RX in NC

Yep, an undermounted sink is the only way to go with new granite countertops. We installed granite countertops last autumn and at first I wanted to stay with our original porcelain kitchen sink in order to save about six hundred bucks over the new stainless steel sink that my wife preferred. But after seeing the benefits of an undermount sink, I had to admit that it's the only way to go these days. A much cleaner and sleeker look as well as a breeze for clean-up. My wife won out on this particular choice and it turned out to be the right way to go. I wound up donating our original sink and fixtures to a local Habitat for Humanity swap shop. Sure beats chunking a still-good sink into a landfill where no one benefits from it....

A good plumbing contractor can install water fixtures anywhere you want to place them, inside or outside. When we had six big dogs in our family about ten years ago, we made the decision to install a raised full-size bathtub in our garage to allow us to more conveniently handle all the year-round dog-washing we were doing at that time. I purchased and installed the tub where we wanted it located, and then contacted three or four plumbing contractors for estimates. We selected the one we felt was most capable of accomplishing the task with the minimum amount of risk to our plumbing integrity. He extended our kitchen water supply out to the garage and tied the new garage bathtub drain system into an existing drain, all under the house in our crawlspace. We still use this tub every day for multiple tasks and we've never had a problem of any kind with it. I'd hate to have to get along without a water supply and tub in the garage now that we've had one for so long....

Both sides have valid points. Many of us have used this forum in the past for sharing and gleaning information on subjects other than vehicles. Recent topics that I participated in include the stock market, bathroom tile, and HVAC systems. We all have various levels of expertise on many different subjects that can benefit members of this forum, and that's good. But when threads turn to idle chatter between bored participants, it wastes server space (and therefore money) as SKPerformance has appropriately pointed out in the past. Like it or not, he's correct about that point. I think the answer can be found somewhere in the middle. Feel free to post when you are offering valid information that may benefit someone else, but keep the idle chatter to a minimum. By following those guidelines, information can be freely exchanged while wasted time and space is held to a minimum. If it is decided that a chatroom is desired for those who like to spend their time that way, keep it out of the specific forums so the vast majority of the members won't have to deal with it.

If you have 15 years on your double Trane heat pumps you've done very well. I had to replace my double Bryant (Carrier) heat pumps last year at 11.5 years of age. I take care of our HVAC systems just as I do our automobiles - in fact, our HVAC systems are the only components in the house that I keep under a service contract. But the Bryant units began a painfully slow decline when they were about 7 years old so I finally decided to do the research in autumn 2003 and wound up replacing them in March 2004. After doing a ton of on-line research as well as interviewing numerous HVAC contractors over a two-month span, it came down to Lennox, Trane, and Amana. Lennox has maintained a high-profile reputation, Trane is the most visible due to their constant advertising, and I'd always thought of Amana as a manufacturer of kitchen appliances such as microwaves (they invented the technology) and refrigerators but had never really heard of them in the HVAC market. As it turns out, nobody else could come close to the Amana warranty - lifetime on the Copeland scroll compressors and 10 years on everything else. Lennox and Trane essentially offered 5-year warranties across the board - not even in the same ballpark with Amana. And the Amana units were the most energy-efficient with the highest SEER ratings to boot. Lennox was priced a bit higher than Trane and Amana, but pricing wasn't nearly as much of a factor for me as warranty and efficiency were. So I selected the Amana units with top-of-the-line Honeywell programmable thermostats and our monthly power bills immediately decreased by two-thirds while the house stays completely comfortable regardless of extreme heat or freezing cold outside. Amazing. My only regret is not doing this about three years sooner. For those of you who might be considering new heat pumps with heating season quickly approaching, you should check out the Amana line. I went with twin Amana RHF TempAssure heat pumps (15 SEER), twin Amana BBA air handlers, and twin Honeywell Chronotherm IV Deluxe programmable thermostats. The Amana HVAC website is www.amana-hac.com.

bluestu, As I've said to you before, I'm happy for you that you haven't experienced the known problems with your vehicles that a number of us have. I hope you never do. Consider yourself fortunate. But the failures that I mentioned previously are well-known and common. They do occur. Many of us have had to deal with them. I don't know how long you've been owning and driving vehicles, but I've been doing so for almost 36 years now. I've had Japanese, American, Italian, and German vehicles of numerous makes and models; some were great and some were mediocre. But this RX300 has given us more problems than all of our other 20-plus vehicles combined, and it has been babied like no other we've owned. Had you experienced our situation, you would understand.

