Reggie

I use this switch on my tractor. For the Lexus, there would be two shortcomings. Fist would be that every time you want to turn the switch on or off, you'd have to open the hood. Second is that the battery is hidden under the engine cover. You'd need to remove the cover it and replace it each time. It's held by (IIRC) 8 clips. Otherwise you can just leave the engine cover off. Here's my method for maintaining the battery charge. I use a battery tender. But instead of the Lexus way with the plug hanging out of the grille, I have installed an always-on 12V power receptacle under the dash. The receptacle is wired directly to the battery terminals via a wire running through the firewall. if the LX is going to be parked outside, I put my Battery Tender brand solar panel on the dash, and plug it in to the receptacle. If the LX is indoors, I use a standard battery tender with a cigarette lighter plug and run the cord from the battery tenderunder the driver's door seal.

About six months ago using Lexol. I use this on all the cars in my collection. This car is only a year old with light use by a 100 lb woman...... Yep, brushing across the side bolster will lead to premature wear. Other premature wear areas are the handle on the A pillar and the door pull. Body salts and dirt contribute to the friction. If the 100 pound woman driver wears shorts or a short skirt then her bare legs contribute to the problem; it's not entirely weight but also frequency and length of contact. Another factor is the sweat factor of the person. Some of us just sweat more than others, particularly when pressed against a leather surface.

It's not at all unusual for the 1982-1988 BMW 5 series (Model e28) to be running well at 200,00-300 miles. I understand the newer models are less reliable and shorter-lived. Check out the following to site for more information about the BMW e28. mye28 web page Roadfly

Well, I took the GX in this morning. Had a new to me service writer who understood everything about the clunk, and wrote up the service order for new driveshaft and control arms. Picked it up about 8 hours later, and it finally drives like a Lexus should. Other problem was the sunroof. The auto open and close feature to the switch had quit working. Also, the automatic position changing of the wind deflector had quit as well. Neither the service writer or the tech who worked on the car knew the wind deflector had this feature, and it took a trip to the owner's manual to make it clear. Seems the wind deflector feature is tied into the switch, and reprogramming the switch solved both problems. Finally, evething that was a problem with the vehicle at delivery 34,000 miles ago is resolved. The rear AC problem took 25,000 miles, and the tire inflation indicator light problem took 20,000 miles to solve. I honestly don't think I'll ever buy another Lexus. I'll likely go back to BMW. I've had good experiences with my local bimmer dealer, from whom I bought an 86 5-series 20 years ago. It has 225,000 miles and is still going strong. It required a new driveshaft after only 195,000 miles!

Remember those customer satisfaction surveys you get in the mail shortly after taking your Lexus in for service? I don't get those any more. After 25,000 miles of problems with the tire pressure warning sytem, the rear AC, and the kick in the seat transmission on my 2004 GX 470, someone at Jim Hudson Lexus of Augusta, Georgia has evidently decided to omit both me and my wife (an ES owner) from corporate service quality surveys. Is this corporate denial, or is it just the dealership? Any Lexus corporate reps lurking out there who can address this?

Thanks for the advice. I'd change dealers if there were another in Augusta, Georgia. Unfortunately, the nearest dealer, in Columbia, South Carolina, is also owned by Jim Hudson. Regarding Sewell Lexus in Dallas - I've bought floor and trunk mats, and the navigation system upgrade from them on ebay. They are a quality dealer; I'm just sorry I'm not 600 miles closer to them. Please see my new post about service surveys. Is deleting unsatisfied customers from the mailing list how Lexus boosts its reputation for quality?

