maseace

Do you have a 2007 or later? The 2006 RX400h does not play MP3 discs. My 2007 has played every disc I have burned (I mainly use MP3 CDs), including DVD-Audio discs. I use Nero and burn them as data discs. It cannot play MP3 DVD discs, only MP3 CD. Only DVD video/audio discs are supported for DVDs.

I bought the OEM mud guards and honestly they are so small that they barely do any good. They don't stick out far enough to prevent spray from the tires on the lower side body panels.

It should be an LED that does not need replacing. It only comes on if the parking lights or headlights are on. Check it again with the lights on and you may find it's working!

MP3 on DVD discs are not supported. It is known from the disc types specified in the manual. DVD-Audio works great, with album art.

It's probably a dying battery, especially if it's the original battery.

Also low rolling resistance tires will help your MPG. The OEM Michelin Energy S8's (LRR) gave me 2-3 MPG more than the Yokohama Parada Spec-X I now have installed. But the Paradas are better performing, so it's a tradeoff. I usually got 30 MPG on longer trips with the OEM tires, now getting 28 with the Paradas. I get 23 MPG (winter) and 25-26 MPG (summer) on my 10 mile work commute.

How so? Regenerative braking actually has a positive effect on brake pad life (the friction brakes are used much less), and I can't imagine how it could cause tire wear. I also cannot see how electric motor power to the rear tires in certain situations would have an adverse effect on tire wear. The worst thing I can think of for reducing tire life (for the RX400h) is being out of alignment or having low tire pressure.

Turning off heat and AC/defrost will help keep the ICE from running when stopped. I noticed the ICE runs much more when the climate controls are set to AUTO with AC on, especially when using heat. Your avg MPG must have been recently reset if the avg dropped that much at one stop. I wouldn't get too caught up with the arrows on the energy flow screen. They are only a basic approximation of what's going on. It doesn't always show when the ICE is turning. The hybrid system program is so complicated you will drive yourself crazy trying to understand what (and why) the energy flow screen is really doing. Also do not shift to N or B mode during normal driving or sitting in traffic. Shifting to N will keep the ICE running unnecessarily. B mode will reduce mileage in most situations - it's only for steep hills to hold speed and reduce friciton braking.

Same as any other car with TPMS. The TPMS sensors are not bluetooth, they are regular old-fashioned radio frequency. The tire installer needs to know they are TPMS and you will probably be charged a little extra so they can replace part of the TPMS valve stem and "reset" the system. You don't need to do anything special when rotating the tires. There is a TPMS reset button under the dash to re-learn the baseline tire pressure if you change it. That way it will continue to alert you when any tire gets 25% below the baseline pressure.

Here is the maintenance schedule. Certain things you mentioned don't apply to this car, such as plug wires (the high voltage igniters are directly on top of each plug). Brake fluid is every 30k miles, timing belt change at 90k, engine and inverter coolant change at 100k, Spark plugs 120k. RX400h Maint Sched.pdf

Those things are in the maintenance guide supplement to the owners manual. Also available online at My Lexus

There's definitely a timing belt to change. See the attached removal instruction from the service manual, and the 90k maintenance page specifying replacement of the timing belt. RX400hTimingBelt.pdf

You're probably better off not getting the warranty and saving the money just in case. You probably won't have to spend any of it since these cars are very reliable!

There are pictures on parts.com - click on the image link above the item (in the gray bar), and it shows the exploded view, so you know exactly what you are getting.

Also check out parts.com for OEM Lexus (or any make) parts at good prices. The grille emblem on parts.com is $24.81. The rear roof rack L/R plastic covers are $38.59 each, if that's what you're talking about. Emblem Rear roof rack covers

That sounds normal to me. The rear motor is for AWD situations like accelerating from a dead stop or when a front wheel slips at low speeds. As you drive down a highway, the energy states constantly change between charging and providing electric motor power. The state of charge also is a factor. Coasting down a long hill can overcharge the battery (over 80% which is the top bar in the battery gauge) and it has to burn off the excess charge.

According to the maintenance schedule, the brake fluid should be changed every 30k miles. Supposedly brake fluid absorbs water over time that can overheat (boil) and develop air in the lines, which can cause problems.

Must be air in the brake lines like the TSB says. Have you ever replaced the brake fluid?

Does it only happen during the transition from regenerative braking to friction brakes (~9 mph)? I find this happens if the rotors have a layer of rust from being wet, but as soon as this wears off, they are normal again. It's much more noticeable on the Prius since it's a lighter-weight car.

They probably pressure-washed under the hood and/or into the grille. That would explain condensation in the headlights and if they got fuses wet, it may have shorted something.

You probably just have your dashboard brightness set all the way to high - try the knob by the odometer reset button, and turn it down past the "click."

Looks like you could buff most of that out and use a little touch-up from a bottle, for the lowest cost fix. Worth a try. You could always get it painted later if it doesn't look good.

If it has a rebuilt or salvage title, it was previously in an accident (declared a total loss by an insurance company), and was repaired and inspected to be safe to drive on highways again. It may have problems related to the accident if they weren't repaired completely or correctly. This should show up on a Carfax or other vehicle history report, and the title paperwork should have a brand on it indicating "rebuilt," for example. This may not be the case at all, I'm just thinking of a possibility.

The door handle lights aren't too hard to get to (just remove the door panel and it's on the back). They are encased in milky white plastic diffuser. I actually tried adding more yellow LEDs on one of them (while I had the door panel off to add LED mirror turn signals), but found that such a low current is provided to these LEDs that adding a single extra LED made all the other ones dim to where you can barely see them at all! The ECU that controls these doesn't provide enough power to add any more.

Great work, as always! I have noticed the different shade of the radio and nav controls, but figured they were made by different companies with slightly different LEDs, not expecting filament bulbs! Just about every part of the dash illumination doesn't match on this car. It's like they couldn't decide on a color scheme. Cupholder lights: blue Door handles/overhead illumination/glovebox: amber Doorsills: amber (2007), blue (2008) Steering wheel/shifter: green Gauges: pure white Radio/nav: various shades of green/blue/white Now you just need to change the ugly yellow-green seat heater controls and gear selector illumination. Did you change the radio knobs to blue as part of this project? For the gear shift indicator illumination, it would look good to have a separate LED for each position - white for P, D, and B, red for R, and green for N. Then it would match the LEDs on the gauge cluster. Another project would be to install brighter LEDs in the steering wheel buttons and window controls. I've always thought they were too dim. Very interesting about the bulbs carrying continuity to the seat airbag circuit. So you would have the same problem if any one of the small bulbs burned out? Bad design in my opinion. Maybe you could install a jumper wire to bypass all the bulbs and go directly to the airbag sensor.