lenore

the highlander engine is not up under the windshield like the lexus

You should probably pick up a new intake gasket. Part # 17176-62030 You could just unhook the intake and swing it around out of the way to get to the injectors.... the worst thing is the 14mm bolt on the back side of the air plenum support bracket. It is real tight and a 1/4 drive is about all your going to be able to get into that spot....This is a picture of the plenum air intake. The red cirlcel shows the bolt that is a pain to get. This is on a highlander which has a lot of room, not like our car.....The bolt is on the picture with the Green circle and a very faint red circle to the left which is near the firewall.

The Haynes manual for the Highlander/Lexus RX300 does tell you how to do this.....

What they should have done was let these businesses fail, re-organize, etc. We had too much expansion on a false dollar. The better move would be to give extended unemployment benifits for 2 years and let the capitalistic economy find its own leveling field. This would only cost us around $50billion, far cheaper than the 800 billion. We built too many homes, apartments, and shopping centers on our credit driven economy. On a side note has anyone seen any news on the 20 states considering sovereignty from the federal government to stop the spending requirements of the feds?

To get the rear fuel injectors you will have to remove the air plenum....see this post for removing plenum it is about knocks sensors but required the removeal of the plenum... http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...l=knock+sensors

Is there a fuse for the power steering/????

The engine compartment reminds me of Xerox machines, they tried to hide everything to either make them customer friendly or unfriendly depending on how you look at it.....

you both did a great job, satisfaction of doing it yourself, and Code58 you as usual are awlsome. Nice writeup Code58, another solution to the ongoing failures.

Lenore: when you write ... the 'right side' of the car, do you mean passenger side? Yes, passenger side, starboard side (old navy guy) side where my wife tells me my driving sucks,,,,just kidding....

Hey, thanks for the feedback, glad you got it fixed....

By the way the 2003 has the same engine, and is not covered by the 8year 120day warranty. Keep that in mind. A 2002 would still be covered by the Lexus warranty for engine sludge.

Read this posting by me: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...showtopic=50259 bought the kit at my local auto parts store, bought the one with the little heat iron still under $20

Just take a look in front of the right wheel well, if you have vents there, and you can see if there is a tranny cooler thru the vents. Also in the engine compartment on the bottom of the frame you will see hoses (transmission lines going to the right side of the car under the radiator. Another place to look is through the hole in the bumper under the right headlight. You will see the windshield washer resevoir, but behind it you can see the tranny cooler.

Here is a chart : http://www.skillcentre.com/lexus.html

did you hit this part? number 19 http://www.trademotion.com/partlocator/ind...playCatalogid=0

I'm kinda confused here. The 1MZFE? those aren't grey cast iron sleeves? cast pistons and forged connectors? When we refer to the Vega, Camaros, Vettes of the old, I think we should just call those the "learning" years. LOL!! And as for your break in, that's exactly correct. Dino to break in, synthetics to run the life after that. Even in the 2JZ's, I've seen 3 or 4 motors blown and it was always cylinder number 6. These motors were turbo's and heavily modded though. So we try to set the fuel trims a bit richer on that cylinder to make it last longer. You know, the sleeves could have been cast, I was just referring to the fact that the cylinder walls were not aluminum....

Here is info on removing the air plenum throttle body which will give better access to the rear plugs. http://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx300-foru...park-plugs.html

How to change timing belt: timing_belt.pdf

Here is a post on the RX330 which is very similiar. http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...mp;#entry346240

The coil packs could be switched to see if the code moves, that would tell you for sure....Here is diagram of cylinders: http://autorepair.about.com/library/firing.../bl-fo-3278.htm You could swap cylinder 4 with 6 coil paks real easily and see if the code moves, If it does the coil pak on 4 is bad....coil pak 5 is a lot harder to get to. As for the plugs Unless they were changed before I seriously doubt they are bad. The original plugs are very good and can easily run 150k miles.

Bank 1 sensor 1 is here: (on back side of engine between firewall and engine)

Go have the codes read at a auto parts store and than maybe we can help.....

Just go to Costco,Sams,or Walmart and get one. The stores generally have an application guide for your vehicle. Buy the battery and if you are going to do it yourself, remove the negative lead first, than the positive lead. All of those places will take your old battery when done.... Here are some generalized instructions for all cars: http://www.wikihow.com/Change-a-Car-Battery

Thank you for your input. The dealer in Wisconsin and the manufacturer assured me in writing that the original issues were not sludge related. However, I am obviously skeptical. To help others, I picked up a copy of Mitchell's Repair information that says that possible causes of these errors are incorrect valve timing, faulty oil control valve, faulty VVT controller assembly, or a faulty ECM. Only known cause of these issues. I would proceed with the repairs at the dealer, but they are kicking me out. They don't want responsibility for another dealer's engine replacement. Lexus has been no help and would not guarantee the diagnostic procedures. I have more info from the Identifix and Mitchell repair if anyone is interested. seems to me the work at one dealer should be covered warranty wise at all dealers, they are giving you the run around, maybe a call to Lexus of AMerica would be useful.....