lenore

Ok, finally received my radiator from RockAuto (Denso) was a great find, looked exactly like original minus crack. Tips: The rivet thing on the radiator support bar that goes from top to bottom of bumper area is really a plastic cap and can be removed with sharp screwdriver hiding a 10mm nut. This allows replacement of radiator without removing bumper. Other tip is there are( 4) 13mm bolts holding Radiator into radiator mount. The bottom two come up straight from the bottom of car, however not accessable unless you raise the condenser radiator assembly which then I put a block of wood under so that I could remove the lower two bolts. Other than that pretty straight forward. Put carboard between radiators to protect them while removing and replacing to protect fins. So total cost with a new lower radiator hose was $119. Oh yes and and coolant cost around $23 for Toyota pre mixed. Good luck my friends.

Look at the Yokohama Parada X tire, incredible handling....sticks like glue....from my experience and lasted 44k miles.

Great job, I wish you best of luck, nurse some more miles out of that puppy.

Hard to say, but do not do a transmission flush, complete waste and it will totally disable tranny in this condition. A drain and fill and maybe change transmission filter.

I believe you got a long run on that tranny and it has decided to say goodnight. Noises could be planetary gears in failure mode.

Yes there were a couple of postings, hopefully they will give some advice. I too would just watch the coolant level and not worry. The leak on the other cars was up top on the front of the inverter engine area. I believe they could fix it, but haven't put that in their documentation yet because they don't work on the inverter. It is basically a replace policy.

Also some of the original equipment batteries have failed early.

Does car start and run?

Wonder if the starter relay is bad...Try to find it in the fuse box and have someone else try the start and see if you can feel it click when that happens by putting your finder on top of the relay.

Many on these site tell you to replace the wiring harness (short one) to Knock sensors....Unfortunately it would mean complete tear down again. But you should be able to check for shorts.

Did you use original equipment sensors? Also sometimes the wiring harness leading up to knock sensors is damaged from heat and may be shorting in the intake manifold. Also have you read the codes?

By the way your original problem could well have been a bad battery, if not than the starter contacts in the starter could have been bad. But with no noise whatsoever the starter solenoid or starter fuse or starter itself could have died. The starter is easy to change on this vehicle, all from the top....Would take a normal mechanic less than 1 hours to remove and replace.

The fuse box is located behind the battery on top of the left fender well area under the hood. AM2 is number 15 and Main fuse is #18

here is a schematic. RX300 schematic..pdf

There is a main fuseable link, I hope it blew and protected your electronics....There are three fuseable links....Those are Alternator 140A fuse link, AM2 20A fuse link, and Main fuse 50A....I wish you luck. If the alternator link didn't blow than the diodes in the alternator may have been fried. Once they get the car running that will be an easy check.... Alternator fuse 140amp Fuseable link AM2 20 amp fuse going to ignition Main fuse 50 amp going to starter relay

At the top left of the shift plate just above the "p" for park there is a little slot, take a small screw driver and insert it into the slot and it will release your park lock and you will be able to shift to neutral. Hopefully you only blew a fuseable link. The alternator diodes may have also blown.

Ah, yes in your tire size you cant. I would be tempted to sell your wheels and tires to someone and maybe trade the 19 for 18 with someone. Other option is try the Yokohama Parada X which is what I just took off. They are V rated and they were excellent tires, got 44k miles out of them and they were great in all conditions. Several of us on this site ran that tire. If it were me, I would look for a trade with some young person wanting that 19 inch wheel. There are a lot of 18 inch rim stock OE wheels for the Lexus RX400h on fleebay.....Then just sell yours.

Give me your exact tire size, because IT is the Dueler H/L 422 Ecopia that is v rated.....I tried to copy their site to here, but am blocked from doing so...sorry.

The H/L is not the rating, I just went on Bridgestone site and it specifically says it is a V rated tire (Bridgestone Dueller H/L 422 Ecopia)

I don't understand when I go to tirerack, the tire is rated 99V

My RX400h has a 18 inch tire, and the installed Bridgestone Dueler H/L Ecopia a V rated tire....Just did it today, very quiet, however the installer (Costco) warned about the softer rubber compound wearing poorly if your alignment is off. Tire is rated for 65k miles. we will see. The Yokohama Parada's were great tires, quiet, and very responsive and handled like glue in rain. They went 44 kmiles. not bad considering the OE tires were typically going less than 20k miles. I don't particularily like Costco, because of past experience when dealing with tires. The lugs were snugged up with air wrench and then he went around with the torque wrench, but I noticed that everytime he torqued a lug it immediately clicked...Hmmmmm was it overtorqued and then he went thru the motion of the torque wrench? Took it home and retorqued, nuts were definelty not at same torque on each wheel....

I just came up with a thought, maybe when the dogbone engine mount becomes weak, from the constant on and off of the ICE engine, the upper radiator hose puts stress on the radiator tank. I am considering replacement of the dogbone engine mount on top of the engine. This would cushion the constant torque on the radiator hose from the starting and stopping of the engine. Especially after 147k miles....just a thought...I ordered a Denso radiator, but am not sure of the quality etc. The unknown is getting everything out of the way to remove the radiator...

You spoke too soon, darn now I have to replace mine.

Ok mine just cracked on the right side car facing the front bumper. The plastic tank has a 3 inch crack. Any tips on the replacement?

I am going to make a wild guess, maybe the solenoid was chattering and causing you your shift solenoid problem...To replace is easy. Then they put the Toyota diagnostic tool on the car to actuate and adjust the solenoid...Again and easy problem. Yes the dealerships have to be evaluated. I too would try Toyota, or a recommended independent. Knowledge is important in any product, so you came to the right place. When you have a problem in the future, bounce it off these forums, be educated, and than proceed to the mechanic for the solution. You will then not be at the mercy of the stealership.