OKEH1

I have used Piercey Toyota in Milpitas for my last two services on my 2004 RX330, they did a comparable job for roughly half the cost. You dont get a loan car but they have a van service which can drop you off or wait in their new lounge which is almost as good as Lexus and they have free coffee and water.

I have a notice regarding a service campaign on my 2004 RX330, the code reference is 4LD, and I have to contatc my dealer befroe 12/31/07. What is this campaign for, is it serious? any information greatly appreciated

Hi I have just been quoted $1395 for a 60000 mile service on my 2004 RX330 2wd. This was from my local Lexus dealer, this price seems excessive, what are other owners thoughts and what are you paying for similar service. I need tohave service records to keep up my 100000 mile warranty, but dont want to pay excessive charges.

Might have guessed, my 2004 RX330 has just done 53500, just out of warranty and my passenger side headlamp is misting up, obviously letting in water. I had the drivers side replaced last year after that one did the same. I just cannot believe that these failures are anything but poor manufacturing as I have other cars older and more miles and no failures, in fact theis RX is the only ones I have ever had problems with. I was wondering if this is a common occurence on any other RX330 of similar age. I may contatc Lexus and see if they will replace out of goodwill, I have always had my car serviced from new at the Lexus dealership so have a good releationship with them. Anybody out there with any opinions as to how to tackle Lexus?.

I have noticed over the past few weeks an annoying problem, I will be joining a freeway or have diving in town traffic, I go to accelerate and the car seems to lose powerand pings very loudly for maybe 10-15 seconds, then pulls away. I use premium gas so cant understand what could be causing it. My car has 48000 on the clock and been regularly serviced at Lexus. I had the worst occasion yesterday when after driving 50 miles down the freeway ata steady 65-70mph, I turned off down the ramp and stoped at the lights, went to turn and the engine rattled like no tomorrow. I intend to take it to Lexus today to get their opinion, but as the mileage is so near to 50000 my guess is they wont be interested.

Maybe it is the rubber mats which are causing the problem, Rubber has oils which can leach out over time. I have the clear plastic mats bought from Lexus and the carpets under these are like the day I bought it. One other thought, have you checked under the carpet yourself, maybe you faulty sound deadening padding, if it is you should see stains on the back of the carpet matting.

I have same problem on my 2004 RX330, was told it is the fuel injectors and is a known issue, but so far no fixes ( I was told that 2-days ago when my went in for repair). I have lived with my noisy RX for 2 1/2 years now, and really cant wait till I can get rid if the vehicle , inmy opinion it is just very average and not the high quality I was led to believe.

Picked the car back up last night, New headlamp, but strangly, no mention of changing it out on the workbill, are Lexus trying to hide the fact that there is a problem with these headlamps and failures?. I had asked them to sort out passenger side rattles, but they failed to locate it again, I amsure it is in the door or maybe inner chassis, they did tighten some trim screws and replaced some which had disappeared noting that the car had many miles on it........ 40000 miles is not a lot in my opinion. Still I did get a loaner and free cup of coffee, so not bad eh.

Just off to Book my 2004 RX330 in to the shop, this time the drivers side headlamp has started misting up pretty badly, surely this shouldnt be happening on a 2 1/2 year old car. Where is the Toyota/Lexus quality?. So many quality issues with this car really p's me off, such a waste of time too.

I read with interest your comments on losing power when engine cold, I have a 2004 330 with 39000 on it, and I have noticed recently the engine has a severe loss of power for around 5 - 10 seconds when driving away from cold, infact this isd accompanied by a strange noise like pinging but continuous. I am going to get it checked at the 40000 service, I notice it worse when I have 2 - 3 passengers there just isnt enough power to drive safe so I have to drive slowly till the noise subsides then the power kicks in and its fine. I am sure there must be other owners experiencing similar problems.

Thanks for the quick reply, just a quick question though, if there is a reserve tank, is this mentioned in the manual?, and why does the cruise range not indicate correctly?. Does the fuel automatically change to reserve or is there a switch?.

I have a concern regarding the fuel capacity of my 04 RX330. This week I allowed the fuel to drop to almost zero ( needle was almost flat and cruise range was 10 miles)before refilling, this is the first time doing so as I usually fill up at just under half. Anyway, I filled it up and only managed to get 15 1/2 gallons into it, now I have always thought the fuel tank held 19.2 gallons, if this is the case, what has happened to the other almost 4 gallon capacity. Could my tank have collapsed in some way to reduce the volume somewhat?, or has Lexus been overstating the capacity, I can't believe the gauge to be so far out of sync and don't think the fuel pipes would hold 4 gallons. Does anyone have any ideas or similar experiences?.

