Chris Parker

I find that I need to add a little coolant into my 2008 RX350 now at 45,000 miles, but the dealer wants $35 for a 1 gallon jug of pre-mixed! I really only need maybe 1 quart or less, as sometimes the coolant is over the LOW line while other times, the tank is totally empty. I note that I have leftover specialty coolant from other cars, in particular orange GM Dex-Cool and pink Audi/VW G12. I know I can just add distilled water, though the 50/50 factory mix would be diluted, but I'm also wondering how different the recommended Toyota Super Long Life Coolant is to the Audi/VW G12 (Pentosin). Both are even pink! (though color alone probably is not a good enough indicator). The owner's manual says, " “Toyota Super Long Life Coolant” or similar high quality ethylene glycol based non-silicate, non-amine, non-nitrite and non-borate coolant with long-life hybrid organic acid technology." Both therefore are probably compatible. Still, I'd like any thoughts before I do something to a good running car that I might regret later... CP

Tonight, after (but not during) doing some slow driving (25mph) with the liftgate open (and with a very annoying constant beeping, no way to get that to stop without closing the door?), when I finally close the rear hatch door and drive back home, I get all of these lights on the dashboard: ABS/Brake/Slip Control lights steady on. Flashing VSC OFF light. I continue driving. A little later, the AFS OFF light starts flashing to. Just great! (at least there is no CEL check engine light) After parking it in the garage at home, I start it up about 15 minutes later and at least the AFS OFF light is no longer flashing. Taking it out for a short drive, suddenly all these lights go off. What the hell? Okay, from what I gather, it seems to me like one of the ABS wheel sensors briefly went amiss. Something to let the dealer know about? What the hell the AFS has to do with that, I don't get it unless it too somehow depends on the ABS wheel sensors. Any other thoughts?

I thought these cars had coil on plugs (COPs) for better reliability. Do you know what cylinder's coil they changed? The coil is a capacitor-like thing which delivers a burst of charge to the spark plug each time it is signaled by the ECU to spark. Older cars had coil packs, but I thought RX330/RX350 had a separate coil built right into the spark plug.

I'd trust a dyno plots, not your butt dyno. :P His Camry could have carbon buildup inside the engine causing higher compression in one or more of the cylinders, and therefore the higher octane fuel is really what his car needs to avoid engine knock and run correctly under those conditions.

The car needs 91 octane. You can mix equal amounts of 89 and 93, or 1/3 of 87 and 2/3 of 93 to obtain the required 91 octane. Always put the 93 in first so you don't add too much 89 or 87. Usually mixing 87 and 93 yields a better net price per gallon than 89 and 93, not sure why that is.

My wife has a 2008 Lexus RX350. My rear view mirror has two green indicators on it to the left and right of the on/off button for the compass and anti-glare auto mode. However, strangely, only the left green indicator lights up. There is only one anti-glare sensor on the back of the rear view mirror. What is the right green indicator for, and why is it always off?

Is that the correct oil? I thought at least synthetic oil was what would be required id the oil change interval is 5000 miles rather than 3000 miles.

Sad to say, but I only now figured out from this thread that "premium fuel" according to Lexus is 91 octane, not 93 octane, correct? Most stations where I live carry 3 octanes --- 87/89/93 --- so I've been buying 93. Now I'm going to start mixing 93/87 2:1 or 93/89 1:1 (whichever combination is cheaper, as the stations here also are not pricing the grades fairly so that it wouldn't matter) to get the required 91 octane and not overpay. Wish I'd figured that out this past summer when the premium surcharge was extreme, but that's water under the bridge now.

That's where I was looking for it. Is there some kind of removeable cover that goes over it?

On the 2008 Lexus RX-350, seems to me that the OBD-2 is hidden somewhere sneaky. Can't seem to find it under the driver's dash or the seats. Does anyone know where it might be?

I'm going to be looking at buying a used Lexus. How does the engine cover/shroud come off? so I can see the condition of spark plug wires, etc. There doesn't appear to be any screws. Is it a snap off?

I currently own an Audi A4 that's just been giving me a boatload of trouble to fix recently, therefore we are considering just trading it in for a Lexus instead rather than continuing to fix problems. One of the great things about owning an Audi/Volkswagen has been the general availability, at an affordable price, of the VAG-COM/VCDS laptop diagnostic software from Ross-Tech, which allows me to access the manufacturer-specific on board control module interfaces and to view, reconfigure, and log all the sensor readings and ECU computations (i.e. the measuring blocks) going on in the car (even while driving), just like the dealer service people can do. Is there such a tool available for Toyota/Lexus? Most people posting here with problems seem to be just referring to just the OBD-II fault codes, suggesting to me that only a generic OBD-II interface is generally available to talk to the electronics in these cars. I'd like to know if there is a better tool available, because obviously we are considering buying a used Lexus, and I want to know as much as I can about the car (including what its on-board diagnostics computer can tell me about it) as we choose the car we want to buy. Much appreciation for your reply. CP