Lexus is suppose to check the height when they perform this TSB. The height can cause the vehicle to clunk due to the diff. in the driveshaft angle. Maybe your height was off and they adjusted it you. On the safe side, I would adjust your rear height to make sure it still works.

Thank you for your comments. I will see what the service consultant
will tell me tomorrow. The clunk has disappeared after TSB has been
completed, so this height difference may be the normal one....

I wouldn't sweat the small things, like a slightly different height. At least the clunk disappeared, and that's the important part.

It's like trying to either please your wife and go out to dinner with her, or stay home with an angry wife but you get to watch the game. Can't have everything but you choose the lesser evil.

Lexus dealer said that the height was set too high and it has been
adjusted to the normal position.

Hi,
What should the height be? I just got my TSB done and the ride is great, smooth. I just can't believe what I've been missing got the last 2 years.

Is there anyway I can check it myself?

Thanks!

Hey folks!

My wife and I bought a Certified 2004 GX in Sept 2006 and we LOVE it!!

We had noticed the "clunk", but it didn 't seem too bad so we decided to ignore it.

That is until my mom was riding with us and at the first stop sign, the "clunk" happened and she asked about it. Since then several passengers have asked us about it and wondered why we weren't going to persue a fix.

So, here we are in Jan of 2007 and we visited our local dealer for some unrelated service. I asked about the "clunk" issue and the service rep said that they were due to receive the parts within the next three weeks. He wrote-up a service request for our vehicle and said that they would call us when the parts had arrived.

By the time we got home, I had received an e-mail from the parts department confirming the special order.

I will post updates as I get them.

When your parts arrived, you better remind the service consultant
of the height of the vehicle which should be set at the normal factory position. My four year old little son even found it difficult to step on the
running board since the height was set too high when TSB for clunk
was completed. I saw a few other posts mentioning the height related
this TSB.

Anyway, you will have smooth and comfortable ride after the clunk
has been fixed. I have driven 3K miles after TSB, nice ride without
clunk anymore!

what exactly is the thump??? I have a 2006 Gx and twice now I have heard a strange noise when parked in traffic on a steep hill when foot is on the break? Not really a thump but like a grinding noise maybe? Did not sound good but once moving never heard it again or had any problem.

Stinky Pete
Buzz must have lasered you good for you to think this "whack from the back" issue was not too bad. I shouldn't talk though, I was well aware of the problem and still bought an '04 on the assurance that the "clunk" had been fixed. Arbitration with Lexus was a joke. Big Wig they sent from LA called it a "characteristic" and not a flaw as we all know it to be, and the panel of "non-partisan" arbitrators were biased to the nth degree. They were paid by Lexus Corp. for goodness sake....

My dealer in No. CA has been sympathetic and very forthcoming in telling me that the new '07 will not have the new control arms already in place and that the control arms will NOT be a perfect fix; that there will still be clunking, although not so drastic.

I'm actually nervous now to get the fix that is on order since this will be my 4th drive shaft in 2.5 years. I'll have to find Naive Lexus Buyer of the Universe in order to off-load this thing.

Silent for many months but furious again after reading all this....

GX Remorse

You can call it a characteristic or call it a design flaw, either way, its not a safety issue so there is no way they will buy back your car in arbitration. I agree this should not happen in a $50K car, but at least Lexus is trying to fix the problem unlike other auto manufacturers.
I must agree with stinky pete, the cluck was not that bad. I guess some people have it worst than other. Maybe yours is really bad. Anyhow, almost 100% of people who had this lastest TSB done have not had the cluck since. As far as I know the 07 should have the latest TSB in it, I am wondering how well inform is your Lexus dealer.
This TSB is the real deal, get it fix and you can complain here afterward if the cluck comes back.

GX Remorse,

I'm sorry to here you have had problems with your GX. My wife and I agree that this is the best car we have owned EVER and that this is the first of hopefully a long relationship with Lexus (she wants a SC! )
I feel your pain though when it comes to problems with a manufacturer and then going thru "arbitration". Fifteen years ago, my wife and I experienced the same senario with the one who makes "Ram Tough" vehicles. We went through a long three year legal battle which by the end of we discovered that our lawyer was on the manufacturer's payroll and the judge (who was elected) had her campaign financed by one of the local "Ram Tough" delereships. The judge declared the case a "draw" and we ended-up with the manufacturer reimbursing our legal fees (about $1400) and we kept the piece of "Ram Tough" junk! Oh... we also had to sign a statement that IF we EVER bought another vehicle from this manufacturer (no matter what the brand), we could NOT file a lemon law claim against them. Needless to say, we have never even considered owning a "Ram Tough" vehicle since. In the words of "our" lawyer, "well, there are millions of other suckers out there who will buy them."

