Russ White

The passenger side HID Low Beam was not working. I decided I would remove it and if not obviously bad, install it in the driver's side to make sure the bulb was bad and not the ballast. I removed one bolt holding the fill spout for the windshield washer resivoir and then removed the fill spout. To gain a little more access I removed a push in clip holding a electrical cable bundle near the back of the lamp assembly. I then removed the cover over the back of the HID Low Beam by turning counter clockiwise when viewed from the rear. You will then see the shiny braided shield of the high voltage cable going to the back of the HID bulb. There are two clips that must be pushed down and out and then pulled out from between the black base of the bulb and the silver metal of the bulb socket. The clip assembly can then be rotated back clearing the bulb and socket for removal from the reflector. Work slowly and carefully so as not to break the bulb when you remove it from the reflector. Once removed, the bulb base must be pressed down into the socket and then rotated to free the bulb from the socket. Be sure to note exactly how the bulb was oriented in the socket so the replacement is installed in the same orientation. In my case, the bulb was obviously bad and I put the new one in and reversed the steps to finish the job. The bulbs are super expensive so be careful. I paid about $150 and was lucky to find one in stock at Advance Auto. Good Luck! Russ

Mark, I have a 2001 with 69K. I found out that the air/fuel sensors are very easily contaminated. I got a little engine degreaser near my front one and started getting the CEL and ABS trouble lights. The good news is, after several days of driving it must have burned itself clean. I just reset the trouble code by pulling the EFI fuse, waiting 30 seconds, and putting it back in ( engine off ). This low cost method may be worth a try. Since you know the code is sensor related I don't think there is much risk in giving it a try. Good luck. Russ

Guy and Gals, I eventually answered my own question... I was unable in a city the size of Knoxville TN to find anyone to cut the key besides the dealer. The one locksmith that said they could had their machine break the next day. They wanted $50 and I was going to pay that, but when that fell through I continue looking. Below I have listed two posibilities. The first is a private locksmith, and is the one I used to have may blank cut. They did a great job and the programming went without a hitch and my key works perfectly. They were good with email and even offered help with programming if needed, but thanks to this site, I had that covered. The second is a Lexus dealer and their replay came after I had already commited to Frank's Locksmith. It looks like their price is even better - so if I need another I may try them. I also accumulated several posting on the programming portion and combined them into a file. I anyone needs that I would be glad to email it to you. Russ, We can cut the key for you for $25.00. I can send it back to you priority mail plus insurance for $5.00. If you would like us to cut it, you can send it to: Frank's Locksmith 956 N. Cocoa Blvd. #1105 Cocoa, FL 32922 If you plan on sending it let me know so I can keep an eye out for it. Sincerely, Tami Calhoun Frank's Locksmith $10 for each key and $8.75 for shipping back to you. Should you have any further questions in the meantime, please feel free to contact me directly. Thank you for your time. With best regards, Darrel Diller Sewell Lexus of Dallas www.lexus-parts.com 6421 Lemmon Avenue Dallas, TX 75209 (866) 770-3099 ext: 2826 (214) 353-2826 (214) 350-5398 Fax ddiller@sewell.com Russ White

Hi, My 2001 with 67K had the same lights come on after I accidentally got some of the engine degreaser I was using on the front Oxygen sensor. I reset the codes a few times by pulling the fuse for the ECU's memory. After several drives the heat cleaned up the contaminated Oxygen sensor and I have had no problems or warning lights since. I doubt this is your situation, but at least you know all three lights can result from just one problem. Good luck. Russ

My idea would be to have the battery load tested. I suspect a defective or worn out battery. Good luck. Russ

wwest, Sounds like a nice improvement. Could you post a picture? Was the wiring necessary to make the dome light portion work when the door/s is opened already available at the old map light location? Thanks, Russ

Hi Tony, Thanks so much for your reply. That is exactly the information I needed. All new members are denied the privleges you mentioned until they have contributed some number of posts - I don't know the exact number. I was frustrated at the beginning too, but just keep chiming in with questions or answers and before long your status will change from new club member and you will be able to PM and email other members. Russ

Randy, I had not experienced your symptoms, but if I did I might suspect some component of the systems that determine fuel richness at starting. In general, when an engine is started "cold", the fuel must be enriched to compensate for the condensation of the fuel on the side of the induction chamber on the cylinder walls and head. If there was some problem in that area the fuel might be too lean in some cylindars and not fire properly, requiring you to make the starting adjustment you describe. It may be hard to locate as long as it remains intermittent. A good scan tool that could read the value of the temperature sensor used to tell the ECU how much extra fuel to add would be helpful. Does the problem seem any worse when the engine is very cold? I don't think a fule injector cleaner would hurt - I use Techron. I would not suspect the fuel filter as that normally would show up first under full flow condtions like a long pull on a steep mountain or under sustained heavy acceleration. This could be a tough one. Good luck! Russ