Dealership service quality varies from state to state, city to city, and even block to block. Your experience (and therefore your opinion) will depend entirely upon how you're treated and responded to when you have a problem. Consistent willingness to listen to your concerns and respond accordingly with professionalism and dedication is an all-too-rare trait these days, whether it's at an American, Japanese, German, British, Italian, or any other nationality's service department. Want to have a much more successful experience EVERY TIME at the service department of your choosing? Here's what you need to do: 1. Thoroughly research your problem and come to understand some of the potential causes and solutions before you even pick up the phone or walk in the service bay. Knowledge is power. It also keeps a borderline-competent service advisor from attempting to blow smoke up your !Removed! and drain your wallet. 2. When you do darken their door, introduce yourself with confidence and a solid handshake, look them straight in the eye, explain your issue in detail with clarity and precision, and state what you expect the outcome to be. 3. Be professional, be polite, but always speak clearly and be firm in tone and manner. Stand your ground, maintain your expectations, and do not negotiate unless you realize that you will have to be willing to accept less than your original expected outcome. 4. You do not have to possess a Clint Eastwood persona to be successful at this. An Alan Greenspan mentality works even better. Do enough research to always know the numbers better than they do and you will maintain the upper hand even if you're more like Barney Fife rather than Captain Kirk. Over the past couple of decades I've trained the service departments I use to respond to my needs rather than allowing them to train me to respond to theirs. It works, folks, and my experiences with our local Lexus dealership are living proof of that. I've never paid them a penny and we've received more than $9,000 worth of required repairs during the last two years as well as all the loaner cars we need to keep my wife rolling while her flaky RX300 is in the shop.

The RX300 AWD is far from perfect. It is prone to: 1. Premature transmission failure. 2. Cracked exhaust manifold. 3. Multiple premature oxygen sensor failures. 4. Rear main oil seal failure. 5. Strut mount rubber bushing failure. All of these are common issues well-known and much-discussed on this forum. Our RX300 AWD has been meticulously maintained and still suffered from every single one of the issues listed above. Fortunately for us, I'm a bulldog and I forced Lexus to repair all of these problems at no cost to us. Most of the problems (but not all of them) occurred while the vehicle was still under the original 50,000-mile warranty. This is an expensive vehicle to maintain if you cannot perform general routine maintenance yourself. Be aware of that going in. Get some basic tools and learn to maintain the vehicle yourself - this forum will provide you with a wealth of information towards doing so. But keep in mind that if you decide to purchase an RX300 AWD, you should set aside a couple thousand dollars as a maintenance account. You'll need it.

Yes, be sure to search this forum using "transmission failure" as your key search words. My wife drives a 2000 RX300 AWD. Because of the large number of failures we've experienced with this vehicle, we'll never buy another one.

While keeping your vehicle tuned up and running clean fluids will always help to prolong its lifespan by allowing it to operate more efficiently, I feel that there is little one can do to improve the transmission performance and acceleration of the RX300 series. Keep in mind that the RX300 is overweight and underpowered. Throw in a weak and somewhat suspect transmission (particularly in the AWD models) and you have a recipe for sluggishness and rough shift points that simply aren't going to respond to general tune-up efforts. I ensure that my wife's RX300 is meticulously maintained, but it continues to shift more like a $12,000 vehicle than one that originally stickered at $40,000 or so. You can bet that we'll never purchase another one. It does make operational and economic sense to keep your RX running with clean and proper parts and fluids, but unfortunately that will not alleviate the dissatisfaction you have with your transmission. If there was a way, I would have already found it and would be touting it here on this forum. All RX300 owners certainly deserve a cure for their lousy transmissions but short of a recall and a design replacement it's not going to happen.

Let's hope this solves your particular problem. Keep us posted with your opinions on whether or not you believe that your new external filter is making a difference in your transmission operation and lifespan. Have you decided how often you'll change the T-IV fluid now?

With intermittent electrical problems, you always start with the battery. Don't assume that because your battery is only a year or two old that it can't have problems - it certainly can. Several weeks ago I had to replace the battery in my daughter's Grand Cherokee. I had purchased the battery for her in March 2004, and it was already starting to fail. Symptoms included slow starts, then no start and it wouldn't take a jumpstart from my Ram's battery. We had a three-year full-replacement on her battery so it was just a matter of me returning it to the auto parts store and picking up a new one at no charge. Problem solved. The original battery in my wife's 2000 Lexus RX300 is still operational and seems to be fine even though it is now more than five-and-a-half years old. I believe that it's the longest I've ever kept an original battery in more than 35 years of driving. Now that I've said that, and with the history of problems we've had with her vehicle, I expect that battery to die within a couple of months....