The topic of fuel economy is relative. My previous vehicle was a 7 liter Chevrolet Suburban. I used it to both commute to work, and to tow a two-horse trailer twice a week. The Suburban got 10.5 mpg during my commute. It also got 10.5 mpg towing the horses. I had the Suburban equipped to seat 11 people, with an optional center front seat and a rear-facing two person fourth row seat. That allowed me to both tow, and to take my office staff of 11 women out to lunch every Friday. About two years ago, preparing for retirement, I decided to downsize. My wife had just purchased a Lexue, and was pleased with it, so she arranged for me to drive a GX470. It looked like it would tow the horse trailer, and since I was near retirement, I didn't need the seats for 12. My commute is now 35 miles to the barn where my horses are stabled. It is mostly interstate highway. Setting cruise control on 75 mph I get 20.1 mpg. On a 65 mph setting I get 25.1 mpg. Towing the trailer I get 16.5 mpg. On the down side, trailer towing with the Chevy was comfortable and quiet. Adding the trailer and the horses didn't change anything except my view in the rear view mirror. Towing with the Lexus is an uncomfortable adventure. Constant gear changes, downshifting two gears to climb interstate hills, vibration when going over 55 mph. If I had it to do over again, I'd keep the Suburban to tow the trailer twice a week, and pull my garage queen 1986 BMW 528e out of mothballs to do the drive to the barn the other 5 days each week.

Rear AC noise has been a problem since delivery of my 2004. Every time I took it to the dealer, the report was "unable to duplicate problem." My wife and I have both heard the noise, as have my entire office staff of 12 people, who have ridden with me from time to time over the past 18 months. In fact, the first time I took the new 2004 out with my office staff, one of my nurses, who was in the back seat said, "there's a funky noise coming from your air conditioner back here." So, I subscribed to alldatadiy.com and read the TSB's for the GX470. Sure enough, there is a rear AC problem, and a TSB with how to address the problem. Last time in to the dealer, Jim Hudson Lexus of Augusta, Georgia, the service advisors still refused to believe there was a problem. You'd think a business with a reputation for service would listen to a customer, particularly one with two Lexus vehicles in the family. But, no! Finally, today, I was driving near the dealer when the noise started yet again. Just a rehash of prior dealer service problems. It took Jim Hudson Lexus 15 months to finally find and replace a tire with a slow leak from day one. The rear end clunk was also finally addressed after 15 months of denial by the dealer as well, but has returned after the lubricate it quick fix. I bought the Lexus to replace a Chevrolet Suburban, hoping for better service from Lexus than from Chevrolet, but Jim Hudson Lexus has not lived up to its reputation. Is my disappointment with Lexus service unique to the Jim Hudson Lexus dealership, or is Lexus in the US just practicing corporate denial that the GX470 has problems?

I tow a two-horse trailer with my GX about twice a week. Unfortunately it causes a vibration and front end shimmy above 55 mph that was not the case with my previous tow vehicle, a K2500 Suburban. With the Suburban, I could tow on the interstate comfortably at 70-75 mph. With the Lexus, I have to stay below 55mph.

I've been using my GX470 off-road about twice a week. It has accumulated its share of side scratches from branches, and unfortunately a cracked windshield. If anyone has helpful hints from their experience, please post them. I'm thinking of switching tires to a more aggressive tread, and I'm also thinking about adding a brush guard and a winch. Anyone done any of this and have recommendations? Thanks.

I have the Husky cargo liner on my 2005 GX. It fits great. I wonder if you received the wrong liner. I'll share this with you so you can avoid a problem I created with my previous SUV. I decided to shampoo the carpet before I put down the cargo liner. Evidently the carpet had not dried completely when I covered it with the mat. The result was mildew, and lots of it.

One of my original tires evidently had a slow leak, so every week or so the low pressure light would come on. At first, re-inflating the tire turned out the light immediately. After the first year of this, and the dealer unable to find or stop the leak, the pressure light started staying on for two days to sometimes two weeks after the tire was inflated. Finally, after 15 months of this aggravation, the dealer finally replaced the tire. They knew I was not happy, so somehow the dealer has been able to stop sending me the customer satisfaction surveys. Has that happened to anyone else? The unhappy customer being removed from the survey list, I mean?

My vehicle came with the receiver and trailer plug connector already installed. All I had to do was splice the ends of the dealer supplied wiring harness for the electric brake controller into the brake control, and plug the opposite end into the socket above the driver side trim panel. The Lexus/Toyota connector came with great instructions. The process took about 30 minutes.

