out. I'm fascinated by this.
Are you testing on different roads?
I believe I have a broken headliner clip or something on the top of my headliner near my sunroof, with AC high idle and at a stop/very slow crawl it echos the whole cabin. I can slide my finger between the sunroof trim and headliner and it stops.
My windshield cowls are also in rough condition and I can hear a good amount of windshield noise at higher speeds.
Neither are exactly what your experiencing like the pressure sensation of 1 window open but they can be pretty loud.
My windshield cowls are also in rough condition and I can hear a good amount of windshield noise at higher speeds.
Neither are exactly what your experiencing like the pressure sensation of 1 window open but they can be pretty loud.
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- #80
Hahaha. I'm a nerd - of course there's going to be graphs!
I have tried it on a number of different roads. The noise seems to be present if you hit a decent bump, but that could also just be me being hyper-sensitive to that sensation after enduring the audible version of water torture...
Gotcha - my headliner is definitely firmly attached.
So - went on the drive tonight with my buddy. Sound goes away entirely in the middle row, comes back in the third row. Weird - but I guess you're going to potentially get constructive/destructive interference of the pressure waves, so probably not unexpected.
However, he did bring one thing back to my attention that I had previously dismissed. The transfer case lever vibrates - now, I know that's standard in the Toyota 4x4s, but it seems like it could be the same frequency that we're hearing. It's super hard to correlate between what you're feeling and what you're hearing, but it's something.
It also seems like if you let off the gas entirely and coast for just a second the noise goes away - this has been hard to decide on, because you very rapidly drop out of the painful zone (speed wise) anyways.
I've flipped-flopped a couple times on whether or not I think this is true throughout my troubleshooting over the past several weeks, but at this moment I'm convinced that it is true.
What does that mean? It means something in the driveline could indeed be causing this I guess - vibrating enough to excite some sort of resonance in the cab. It's just super odd that I (nor he) can feel any vibration corrosponding to the noise (other than the TC lever). I would think for certainly that you'd be able to feel the vibration in the steering wheel, seat, doors, something.
I had previously pulled the rear drive shaft - going to pull the front shaft first thing tomorrow and check if I still get trouble with just the rear wheels being driven.
Next step after that will be to install Bluetooth drive shafts to isolate the transfer case.
Oh - motor mounts (including the rear one that mounts the transmission) are new.
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