But back to our GX...

Actually, the clunk in our GX is not that bad, it only happens about one in every 20-25 brake/accelerate cycles. But, when it happens with Mom in the car, that's completly unaceptable!!

Your dealer is wrong. I have an 07 GX and it has the updated control arms and driveshaft. Before I traded my 06 GX (which had the updated parts) in, I measured the thickness of the lower control arms and they are the same on my 07. The old control arms were much thinner, since I measured them before having the TSIB done. I also see that the upper control arms have the proper color coded band on them that the old parts never had. So your dealer doesn't know (what a shock) what he is talking about.

can anyone confirm if this issue impacts the 2007 models?

It should not. If you've read about like 5 or 6 pages ago (or maybe more, not sure what page it's on) the issue was SUPPOSIDLY fixed for the 06s. Some early 06 built units still had it, but now I presume the later 06 productions (which means, the 07 GX470s) shouldn't have it. But you never know when a unit or two might have it. It's a better risk now than it was back years ago. Chances of the clunk is less. Besides, if you buy an 07, you have plenty of time to get it fixed as this problem doesn't usually appear DAY ONE that you drive it.

I have not yet seen the actual TSB. But, understand there are two of them related to the CLUNK.

My '04 is out of warranty (64k miles).

If I have to pay for this myself, about how much will it cost?

Oh. I don't quite know. My invoice on the TSB doesn't have the price as warranty paid for it. I would unfortunately guess that it will cost you at least 4 digits. Lexus parts are expensive. They replaced my monnroof glass (because rubber strip was coming off, they said u can't just order the rubber but the whole glass) and the glass itself was already $400. Labor on the clunk will at least run around 5-6 or even more hours.

So basing on the average labor rate of $100, your at about $500-$600 at least just for labor. Parts could cost maybe in the upper $700-$900 if you're lucky.

See if the dealer could cook up a deal for you or something. My dealer gave me a "one time good gesture" on my rear door lock which busted out a month after my warranty was up. Try it, maybe they could do a 50/50 deal or something.

I remember seeing the price somewhere, it was about $1200 just in parts. Add on another 2 to 3 hours for labor, you are looking at about $1500 for the TSB.

I had the TSB completed almost 6 months ago and the clunk never came back. What a relief!

Yes me too. I know, for whatever the cost is, as long as the dealer does the job and does good, the clunk will never return.


I feel sorry for the V8 4wd 4Runner owners. They never had a chance at this TSB.

Hi,

Do you have an answer for your question? I am reading all of the emails posted in this forum before I buy a 2007 GX470. I want to make sure the 2007 don't have the so called "Clunk" bug.

I appreciate if you let me know at your earliest convenience.

Thanks!!

According to what I have been told by a couple dealers, Lexus has not really fixed this problem yet. They are still using some of the same Driveshaft and Control Arm Assmeblies and won't completely change over until they redesign the vehicle in a couple years. They will fix the problem with redesigned assemblies if customers complain about it and it is still under the 50,000 mile warranty. But, only if the customer complains. The driveshaft is covered until 70,000. However, not the Control Arms.

For a company like Lexus, this is pathetic. I have owned nothing but Lexus vehicles for the past 15 years. This is very disappointing. I just bought a 2004 GX470, but am told that I will have to pay to fix this issue because it has more than 50,000 miles on it.

One dealer told me the price would be $2500-$2600 for the complete fix. That's absurd.

Sounds like Lexus is taking a chance with the new GX off the line, hoping they dont have to change every drive shalf.

My Lord, 12 pgs on the Clunk. Well let me get out my bat to beat this pile of glue which used to be a dead horse. I got the TSB done on my '05. It wasn't that bad, but if there's a fix I want it. Well, now it's three times as bad as it ever was. Hopefully, they just made a mistake and gave me the original parts. Of course, the Parts Dept said that this isn't possible since "they recalled all of the old parts and took them out of recirculation". Good times. Guess I'll start over.

But when did you have the TSB done though?? Maybe the TSB you had done, was one of the older unsuccessful ones! I've been through all of Toyota's attempts and TSB and I'm finally glad they completely figured it out with this last current one.

I can confirm it. I have an 07 GX I bought in March and noticed the clunk within days of driving off the lot. Haven't returned for the 5K service yet, but intend to raise the issue with the service manager when I do.

Interesting...I'll have to look into this. I think it was this year. Do you know of a cutoff date when the TSB should be the latest version?

Flukechance, I have no idea when the latest TSB was released, but I would take a wild guess that if you had your GX serviced for the clunk, somewhere between Apr 06-now, I think you should have the latest TSB.