Nope, backing is not a problem for me either. Though, I cannot remember the last time I had to parallel park.

A 2004 which clunked from the first day. It went like this - slow to a stop, and at about 1 mph, the car behind you rear-ended you. At least, that's what it felt like. Finally I subscribed to www.alldatadiy.com and had access to Lexus recall information and technical service bulletins. These take a year to be made available and put on line for us - Lexus valued customers. In other words, Lexus and their dealers hide them for a year from their consumers. So after 15 months of clunking, and 20k miles, and confronted with the Lexus TSB printed out for them, the dealer's service department finally admitted there was a problem, and did something to fix it. My next car may be a Lexus, but I no longer trust Jim Hudson Lexus service.

I tow a two-horse trailer about twice a week with my 2004 GX470. My previous tow vehicle was a 3/4 ton Chevy Suburban with a 7.4 liter V8. It was a wonderful tow vehicle. It got 10.5 miles per gallon with or without the trailer. Sometimes, unless you looked in the rearview mirror, you forgot the trailer and the horses were there. Long upward grades on the interstate were taken without the transmission kicking out of overdrive. The Suburban also seated 11 - I equipped it with a center front seat, and an aftermarket rear-facing seat for two additional passengers. That was so I could take my office staff of 10, plus me, out to lunch every Friday. Then I retired. No need for the seating capacity. Just needed room for tack and such for the horses. I had to buy the Lexus with 3rd row seats, but they came out and are stored in my attic until trade-in time. With the Lexus, I definitely know the trailer is behind me. The Lexus downshifts to fourth gear, and sometimes to third, to maintain speed on the same grades the 454 Suburban handled in 5th gear. Gas mileage when I'm towing the trailer is about 11 mpg versus 20-plus without the trailer. Also, there is a really worrisome vibration with the Lexus when towing in the 30 to 40 mph range. It disappears at 40. I also find that the Lexus, with its shorter wheelbase, makes backing the trailer a little more difficult. So far I've had no mechanical problems, just the usual hard shifting and clunking that are the subject of Lexus technical service bulletins. Would I trade the Suburban in for the Lexus if I had it to do over? If city driving interspersed with twice weekly towing was my main function, probably not. The Suburban was paid for, and even at current gasoline prices, the break even point would be several years ahead. Where the Lexus excels, however, is in 4wd low off road. I tow the horses to foxhunt. The rest of the week I'm off road, driving deep into the woods to finally hike in and clear trails. I'll bet I'm one of an extremely small percentage of GX owners who have ever used 4wd low, let alone use it 3 to 4 times a week. What sets my Lexus apart from the those driven by the cell phone talking soccer moms in my community are manure stains on the floor mats, Georgia red clay in the wheel wells, and the series of long scratches along its sides from driving through heavy underbrush. The Lexus engineers really set up the vehicle to off-road well. It's too bad most owners will never even try this expensive feature, or know what DAC does. Another real benefit of the Lexus lies with the reverse camera. It makes it a snap to hook up the trailer!

I've been working on this problem since 2004. Unfortunately the answer is no, if you want to go with Lexus parts. The mounting points for the tonneau cover are integral to the interior panels, AND ARE NOT FOUND ON THE INTERIOR PANELS OF VEHICLES WITH OPTIONAL 3RD ROW SEATS. Because Lexus opted to push the vestigial 3rd row seats as a forced upgraqe to add to their corporate profit, not many US vehicles had the tonneau cover interior, so wrecking yard parts are almost nonexistant. Unless a US dealer, like Sewell Lexus in Dallas, who sells the DVD upgrade at a reasonable price, elects to obtain and market these panels and covers, we are forced to cover cargo in the upscale Lexus with an old blankets :chairshot: while owners of many other SUVs have tonneau covers.

