TunedRX300

Just post this RX300 Transmission Photo DIY as a courtesy for those who wants to drop the transmission pan, disconnect the cooler line, and change the transmission filter. Even though there is no replacement for sound transmission design, it is highly recommendated to do preventative maintenance, DIY or at Lexus dealership.

Rotate rear tires to the front and see if the problem goes away. Steering wheel is connect to the front axel. Most likely you won't be able to feel if rear rotors are warped since RX is not a 4 "steering" wheel SUV.

Oh my, the transmission hestiation has made it from RX300, RX330, and now in RX350. That "turbo lag" is a gear that engages late and got slammed @ 4000 RPMs. A quick search of this forum yields RX owners complain about this "feature"'s being unsafe and nearly accident causing. Many owners link it directly to questionable liability of the transmission, which is the second most expensive component to repair on a RX. Craig drives the RX350 as a loaner, but I am curious for existing or potential RX owners here, why are you concerned about wood and legroom when you can be rear ended by a truck from behind and got stuck with a $5000 tranny repair bill shortly after powertrain expires? Aren't safety and $5000 out of pocket experience more important than "look and feel"?

Costco is good if you want OK price and limited tire options. If you want to save more $ and want to pick your own shop and tire, go to www.tirerack.com for more tires and a list of approved shop in LA. I bought 4 Yokohama Geolander (w/ 60K treadlife warranty) two years ago for $320 shipped. Install them at EF1 in Long Beach (http://www.ef1motorsports.net) for $16 per tire, including mounting, balancing, old tire disposal. The shop is clean and use torque wrench to hand torque your lug nuts, other places such as Costco or dealer use impact wrench to over-tighten lug nuts.

Where did you buy the filter and what is the part number? Thanks

Mobil ATF 3309 is not synthetic. From above links, the flash point of Amsoil is higher than Mobil's: 227 degree C vs. Mobile ATF's 185 degree C. I believe all who had a RX tranny failure or forced to drain and fill every 15k due to burned Toyota T-IV would benefit from additional temperature endurance. If anyone can find data sheet for Toyota T-IV, please post so we can compare.

Gary is right. Both Amsoil and Mobil have ATF that are T-IV compliance. http://www.amsoil.com/StoreFront/atf.aspx http://www.mobil.com/USA-English/Lu...il_ATF_3309.asp I believe skperformance tried with Mobil 1 Synthetic ATF, which is not T-IV compliance in his ES and has shift problem. I would stick with Amsoil Synthetic ATF and don't let Lexus or other flag waving members scare you into this "non-OEM fluid will cause your tranny to fail" when they can't provide scientific proof or oil analysis result.

Did you take a picture of the old oil pan?

Yes, also good for secondary explosion when the car is caught on fire.

Just look at the receipt at the gas station, it tells you how many gallons you used. If one does not reset at the last fill-up, just sum up # of gallons from previous receipt(s). There is no need to climb inside the gas tank and measure

I would check the MAF sensor and see whether it is dirty. Bad sensor will report improper inlet air temperature and flow. You don't need to change it if it is dirty, just use carb cleaner to blast dirt buildup away. It also does not hurt to make sure fuel injectors are cleaned by throwing a bottle of Techron into the tank the next time you fill it up.

What kind of tire you have, happen to know how much each weight?

Google a 5% coupon code and buy from www.rockauto.com, if you prefer not to buy an used one from junk yard. check out this thread for Denso part # http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...showtopic=23231

Found a Toyota doc that explains very well: O2 Sensors are mounted before cat, they just report lean/rich, however ECU uses it to finetune a/f ratio, A/F sensor is mounted after the cat, reports wide range value to monitor effeciency of the cat. http://www.autoshop101.com/forms/h37.pdf Flow dynamic is very complex, without bench flow, people who port and polishing actually lost hp. from Porting FAQ on http://www.oflmotorsports.com/ .I am going to wait for someone to dyno port and polish on throttle body and intake manifold, no sense to spend $ and risk to get nothing.