David, I took a look on my 2001. When the plastic hand nut is removed, the cross bar is released from the slider in the track. The slider is free to move anywhere you want in the track. I could not find any star shaped allen head bolts. I have noticed Lexus is fond of using torq fasteners so you might try sketching the bolt head and visiting Sears for tools. Sorry I could not be more help, Russ

mcfancy, Thanks for the info on the 04 RX330. Something has obviously changed as I was able to purchase black master key from Ebay, have it cut by a locksmith, and do all the programming myself for entry and starting from information previously posted on this site. So I guess for new car owners it's a trip to the dealer - is that correct? Russ

David, I don't think you have any problem. Mine runs about 1/2 all the time. If there were enough air in there to be a problem, the indication would be much higher. Any small trapped air will work its way out shortly. Just continue to watch the level in the overflow tank and keep it full. All should be okay. Have a Happy NewYear. Russ

For my 2001 RX300 - draining produced a little over 4 quarts. The level was measured according to the instruction in the shop manual after a 1/2 drive before the drain. As a reminder, with the engine running, set the emergency brake. With your foot on the brake, move the shift selector from park, to R, to N, to D, and finally to low. Then stopping at each selection, return to park. With the engine still running, measure the transmission fluid level. After I replaced the drained fluid with 4 quarts of type IV, the level was right on the upper notch of the hot range. BTW, the end of the transmission dip stick has a bend in it from the factory - I wonder why. Hope this helps. Russ

Don't know what you would consider a "fair price". But I used Park Place Lexus of Plano Texas and had the filter delivered to my door in Tennessee for $17.96. Use the following link if interested. http://www.trademotion.com/partlocator/ind...m?siteid=213808 Russ

David, The block plug is shown on the shop manual engine diagram, but I was unable to locate it on the engine. It is certainly not nearly as accessible as the plug in the bottom of the radiator. That contributed to my decision to do the drain and fill rather than a flush with engine block drain. Russ

David, That was a good link with descriptions of the two basic procedures. A complete flush and drain using the petcock/s on the engine block and the method I used, just a drain and fill. I plan to do a drain and fill every year and think I can get the same result as the less frequent flush. I did my drain as fill as follows: With the coolant warm or cold, but not hot, remove the plastic lip pan that is below the radiator. Suck out the coolant from the resivoir ( I used a turkey baster dedicated to the shop). At the bottom of the radiator you will see a white plastic drain plug with a small spiget pointing down. Opening the plug slightly will let cooland drain out, but removing the plug will drain it much more quickly, but will be a bit messy. The radiator cap should be removed so air can replace the coolant that is draining out. Be sure to use Toyota's long life red coolant and distilled water to mix a 50/50 mixture. I mix mine in a graduated plastic orange juice container to keep track of both what I drained and what I put back in. After you have added all that will go in, go for a drive with the heater on. When the car cools, top up the resivoir if necessary. Continue to check the resivoir for the next few trips until it reaches a constant level. My coolant after 66,000 miles when drained looked just like new. Good luck. Russ

Just to be safe, check your engine oil level. A damaged filer, filter gasket, loose drain plug, etc. might result in low oil, low oil pressure, and valve noise. Please do this before you drive it even to the dealer. Russ

There is nothing to see. The filter is opaque. I just looked through the owner's manaul and can not find that the fuel filter is ever required to be replaced. I may have done in unnecessarily. Lexus may count on a sensor seeing low fuel pressure and setting a code to suggest replacement. I am still kind of glad to know I have a new one in there. There was a bit of dark colored "varnish" on a small portion of the lower half of the primary fuel filter - a mesh like sack. But, the rest of the sack looked new. I did clean that dark area off as well as replacing the entire fuel filter. It is also an opportunity to inspect the tank bottom for any contamination - and since it was a used car I was glad to see a very clean tank. Russ