I keep coming back to this forum cos I am amazed at the variation in reports of the RX330. This thread regarding the tyre wear is pretty interesting. MY 2004 (2003 build) with almost 34000 still has the original tyres (MXV4-Plus) probably just over half worn, still plenty of tread left and I will be suprised if I dont see 50-60000, I stick to mfr pressure advice and testing, don't drive the vehicle hard. My daily driving consists of 50% freeway and 50% city streets. My average mpg is regularly 23.5 and can achieve 26 - 27 easy on a good freeway run cruising at 60 - 65 , I always plan my trips well to allow time and this helps to keep my stress levels down too. I am still on my original brake pads with just over 2/3 wear at the last service. In my opinion driving habits are the most important factor in maintaining a longer and more economical life for a vehicle, sure the RX330 has its faults , but I have learned to live with them, in my opinion it was never designed to be a BMW so treat it with respect and drive accordingly then it will reward you back with a smooth comfortable and safe ride, and in my case , quite economical too for the type of vehicle.

I have used Premium for some months now,it gives me better performance, more mpg and smoother transmission changes.With the more mpg the price works out very close to using 87 so I don't worry too much about the cost difference.I would like to add my RX has had all the softwatre upgrades too and been regularly serviced by Lexus , now having nearly 33000 miles on the clock, the car is like a good wine, it seems to be getting better with age.

-------------------------- Actually, Prius Forums often report on special driving styles which raise the mpg. Owners describe their driving technique efforts for better fuel consumption. They are attempting to use the battery more (sometimes call "stealth mode" at certain speeds or in parked status) and the gas engine less so reports are of anticipating a stop, coasting, lower speeds, cruise control use, avoidance of "stomping on the gas", etc. etc. The same techniques should apply to the 400h although the 400h is less fuel-efficient due to size, power and design. Yes, the Prius has better city fuel economy than the Lexus... it is a different car than the 400h. This is not puzzling. However, it is puzzling about the few Lexus owners' reports of higher highway mpg as compared to city driving. This seems against the technological design. ← While the mpg debate still continues on the 330/400, I have a puzzling thought that I cant seem to get out of my head. If you were to put both the 330 and 400 in a head to head FREEWAY only test, why shouldnt the mpg be almost the same, I conclude this and may be wrong, but the 400 does not have any benefit from the electric motors on a freeway and the 400 is a fair bit heavier, I am sure there will be more frictional forces on the 400 running gear due to the motors etc than on the 330. Maybe Lexus has improved the engine and transmission to accomodate the extra weight of batteries and motor, but again my thought would be put that same running gear in the 330 without the electrics and the car would outperform the 400 which would be embarrassing . No big deal anyway, I am very happy with the mpg on my 330 I consistantly get 5 -10 mpg more than similar vehicles anyway so I wouldnt buy the 400 for economy reasons, I would buy a smaller more fuel efficient car, just as they do in Europe.

I have just passed the 30000 miles on my 2004 RX330 and I am very happy with fuel economy. My daily running includes probably 50/50 of town and freeway, so this gives a good average, which equates to 25mpg on a regular basis, if I do mainly town running, this drops to around 21-22, but pure freeway at cruise of 65mph gives me a nice 28 mpg.I would like to add thought this has been achieved through experimenting with octane of gas, and now I find the premium to be the best for mpg, so in the end it works out cheaper. One hint , these cars like to be driven smoothly , without a lead foot, so try to accelerate without a racing start, again I found adopting to the characteristics of the vehicle will give the most satisfaction as the car is slightly underpowered for its weight or could be that the emmision components drain a lot of the power. Anyway, good luck, hopefully your experience will improve, my good mpg make up for all the negative problems I have had with my RX, but that was my fault for buying one of the first to be produced. B) ← OKEH1, Wow! You have reported 1 of the best mpg averages (25 mpg combined city/ highway driving) I have read about. The others seem to average 18 -20 mpg combined city/hwy driving. It is very encouraging to read this. I will be happy to get 22-23 mpg average. I was reading up on the octane gas issue and I have concluded that I should use premium (between regular and super premium) to get the best performance and mpg. Congrats! You are in the neighborhood of some of those driving the RX400H. ← Here are a couple of hints that may improve your mpg a little, if you dont use the roof rack on a regular basis, thake off the two cross rails (takes around 10 minutues) or have the dealer do it, this helps with wind noise too. Also keep the tires at around 32 psi (Michelins are the better tires) . I know some people are sceptical about my mpg but even the dealer commented that the average I am getting is better than they see on the fleet cars, my guess it comes down to driving style and learning the way the car performs and its limitations, I bought mine for its comfort, space and safety , its just not a sports coupe and never will be. As the car gets run in more , the engine will loosen up and return more economy. :)

