TunedRX300

Did you check the thread about how to clean IACV about 8 threads down?

So you are saying the transformer outside of your house blew because coal was burned to generate electricity instead of nuclear?

I just bought a Highlander coil for $74 shipped, will replace the rear right, which is the hardest to access, when I replace my spark plugs. The spare will be the old coil.

If fuel was to shut off, it may be good for the catalytic converter since no fuel was left unburned. How many miles you got out of the coil before it went bad?

No mentioning of alignment in the shop manual. What makes you believe that the coolant is not circulating?

I have a 1999 RX300 with 123k miles and I think I should change the tranny filter now, before too late, even though it still run OK. Please let us know the part numbers for the filter and its gasket. Any directions how to do it will be of great help. How one can have an Used Oil Analysis done? I've never done this before. I just change ATF every ~10k miles. One time I had an Indie did a ATF flush, and it made the tranny even worse and the fluid became so dark, much much darker than before he did it!!! After that, I had to change ATF 6 times in a row at an interval of ~100 miles to get back to the original feeling of performance like before. So, to me, no more ATF flush; just more frequent change intervals. The fluid color is now almost like of the new one. Thanks. Here is a link for complete Photo DIY Instructions You may send your used ATF sample to either Blackstone Labs or Oil Analyzer. For $20 a lab will give you spectrum analysis of wear metals and Total Acid Number, these scientific measurement tell you how much metal debris is in the ATF and Ph value. It is not hard to learn to read them and if you can save one unnecessary drain and fill, you break even. More importantly, you gain information for your driving style and your car. For example, if your drain interval is too long, the lab will tell you to shorten up to a recommendated mileage. If you pick Blackstone, you will get something like this. This is a Toyota Highlander with 20K miles on factory filled Toyota T-IV. You would THINK 20K is too short on factory filled ATF with 60% of easy hwy miles...read on what the lab reported. http://theoildrop.server101.com/forums/sho...p;Number=915426 Blackstone says: This is likely the original fill of ATF in this unit so we aren't surprised to find the excess wear and silicon. Both should improve with subsequent oil changes. You didn't mention if this oil was changed or not but we suggest doing so if you haven't. The wear metals make the oil abrasive, which causes more wear. No moisture was found and the trace of insolubles is okay. The viscosity read in the normal range for an ATF. The TAN read 1.0 showing some acidity in the oil. Universal averages for this type of transmission are based on an oil run of ~13K miles. 2005 Highlander, 20,368 miles, 5-spd auto tranny, OEM fill, my results/universal averages: Aluminum 26/16 Chromium 1/0 Iron 64/33 Copper 23/68 Lead 2/13 Tin 1/2 Moly 0/1 Nickel 0/0 Manganese 4/1 Silver 0/0 Titanium 0/0 Potassium 2/1 Boron 37/53 Silicon 30/20 Sodium 7/4 Calcium 109/132 Magnesium 2/26 Phosphorus 258/282 Zinc 3/78 Barium 8/3 SUS viscosity at 210 F = 44.0 (should be 43-51) Flashpoint = 355 (should be >330) Water is zero Insolubles was listed as "trace" This vehicle is mostly driven by my wife and has seen 60/40 highway/city driving.

Change the tranny filter, do an Used Oil Analysis to reveal current condition of the tranny instead of guessing what is the proper change interval.

Ask the Lexus mechanic is the noise there when the engine is new? You will get a real answer right there. I have made several recommendations on this forum about Auto-RX, a cleaner that slowly disolved and cleaned up any sludge. People don't even want to check it out because 1) anything other than Lexus' recommendation must be snake oil or gas pill. 2) If it is any good, Toyota would have thought of it first. Therefore, it does not work 3) I have used xxx oil for yyyK miles and never needs this to work. If the engine has zzz problem, I feel more comfortable to have Lexus to replace for 100x$, never mind technology improves and new solution may solve old problems. I am recommendating to you because my 2000 RX300 has seen only Mobil 1 synthetic oil ever since its 3rd oil change, I used Auto-RX to stop a leak. When I cut open oil filter I used during treatment and found fine sandy hard sludge particles. Apparently minor sludges formed to block the seal conditioning additives from keeping seals soft and pliable. The leak now is slowed significantly, no dripping to a dime size on the garage floor no matter how long I parked. Here are pictures I took. Not saying this will definitely make the noise goes away but a clean engine could be part of the solution. Also worth a try since Auto-RX has 100% $ back guarantee. http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/342/sludgescrappedfv6.jpg http://img20.imageshack.us/my.php?image=finesludgehe4.jpg

I forgot to recommend that you can always buy a good coil from Park Lexus in Plano, for spare or to swap around.