The fuel filter is an integral part of the fuel pump assembly, all of which is located in the fuel tank. The fuel tank is accessed from under the left rear seat. The procedure is roughly outlined as follows: Slide the left rear seat all the way rearward, pop off the two plastic rail covers, and remove the two bolts holding the rails at the front. At the back of the rear seats pop loose the front of the carpet all the way across. Then remove black plastic rug plugs so you can get to the rear of the seat rails. Slide the seat forward and use an extension and socket to remove the rear slide bolts. Also remove a small bolt holding a triangular seat tether. Fold the seat down and lift it out. Remove plastic fasteners holding on the seat side trim so you will be able to fold the carpet back from where it was covering the floor under the seat. You will not see the circular cover that is just held in place with a sticky gasket. Pry it free and see the fuel tank access. Carefully release the latch on the connector to the fuel pump/fuel gauge and disconnet it. Try to start the car, it may run just a moment, to reduce the fuel pressure on the line from the pump. Slide out the latch on the fuel line and with some rags in place, pull it up and away from the fuel pump assembly. Now remove the 8 bolts holding the ring around the assembly and remove the ring through the access hole - it is a tight fit. Gently lift the assembly noticing where the inlet fuel filter is and where the fuel level float is - you don't want to catch either of these on the opening and bend or break one. There is a flexible fuel line held in place with a hose clamp that you can release with pliers and remove the fuel line. I kept mine from falling back into the tank with a small clamp, but if it falls in I am sure you can fish it out. Now you have the assembly out and begin its dissassembly. I would suggest doing this with the shop manual handy as there are clips and o-rings and several pieces. The filter was about $31 from Park Place Lexus, but be careful, there was a filter model change within the 2001 model year so include your VIN with your order. I suggest letting the tank get close to empty before doing the job. Also, weather permitting, outside would be best. When putting the assembly back in the tank be certain the float is free from the flexible hose you will have to reattach. Good luck! Russ

I purchased a high mileage (66,000) RX300 just off lease and through auction in mid October. Before the purchase I contacted the car's owner and verified oil and filter changes at an independent express oil type facility, but no other maintenance of any kind had been performed. I felt the price justified the risk and planned to do a major service myself. I browsed many of this site's helpful posts as I planned what items to service. I performed the following service, purchasing parts from Park Place Lexus and fluids from my local Toyota dealer. Removed valve cover to check for engine gel/sludge. I had a letter in hand from Lexus promising to cover repairs if necessary. Good news, no gel! I decided to go the engine cleaning with Auto Rx just for good measure. I replaced the gasket on the valve cover I removed, but could probably have avoided that as the original was not the least damaged during the cover's removal. Replaced Fuel Filter - leaned how to remove the rear seat and smell up the whole house on that one. Replaced air filter Replaced air conditioning filter - it needed it! Drain and fill transaxle - Type IV fluid - looked and smelled good Replace Coolant - Toyota long life red Inspect Brake Pads For those of you who may not have replaced the oil filter on the RX300 - you don't know what you are missing. It is difficult to get to, being located below the exhaust manifold on the front of the engine and not really accessible from below. When it is removed the oil drains down over the engine mount and on the front plastic engine pan and finally into your catch pan. Things had gone well and I was down to the last item which was to change the coolant. The manual advised to remove the plastic engine pan to get easy access to the radiator drain. When I removed the pan I could see where the oil had run down from numerous oil changes and left the only greasy dirt I had found on the entire engine. I figured I could fix that, got out my handy can of engine degreaser and a small brush and proceeded to clean the area to like new. Fill the radiator with new coolant mix, and went for a drive. Yikes - one block from the house and I had the dreaded check engine light ( CEL ) followed quickly by the TracOff and VSC lights. My stomach did a flip and I make a U turn for home. What could I have done?? Although many of you may know already, it took me until the next day to put together my theory - and here it is. I reset the CEL codes by removing the EFI fuse - then went for another drive. Wasn't long until CEL and its buddies were back on again. I think it was the engine degreaser on the oxygen sensor. In the end I just took a long drive to bake things out real good and then reset the codes. That was the end of it. I've logged many miles since, and no return of the codes. I just wish I had taken the car to a local parts place and got the actual codes read out. If I had I think I would have know what a bad front oxygen sensor would look like. Anyone want to spray theirs and let me know I like this car a bunch. Next fun will be the timing belt and plugs when that mileage rolls around. If I can answer any questions about the maintenance I performed, I would be glad to. Russ

Geno, Hope this helps. They have done a good job for me, but seem to be a bit behind with the emails right now. Give them a call. Jose Diaz Parts Specialist Park Place Lexus Phone 972-407-7038 Fax 972-407-7075 jadiaz@parkplacetexas.com www.parkplacetexas.com Russ

Tom, Good for you! I plan to do the same. I ordered a left valve cover gasket today. I hope that is the cover near the front of the car. Did you find you needed to replace this gasket? Thanks, Russ

I have a good master and an uncut master. Has anyone had success getting a side laser cut done correctly from a working master without going through the dealer? If so, I would be interested in pricing and locksmith's name and number. Thanks, Russ

I have done this on other vehicles for the reasons you list. But not as elgantly as using an electrically operated valve. I use hose barbs and a ball valve the same ID as the hose to the heater. I just wait until I am sure not to need the heater again for the summer, open the hood, and turn the valve to off. Russ

Will. Could you tell us how you found out it had sludge? What details do no know about taking the engine apart? Were the heads removed or what? Thanks, Russ

Okay - I guess I was just curious to see what Lexus had to say about the issue. I will do both the oil changes and transmission fluid drain and fills at least as often as you suggest. If somone would be so kind as to post the contents of the gel TSB my curiosity would be satisfied. thanks, Russ