My 5'4" wife loves driving my GX470, as compared to her ES330. She likes the feature that lowers the vehicle-says it makes it easy to get in and out. She also likes the better outward vision and ride height. Fist thing I'd do is take out the 3rd row of seats. Those headrests do impair vision, and do you all really need these seats in all the time? Besides, it leaves a decent cargo area, and you don't have to deal with the awkward folding up of the 3rd row seats. Jerky transmission and clunks are technical service bulletin items, and will be fixed under warranty. Just say the magic words to the dealer, and the service advisor's eyes will light up at getting more warranty fix money from Lexus for the dealer. If I understand correctly, your wife wants multiple programmable passenger seat settings to accomodate all her passengers. Is there any vehicle that has this function? If her business contacts are too lame to adjust a power seat, she might think about finding a different clientele. I'd just learn to drive the GX470 and let her keep the LS. I'm retired myself, and the GX470 is great for pulling my horse trailer, and for going off road in 4 wheel drive to retrieve lost foxhounds. It gets twice the gas mileage of the Suburban it replaced, and is far more comfortable. And, it's a heck of lot easier to park in my garage than the Suburban. And, if she needs to talk on a telephone, she should PARK the car! Just my $0.02 worth.

You appear to have the latest version. But, to answer some of the other questions posted, try the following link: www.lexus-parts.com/partdetail.asp?PartID=3123&ModelID=105&SubCategoryID=93 You'll need to copy and paste this link, since I haven't figured out how to embed links in posts on this board.

2004 In the area I commonly drive, I've noted: 1. more minor streets are labeled with names. 2. more minor bodies of water, like ponds and creeks, show up on the display. 3. hospital complexes and golf courses are outlined in gray to differentiate them from the surrounding streets.

My local dealer quoted the following: $1,100 for the upgrade plus $400 for installation. So, I went to ebay, and found a dealer in Dallas, Texas - Sewell Lexus - selling the 2006 DVD for $288. It arrived today, and was $296, including shipping. Installation took less than 5 minutes: 1. run the front passenger seat all the way forward 2. turn the ignition to the on position (not running) so the navigation screen is on 3. pop the cover off the navigation system box under the passenger seat (approach it from the rear). Two tabs and the cover is off. 4. Slide the release on the upper left side of the DVD box to the right, and then push it to eject the old DVD. 5. Insert the new DVD, slide the release to close. 6. Pop the cover back on. 7. The screen will tell you to leave power to the DVD navigation system on while it updates. In about two minutes the map screen appears, and you are done. That means my dealer is charging $4,800 per hour labor for installation! And, making an $800 profit on the DVD! :chairshot:

I also use a Tekonsha Prodigy. I mounted it using the connector harness supplied with the truck, and mounted it on the bottom of the dash near the door. It's out of the way but can be easily seen from driving position, and easy to reach if needed. The plug for the connector took some searching for. It was hidden above a wiring harness.

Depending where you live, you should calculated based on 12000-15000 miles/yr. ← I put about 8K on my 2004 from purchase March 2004 through the present. I do have an old BMW as my commuter car, so the Lexus has been used mainly on out-of-town trips and for towing my horse trailer

I have no data to quote, but for the past year I have regularly towed a loaded two horse trailer with my 2004 GX470. Prior to that, I towed the same trailer and horses with a 1996 K2500 Suburban with a 7.4L V8. Gas mileage while towing with the Suburban averaged about 10.5 mpg. Interestingly, gas mileage without the trailer averaged about the same 10.5 mpg. Without looking in the rear view mirror, it was easy to forget that you were towing a trailer. There was very little downshifting on uphill grades. Gas mileage towing with the Lexus has also been about 10-11 mpg. The Lexus really works hard to maintain speed going up grades on the interstates, with frequent downshifting. It isn't nearly as comfortable a tow vehicle as the Suburban. The shorter wheelbase of the Lexus vs the Suburban also makes the combination Lexus and trailer feel "squirrely." Since about 90 percent of my mileage is without towing and 10 percent with a trailer I'm saving on fuel costs, even though the Suburban only required regular gasoline. I'd still feel better about my horses if I were driving something with a longer wheelbase. On another related topic - third seat access - the Suburban, while certainly not in the van or even minivan class in this area, has the Lexus beat. I take my office staff of 7 out to lunch every Friday, and they miss the Suburban.