While I understand what cross drilled and slotted rotors do for high performance cars, I am curious what benefit there might be to either type of rotor in a sedate car, typically driven easily, such as ours. I am not challenging you; I just want to know the reason for them? Fwiw, my 14 year old Acura Legend with 116000 still has the original calipers without any warping, pulsing, or appreciable wear. I only use the OEM equivalent pads so they wear instead of the rotors. My son's Civic went 130000 miles on his rotors and only replaced them because he was a teenager and wanted "cool". Main benefits are heat dissipation, less unsprung weight, and more bite across the entire temperature range. You will probably notice the last benefit if you use cold braking capability in your driving. Cold braking is the best a brake can perform: at cold and never heated up. Cold braking is dominant design assumption for most passenger cars because automakers have one thing in mind: it is cheaper to make and most owners care less (well, until something happened). Warping takes place when brake rotor is super-heated beyond its cooling capability. The fact that warping takes place in passenger cars means automakers' assumption does not hold true 100% of the time. Brake rotor is a heat sink, kinetic energy of a moving car must be transfered into heat to make a car stop. Holes in a cross drilled rotor allow more surface for rotor to be air cooled. Vented rotor design in RX's front end have vanes to double the rotor-to-air area over that of a solid rotor design. Cross-drilling and slotting use the same principle as the vented rotor. Today, no sedan car uses solid front rotor design anymore, reason? Every street car needs better cooling capability, not just performance cars. Kinetic Energy = 1/2 * mass * velocity^2. It is not just sport cars needs better cooling capability, heavier car such as SUV needs better cooling capability. It is simple: doubling the mass, kinetic energy is doubled, which demands brake to have better cooling capacity. Given the same application, RX in this case, rotor with holes has less mass. Rotor with less metal has one drawback and two benefits. Drawback is rotor has less mass to absorb energy. However, having better cooling capability means it does not need the additional mass to store heat - energy will be transferred to the air before being stored. More holes means less unsprung weight, which helps acceleration and of course, less weight always helps mpg. Run your finger across a rotor's friction surface will tell much bite the pad will experience with each compression of pistons in brake calipers. One important parameter to determine braking efficiency of the pad is friction coefficient. It is the same concept with rotor, holes have edges to introduce a rougher surface for brake pads to rub against at ALL temperature. In addition, at extreme high temperature, pad material can turn into gas, which can be trapped between pad/rotor and have a glazing effect to hinder brake performance. Holes will allow gas to escape. Last, I will let you decide whether cold braking is what you use 100% of the time. Would you ever driving a SUV in stop and go traffic at a hilly area during hot summer day? Does Lexus' design assumption holds true for you? If Toyota designs a brake sufficient for Camry, is it sufficient for the heavier RX?

Thanks for the link and the techniques. I have been changing brakes, master cylinders, and other items like this for more than 20 years so what your words are confirming what I suspected. I should have prefaced my comments with requests to confirm anything UNUSUAL in changing out the brake pads. Btw, what are most of you using for replacement pads? Lexus or from the FLAP? Gary I tried some aftermarket ones for about two days, big mistake the originals lasted 75k miles, so I bought a set and replaced my new aftermarket pads... Ps I usually buy aftermarket, but the Lexus pad is awlsome, My next pad was akebono ceramics and brembo disks at 110k miles. they are wonderful.... FYI, Akebono is the OEM brake supplier for Toyota. So there is no quality difference, just slight design difference. I am sure everyone is aware that bleeding the brake fluid after servicing is a good practice. If one has not changed brake fluid, it is a good time to flush the old and replace with fresh fluid. Safety first!

Use blank stock rotors and pads. There is no way that one could drive on public roads to maximize the effect of d and or s rotors. The law would be on your a$$ so fast. Blanks are the best for everyday drivers. Less chance of cracking/warping and they last longer. Do what you want, It's your car. This is my opinion. Brake stops the car. Why would a cop stop you if you stop better than other cars, especially after driving stop and go in a hilly area during a hot summer day?

Depends on the design. Quality design such as casted holes are not as suspectible to cracking because there is no additional stress introduced to the rotor. Holes are casted with the rotor and not drilled afterward. In fact, many MB cars came with cross-drilled rotors as factory design. They are luxury street cars and not really target the same drivers such as Porche or Farrari. The key is quality and design. I understand it is easy to say "A is bad, B is good" but the answer from that link is kind of a stereo type answer w/o doing thourough research. Of course, whether one prefer blank or slotted or cross-drilled is his/her own business. Not trying to convince anyone, but to provide some fact. Attached is a MB C class picture, cross drilled rotor from the factory, remember if these rotors crack, MB is on the hook to provide warranty replacement.

I like details on advanced features described by Honda on 2G MDX. Something Lexus probably will never do. Don't you love power gained from superior design, not just from bigger displacement? Dual stage intake manifold is not new, but how about a dual stage (variable flow) exhaust? How about MDX's modular catalytic convertor? If it ever goes bad, there is no need to replace the resonator, and exhaust pipe to the mufflor (guess which car REQUIRES the owner to do so?) Now SH-AWD, all I can say is Wow! Here is the link and some quotes: http://www.hondanews.com/categories/712/releases/3758

Other folks' experience is a great resource, but they are experiences that may or may not apply to your situation. I am sure you have heard "I have put XXK miles on my RX and never a single issue, how come you have multiple tranny failures?". You can't blame them since individual experience is a subjective opinion. Best approach is to do a lab analysis of ATF sample in your tranny, it is scientific, objective, and the result is meaningful...to you. Cost is $20 to get important data to determine the ATF change interval for your RX: Total Acid Number, wear metal level, viscosity etc. These important info can never be accurately revealed by the ATF color. BTW, the cherry dye used is for leak detection and base oil is clear and colorless, had the dye been purple or black, would virgin ATF be drained since it looks dark? There are many who have done UOA on ATF. Free data, which may be used for estimate for ball park range, is avaliable here http://theoildrop.server101.com/forums/pos...amp;Board=UBB50 Someone just posted his UOA on GS400 w/ 22K on Toyota T-IV, Blackstone Lab analysis indicated high insolubles, viscosity has sheared, and high lead, all suggesting ATF must be changed. http://theoildrop.server101.com/forums/sho...ge=0#Post855920 Again, if you want a MD to give a clean bill of health, wouldn't you have to ask the nurse to draw your blood, take a recent urine/stool sample, do a x-ray/cat-scan and have the doc to analyze the report? Would external superficial examination and good/bad reports from other folks be good enough, for you? My $0.02.