lenore

Yes Paul that is the typical design of all newer cars, let the cars crumple and protect the passengers. Downside is in the low 5 mph crashes where the old heavy bumper would have taken the beating and the car spared.

You should have taken some pictures with your phone...would be interesting to see the damage.

The Haynes manual covers the old Highlander and RX300. Not bad, but not as detailed, but for the general mechanics covers such things and engine rebuild, brakes, etc well.

That is scarey, I on the other hand hit a Honda, and it faired very well when my F150 hit the rear. The F150 has a very robust frame. But your right the bumper which probably dove under the truck bumper is the reason it had so much damage visually.

BMW are way over the top. May have handling engineering, but zero reliability. I am with you, Japanese all the way. I have owned American, but when I want to spend time driving, and not repairing the Asians have it over us.

Wow I am going to have to give Mazda a look next time around. They seem to have some great products.

Oh man I will now have to follow your projects on that car.

Hey, you would be better selling your RX yourself, somewhat of a hassle, but I guarantee you would get a lot more. I did Craiglist, and made $3k more than the dealer offer. Just be careful, and cash only, even if it requires going to their bank. Sorry you had that streak of bad luck. things happen. good luck in your quest.

My thoughts are buy Castrol Oil 0-30 weight European formula oil. It will not only clean the engine well, but even at high mileage work very well. I switched to this at 110k miles on my old RX300 and it not only cleaned, but the engine was smoother, and I had no oil use issues. It is a true class IV synthetic and is very well liked on the Club Lexus site for this vehicle. Autozone carries it, but I am sure it is available elsewhere.

Man I thought it was a upgrade.

There is a shift cable assembly on the front of the transmission. If the assemblies mounting bolts loosen the shift could be out of wack.

Try this site and register and see if you can log on. They will have owners manuals, etc., for your viewing. https://secure.drivers.lexus.com/lexusdrivers/my-lexus/home.do

Go to MyLexus.com and see if you can register your vin#. The site has owners manuals, etc, for your viewing.

the tsb number is The TSB number is L-SB-0032-08. Take your car in and tell them you have breathing problems...Be polite and see if they will cover the cost of replacing the evaporator. When past warranty it is a crap shoot, but many have been successful.

I want the drive me to where I want to go option....coming soon

I would take it to an independent and get a more reasonable estimate.

If they only found coolant leakage in one head, why are they removing both heads. I would question that. Sometimes just a bad head gasket would be the problem and should be a quick resolution. As for the head being cracked they would have to take the cylinder head off and exam properly. Sounds like to me you just need a new head gasket and make the usual checks on the head to make sure it meets all specifications. While they are doing this off course the Timing belt etc would have to be removed. Good luck.

However the Toyota prius has shown remarkable reliability in the taxi fleets nation wide. As for your oil useage I would suggest replacing your PVC valve. Also I hope you have been using full synthetic oil. Just strange for this particular RX400h. Will be interested to see what is the solution

Sometimes I wonder if the constant off/on of the ice engine is harder on the engine than it being properly warmed up and maintaining temperature. Just the fact that it is being asked to turn off, turn on and doing this much more than the convention non hybrid does give me concern for stress on the engine components.

Funny how they have been investigated carefully and GM was not for their blantant defective ignition switches. Typical selective government intervention.

There was a TSB on this issue but I believe it was on ealier RX400h. Our 2008 didn't have this issue....Oh and by the way there was a recall for this issue or The TSB required replacement....

Personally if you don't have stutter or shaking while braking I would leave the rotors alone and just put new pads on and make sure all of the slide surfaces are properly lubed. The RX400h brakes last a long time (much longer than normal cars) I misread, I see you do have stutter, I would just replace the front disks with OEM or Brembo (if you are in a mild climate) or as said above. Should be good to go for at least 90k miles on Toyota pads. They work great and are available at Toyota dealership for our car (same as Highlander)

Good luck, hope it is something simple.

I wonder if the clutch between the engine and hybrid sytem is failing....I would have to review the theory of the Lexus hybrid to see it again. seems there was an electrical clutch. The other thought since you have random misfires is that the oil control valve on either bank 1 or 2 is failing or the screen is dirty. On our old RX300's that happened with age and dirty oil.

I would try 0-30 Castrol Oil European blend full synthetic. I found this oil extremely good, it even cleaned the crust under the oil fill cap. The Oil says specifically made in Germany....Autozone has it at times.