wwest, getting off topic a little, but doesn't the voltage provided by a/f sensor indicates amount of O2 in the exhaust gas, it is a range of voltage readings, not just two values according to http://www.lindertech.com/docs/j_thornton_...wraf_sensor.pdf Attached is screen capture from p4. Again I am not arguing with you, just want find out about facts.

wwest, I believe MAF provide input to air inlet temperature and flow to the engine, A/F sensor provides input of exhaust air from the engine. ECU will use both sensor in a feedback loop fashion to finetune/map proper A/F ratio. Because air flow and what is actually achieve in the engine is very complicated, the process of determining a/f ratio has to be dynamic and quick in order to achieve optimum explosion. Again, I am standing in neutral ground and not try to argue one way or another, just trying to find out about facts. That is why I kept asking about dyno results.

wwest, I think people will pay $ to see you and Pheonix argue to the ground on this mod. LOL. I am just interested in dyno result because I believe the truth is somewhere between no real gain and 25bhp.

Have you thought about port and polishing the intake manifold in addition to throttle body? Reaming out, increasing the throttle bore, and/or polishing the throttle body will only be effective at WOT. Adding a 15 cent 1/4 watt 200 ohm resister in series with the IAT will add 10% to factory HP/torque anytime the engine is under pulling load, the torque converter lockup clutch is disabled. 400 ohms might even yeild 20%. Sorry I am not interested to fool ECU to think inlet air is cooler on a temporarily basis. I am interested either lower the real air temperature or increase flow. Not trying to debate because I know people will get real emotional. If someone can show me gain on the dyno chart, I am interested. I do not agree/disagree with Pheonix's posting on this thread, just want to verify his claim of 25bhp gain by port and polishing on 1mzfe. http://www.clublexus.com/forums/showthread.php?t=179583

Have you thought about port and polishing the intake manifold in addition to throttle body?

If you can provide dyno result of pre/post mod, I will be interested. The shop that perform the port and polishing, do they do benchflow?

Ahh, that's all I was trying to say. It's going to take 70,000 miles to save $218 on gas!!! I think I'll be just fine spending the extra $36 per year over the next 6 years in gas to keep my current setup. Again, if it's your thing please enjoy. Facts are all I'm concerned with. Oh, and usually when a larger wheel size is offered from the factory, it comes with chages to the suspension to compensate. And most go for a larger tire when choosing a sport package where the comfort trade-off is a given. LOL, that is just a small part. You are making it sounds like this is everything. Didn't I say there are THREE main beneifts plus other "icing on the cake". I am not here to debate with anyone, just trying to help the guy who starts the thread with all information before he consider buying tire/wheel combo. Here is a fact for you. KYB, RX300's OEM strut supplier, lists same strut part #s as soon as one selects FWD or AWD. Front ones are 235905 (left) and 235904 (right), regardless of performance package.

Lexus offers 235/55/18 and 18" rim as RX330's optional equipment. Yes there is a handling and comfort tradeoff but 18" setup is good enough for Lexus offer to RX's owners. I went to 235/60/18 because I wants a little more rubber height, it is only 0.65" shorter than RX300's OEM setup. Icing on the cake is my odometer records 2.46% fewer miles than actual, which gives me more actual miles under warranty and better resale value. Pirelli Scorpion Zero is the OEM tire for Porsche Cayenne and VW Touareg. Tirerack has pretty good owner feedback rating on wet and dry traction ratings on this tire. Wider tires would be unsafe to fit into rims that are too narrow. Tirerack has a good article on rim width guideline matched up with tire width. http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/tir...sp#measrimwidth If you go with bigger rims/tires, the offset should be less positive. You can play with this handy calculator to figure out the effect of different offset and rim width. http://marksink.com/tire_wheel_offset/offset.html For me, it is a no brainer as I need to replace worn out OEM tires and damaged OEM rims, no way I will spend more $ on OEM products when I can get better combo for the same cost. Honda S2000 JDM and Subaru WRX STI supply BBS's forged rims as OEM standard equipment. JDM S2000's OEM is 16" and weight 13.3lbs, about 50% of RX's OEM rims. If a mere 2-3 lbs difference in tire weight on the SAME drive axel can pull my 3483 lbs Acura TL consistantly to one side, one can see how much 13lbs PER wheel can do for acceleration. This is NOT due to tire diameter change, but mainly power DELIVERED to each tire. A mere 2.5% (0.5mpg on 20mpg) translates to about $218 fuel saving per 70K miles, assuming one fills up with $2.50 per gallon. As I first posted, wheel/rim weight is one of the (most overlooked) factors you should consider. By no means, it is THE factor. Research and decide for yourself.