I inspected the dogbone engine mount on my wife's RX300 yesterday evening. The rubber appears to still be firm enough to allow this mount to do its job. I could see no cracks or chips in the hard rubber components of the dogbone that I could get to without removing the cruise control module or power steering fluid reservoir. So I'll add this component to my inspection routine for this vehicle and keep an eye on it. I also told my wife to let me know if she begins to experience any clunking or jerking as she engages her transmission into Drive or Reverse. Thanks again for sharing the details.

Beyond the "abuse and neglect" issues with your aunt's vehicle, keep in mind that the darker the paint, the more it will fade over the years. That is true for every vehicle manufacturer and every paint manufacturer as well. Keeping a vehicle garaged and waxed will help, but minute paint fade occurs with only a few months' exposure to the sun. Summer exposure is the worst but the sun can and will fade your paint at any time of the year. The easiest way to minimize paint fade is to buy only white exteriors containing non-metallic paint. White reflects more light than any other color and therefore holds up far longer with far less fade. The paint fade on my 6-year-old Dodge Ram pickup (Bright White) is imperceptible. It gets hand-washed once or twice a month and gets a hand-applied-and-buffed coat of carnauba wax perhaps twice a year. The paint fade on my wife's 5-year-old RX300 (Golden Pearl, although most people inaccurately refer to it as "white") is barely noticable by me but not by others, both because it is not a true white and it is a metallic paint. It gets hand-washed more often than my Ram and gets a hand-applied-and-buffed coat of carnauba wax two or three times a year. If you desire the best and easiest way to minimize paint fade, always choose white, non-metallic paint. If you must have dark paint, keep it out of the sun as much as possible and keep it waxed. But understand that you will still suffer from fade over time.

Thanks for the tip on doing your own dogbone re-build. If you can post the specific thread here, or include details of the products used for re-build, it would be much appreciated. If this works, I'm sure it saves quite a bit of money by allowing you to fix your existing dogbone for just a few dollars.

Thanks for the details. This post is definitely a "keeper" for future reference. It sounds as if the rubber contact surfaces on the dogbone engine mount will break down and wear out over time, leading to slight engine/transmission alignment issues when shifting gears. As fragile as these damn RX transmissions seem to be, it certainly makes good sense to ensure that the dogbone engine mount gets replaced when its rubber surfaces start to decay.

Thanks for the warning, Bowtie. It certainly pays to be aware of common problems to look out for on the RX series. Last autumn I was tipped off to the strut mount bushing failure design flaw (which as you know is a Technical Service Bulletin item). Sure enough, we had to address that issue in my wife's vehicle this past January. Looks like a worn-out dogbone issue may be next on the agenda. This vehicle is now pushing 95,000 miles so you can bet that I'll be paying attention to the dogbone. If any clunks or jerks surface, I'll look at the dogbone engine mount first. Thanks again.

I've changed our RX's Type T-IV transmission fluid by pulling these plugs and I believe that the metal crush gaskets on both of the plugs are identical. A Lexus tech gave me four new gaskets last November so I would have them for future T-IV changes and there were no indications from him that these gaskets couldn't be shared between the two plugs. I also believe that if your current gaskets are still in good shape, you can simply clean them and re-use them a couple of times.

I don't have any experience with 18-inch tires but what I can tell you is that if you're after long mileage, you'll be better off with an H-rated tire. Most tire shops will try to sell you a V-rated tire, but unless you plan to corner this vehicle at 120 mph, you don't need it. V-rated tires are constructed with softer rubber compounds and will probably not provide you with the 40,000 to 50,000 miles that you'd like to get out of your next set. A V-rated tire really is overkill for a somewhat clumsy SUV like the RX, but I acknowledge that it may be difficult to find an H-rated tire in the size you need. Talk to the folks at tirerack.com, look at their ratings and surveys, and spend a little time on research before you decide what you're going to do.

Checking your tire pressure yourself on a weekly basis is still and always will be the best and fastest way to detect problems with your tires. You'll notice slow leaks sooner and therefore you'll be able to find and fix nails in your tires before they are able to cause significant damage.