Will the TSB and parts replacement include a 2003 GX470 with 29,800 miles and out of their standard warranty period? Thank you.

If you make enough noise about it, you can get it done for nothing....as it should be. It's been a known issue with this vehicle and Lexus should have fixed it permanently as soon as they knew it. But, they say because it is not a safety issue, they will only fix it if a customer complains and if it is still under the 50,000 warranty.

You will see on the newest TSB that part of this service is covered to 70,000 miles and part only until 50,000 miles. Even my Lexus dealership did not know that part of it was covered under the 70,000 mile drivetrain warranty. I had to tell them to check the latest TSB.

In the end, I got the whole thing done for nothing on my 2004 GX470 with over 60,000 miles.

The newest TSB is April 2006. If anyone wants a copy of it, PM me with your email address and I will email you a PDF of it.

Thank you very much... I will speak with my dealer about it... please email a copy of the TSB to me at dlb20011@aol.com... appreciate it.

Newbie here. Just got an 07 GX. Please send a copy my way as well if you don't mind.

chieplai@gmail.com

Thanks for all your help. My 03 GX goes in on Tuesday for the CLUNK and an A/C problem. Still covered under extended warranty. When you have a chance can you also send me the TSB from april.

johnbadami@optonline.net

Thanks,

john

Please send me a copy of the newest TSB on the clunk issue. I have a new 2007 and thankfully no clunk problems and I am hoping that the issue has been cured. I will keep the TSB for future reference if I this problem pops up. My email is: gcpaer@earthlink.net
Thanks!

Went in today for clunk and A/C problem. The A/C is now down to 40 degrees and the parts for the TSB CLUNK are on order with a 2 day to 3 week wait. They will only fix if you ask and still a backordered part.

I will send the same attachment that Chexation sent me. They wont keep it or refer to it since they have updated info on their computer but they will know that YOU KNOW. Good luck.

Hi, I am new here and just got a 2003 GX 470. First I need to ask...what exactly is this "clunk"???? I am concerened and sure hope my "new" car doesn't have it!!!
Please send me a copy of the newest TSB on the clunk issue as well. I will keep the TSB for future reference if this problem pops up. My email is: variniasumner@yahoo.com
Thanks so much!

can someone PM me the new TSB for the clunk , I have the 2004 GX 470 only heard it one time , just begining at 10,000 miles ,
thanks

Hey guys, the TSB numbers are somewhere in here! lol... But ok I'll be nice and I researched which pages they're located at....

It was first listed on page 2, but I uploaded a scanned version of my service write-up on page 9. Hope that helps.

newbie second post.

I just purchased a CPO '03 GX from a local dealer.

What exactly is this "clunk" and will i recognize it?

I confirmed that the dealer has not done the TSB for this problem, but i'm not sure if i have even experienced the "clunk" yet either. I've only had the car a week. Once or twice while coming to a stop i did feel a small "clunk" but it was not severe and was inconsistent. Is the the infamous "clunk?"

Guidance appreciated. Thanks.

When you come to a stop, it feels as though a car hit your backend. It doesn't always happen at every stop, but it is just irritating and unsettling.

What you have experienced is probably what the "clunk". Keep driving it for a few weeks to see if it is something that bothers you.

Yeah, that's it.
Talk to your dealer.
He knows all about it. It doesn't happen all the time and is hard to demonstrate.

Could you send a copy of the TSB to djkim@iland.net Thank You Darrell

had the TSB service done to my '07 GX470 just after July 4th. Problem solved. No clunk, no "push from back" and much smoother acceleration/deceleration all around. Honestly was dubious about the mechanicals involved, but apparently the engineers correctly identified and resolved the problem. took about 2 weeks to get the parts.

Glad it worked out for you and you didnt have to go thru all the hassle over these years. Took Toyota a loong time to figure it out, but once they did, it was well worth it.

Guys, I have an '03 with 84K miles. Does this replacement only cover vehicles under warranty?

- JF in Austin, Texas

The drive shaft is cover under power train warranty and the control arms are cover under bumper to bumper warranty.

No worries on the warranty. Lexus is honoring this TSIB as a drivetrain warranty (per the released TSIB to dealers). The drivetrain warranty is 72 months or 70,000 miles. Complete OFFICIAL TSIB from Lexus is here (hosted here due to size of attachment): http://www.faqlexus.com/index.php?action=a...&artlang=en

Good finding Reboot! I'll put a side note on the title to help new owners find the TSB right away

After 3 of the so called fixes for the clunk, the problem is as bad as ever on my wifey's 2005. Has anyone been to arbitration over the clunk issue? Thanks