OEM is 16x6.5, +35 offset. There is only 12mm clearance between the OEM tire and the rear strut, if you go for wider rim/tire you need a spacer for lower (less positive) offset to push them out. I bought a set of used 18x7.5 SSR Competition off ebay for $830, each weight 15.5lbs, 10 lbs lighter than OEM rim despite 2" larger in diameter and 1" wider. Pirelli Scorpion Zero 235/60/18 is just $10 more than OEM sized Michelin Cross Terrain. Since my OEM tires wore out, real tire cost to me is just $40. SSR are forged alloy made in Japan, not cheap and heavy cast steel (who still provide OEM rims in steel anyway ), or run-in-the-mill cast alloy. 20 Muteki cold forged lug nuts M12x1.5 cost $33 shipped off ebay. Each weight 29g each, OEM lug nut is about 70g per. BTW, OEM alloy rims do not like the combination of winter road salt and brake dust. My RX had two winters in upstate NY and I washed my car every 2-3 weeks during winters, still have aluminum bubbles formed under the clear coat.

There is no magic here, conservation of energy. Energy the car used to push 40-50 lbs of additional rotational mass either can be saved or used for propell the car forward. We are talking about ROTATIONAL mass mounted at a MOMENT ARM, not just static weight on other parts of the car. Again, a wooden or aluminum tennis racket does not weight much, but titantium and carbon alloy design allow tennis player to hit the ball harder for the same amount of force. No one is using wooden racket anymore, just like no luxury car is using steel rims anymore. Benefits for both acceleration and deccelarate last for the life of the car. It also gives the owner to customize the look. How many item can you claim three tangible long lasting benefits? If one has to replace wore out OEM tires, it is not $2500. Plus there should be a high residual value of rims that are well designed with superior material. $2500 out of pocket cost is a well inflated cost. Find one tire 2-3lbs heavier than the other, mount them on the drive axel of a car, you will immediately see the effect of torque steer, the car will pull to the heavier side because more torque is delivered to the light side. Have you realized that both OEM tires, Goodyear Integrity (25lbs) and Bridgestone Dueler (28lbs) are two lightest tires on the market for 225/70/16 tires? They perform poorly in snow and wears quickly, but Lexus know most people do not complain about wear until 2-3 years later and snow traction until the first heavy snow fall, but they will check the mpg at the first fill-up or first glance at the fuel computer display.

One of the most overlooked aspect of tire/wheel is rotational mass. Every pound you save at the wheels translate into two pounds in static weight during acceleration and braking. Remember the car needs not only moves tires/wheels forward (like other static weight of the car) but also keeps them rotating. This means lighter lug nuts, rims, and tires will save you a lot of gas and brake pad. Have you ever wonder why RX came with alloy rims instead steel rims? One of main reasons is to reduce unsprung weight. OEM rims weight 26 lbs per, made of cast alloy, if you can finds a set of forged alloy rims, you will save >10lbs per rim. It is even more importance to be careful with tire weight because it is mounted at least 16" moment arm from the axel. Ever swing a old tennis racket that is made of aluminun instead of titanium? Now image how much harder you have to swing if all of weight added is at the top of the racket.