I have no pictures to post but this issue has been discussed in great detail in several threads here on this forum. You might want to search using "AC/Alternator belt" as your key search phrase. But it's really pretty simple as long as you have the right tools. I assume your 2001 configuration matches our 2000, but you may want to check that with a phone call to Lexus. Here's what I did: There are three bolts that must be loosened in order to change or tighten the AC/Alternator belt. First, find and loosen the "pivot bolt", which is on the top side of the alternator housing attached to a black metal bracket. Use a 14 millimeter socket wrench. It is by far the easiest of the three bolts to access. The head of this "pivot bolt" faces your right front wheel. Second, find and loosen the "mounting bolt", which is on the bottom side of the alternator housing almost diagonally opposite the "pivot bolt", towards the radiator. Use a long-handled 12 millimeter box wrench. There is not enough room to get your socket wrench down into that space. The head of this "mounting bolt" also faces your right front wheel. Now, find and tighten the "adjuster bolt", which is on the mid-upper side of the alternator housing towards the radiator. This is the only bolt of the three whose head more or less faces the radiator. Use a long-handled 12 millimeter box wrench and be prepared to spend quite a bit of time tightening that bolt because due to the extremely tight working space in that area, you will only be able to tighten the bolt perhaps one-tenth of a turn at a time. As you tighten this bolt, you will gradually see and feel your AC/Alternator belt tightening up. Take it to where you're comfortable with it, and when you're satisfied that you've taken the slack out, re-tighten the "mounting bolt" and finish the job by re-tightening the "pivot bolt". It probably took me about twenty to thirty minutes to do this job. The vast majority of that time was spent in figuring out how to best get the wrenches down into the two tight spaces, and then being able to work the wrench only about one-tenth of a turn and then having to re-position the wrench after each tiny turn of the "adjuster bolt". All of this work is done leaning over your open hood at the right front wheel. Hope this solves your problem, but if your AC/Alternator belt is original to your vehicle, it's time to replace that belt. Most exterior belts are good for about four years. These Toyota exterior belts are just average in quality - they're not heavy-duty. Let us know your results.

newells4, I doubt that your current squealing is coming from your timing belt. They typically don't squeal because of the precise way they're molded and seated. I recommend that you pick up a can of belt dressing spray from your local Pep Boys or NAPA and use it to dress both the AC/Alternator belt and the Power Steering pump belt. If your vehicle returns to silent operation immediately after doing so, you'll know that you still have an exterior belt issue. It may turn out that your AC/Alternator belt simply needs to be tightened a bit more, as ours required. It's been several weeks now since I tightened ours and my wife continues to report no belt noise at all. These RX belts really need to be tightened up more than I'm accustomed to on our other vehicles. So dress your belts and if your noise disappears, tighten your AC/Alternator belt a little more. Keep us posted.

Yet another example of why it's very important to do your research thoroughly every single time before you purchase any vehicle. Making the wrong decision means you'll become unhappy with your choice quickly, and ALL quick-escape trades of almost-new vehicles result in the owner taking a nasty financial bath on depreciation and resale value regardless of how they may try to make it sound as if the salesperson was doing them a favor and giving them a great deal. Some people trade cars like schoolkids trade lunchbox contents (one right here on this forum but I think he's learning that this habit is extremely costly). Do this and you'll get your wallet significantly lightened every single time. Remember that vehicles are NOT investments. They are expenses, and they begin to significantly lose their value as soon as you drive them off the lot. Do your homework and make sure that your vehicle purchases are the right choice for you and that you can live with them for years to come.

Touche! I'd laugh at that comment if it didn't hurt so much....

I also find it hard to believe that an engine mount is not covered under your warranty. I believe you should press these guys hard. If they don't budge, contact another dealer and be firm from the get-go. I would also check with Lexus Corporate to get their take on this. There's no way that an engine mount is a "wear item". I can see it now: "Lexus 60,000 Mile Service Schedule: Change oil, oil filter, air filter, check PCV valve, check belts and hoses, rotate tires, and change engine mounts."

A well-built score-and-snap tilecutter is only as good as the skills of the person using it. There is definitely a learning curve and you will sacrifice some tiles learning to develop this particular skill. I've employed this method in all of the tile applications I've done over the past 20 years and as long as I'm using a good one, I'll only break about 1 tile out of every 100 that I have to cut. If you go this route, I recommend that you practice at the tile store using some of their scrap tiles. Get good at it there before you take it home and start to work on your own tiles. A small wet saw is a great idea if you're willing to spend the money. If there are HVAC system registers in the floor you're going to tile, you'll need some way to cut the sharp and sometimes small angles required on the tiles that the registers will sit on top of. A wet saw would be ideal for that. VBdenny, those 13-by-13 tiles are really elegant, aren't they? I used them in our family room last summer and on our front porch in the summer of 1998, both projects laid on the diagonal. We still get many compliments on the front porch when folks come to our front door for the first time. And the great thing about tile outdoors is that unlike a wooden porch floor, it just doesn't break down or age. It still looks as new as the day I laid it. And talk about easy to clean - just a quick five minutes with a pressure washer and you're good to go for another year. You just have to be careful around the grout, which I re-seal every autumn after pressure-washing the porch. That job takes me about an hour to apply the grout sealant, let it dry for a few minutes, then buff it out.