This person should be in the Guiness Book of World Records! A non-diesel, 4200-lb vehicle with automatic transmission averaging 25 defies the laws of thermodynamics, to say the least. After all, a 4-cylinder Toyota Camry, if driven gently may achieve 24 MPG and these cars weigh far less. Even Consumer Reports auto test drivers, who are well known as being very conservative drivers, average only 17 or 18 MPG. I'm guessing someone at the factory slipped in a Highlander 4-cylinder engine in your vehicle! ← My Rx consistently returns around 22mpg with 50/50 freeway, since I started using premium and removing the roof bars (never used them and they added noise) . I repsect the car for what it is and not a sporty coupe, so have learnt to drive smooth and non aggressive. The car improved steadily from around 25000 to its present mpg, the only time I see drops is when I am in a traffic jam then it will drop to around 18, but I no my area and where the backups generally are. I did consider the 400H, but cant see any benefit for a few extra mpg if any, as I see it , the 400 is heavier initially and even with the extra power and some electric assistance , both the 330 and 400 should return about the same mpg on a freeway run as both are using just gas, maybe round the town the 400 comes out better but only because it factors in the non gas motoring which from waht I have read is not too much. For the fun side of life , I drive a new Acura TL , which to me is a better quality car than the Lexus and will probably hold its value much better with SUV 's on the decline. To conclude its horses for courses , the RX330/400 are still SUV's and not sports coupes so even if they have power they are not safe when it comes to manouverability, the Acura hugs the road impressivly and never feels unsafe on bends or quick manouvers.

I have just passed the 30000 miles on my 2004 RX330 and I am very happy with fuel economy. My daily running includes probably 50/50 of town and freeway, so this gives a good average, which equates to 25mpg on a regular basis, if I do mainly town running, this drops to around 21-22, but pure freeway at cruise of 65mph gives me a nice 28 mpg.I would like to add thought this has been achieved through experimenting with octane of gas, and now I find the premium to be the best for mpg, so in the end it works out cheaper. One hint , these cars like to be driven smoothly , without a lead foot, so try to accelerate without a racing start, again I found adopting to the characteristics of the vehicle will give the most satisfaction as the car is slightly underpowered for its weight or could be that the emmision components drain a lot of the power. Anyway, good luck, hopefully your experience will improve, my good mpg make up for all the negative problems I have had with my RX, but that was my fault for buying one of the first to be produced. B)

As an aside, do you happen to remember how much capasity the roof rack is rated for according the the manual? I want to add on one of those Thule roof boxes and there are a lot of sizes to choose from based on the capasity of the roof rack. Thanks in advance. ← max loaded weight - 75kg or 165lbs

The same roof rack is on all models , so the black end caps should come off . They are tight , just crasp firmly and slightly lift to clear to seal, then slide back and upwards at the same time, towards rear of car, they are tight so a bit of force is required. My dealer service tech showed me and it works, getting back on is reverse method but again needs a little force. I suggest you call in to your service dept and ask one of the techs to do it, only takes a few minutes. There is a definate drop in sound and my mileage went up around 1 mpg so for me thats roughly an extra 20 miles per week.

How exactly did you remove the rails? I'm all thumbs, so I could probably do it in, say, a half hour or so :) I have no use for the roof rack and would eliminate it all together if it would help reduce the wind noise.. ← The crossbars are easy to remove and install. The rear endcaps of the the rails are plastic. They snap off by sliding rearward. There is a set screw that prevents the crossbars from sliding off of the rails. Unscrew the set screw on both sides and the crossbars slide off the end. Replace the set screws and snap on the endcaps by sliding forward and down. Removal and installation is fast and easy. The trick is knowing how the end cap is removed.

so, have you noticed a change in the wind noise??? I too am very disturbed by the amount of wind noise in this car... ← There is a noticable drop in wind noise on the freeway and I can see my gas mileage creeping up , this morning my readout went up over .5 mpg, so cost saving with comfort pleases me. :)

I removed both rails tonight , took me 10 minutes. I have never used the roof rack since buying the vehicle 12 months ago, so I wont miss it, and if you read the manual it cant carry much anyway. I expect some slight reduction in wind noise and even the mpg may go up very slightly too. One other bonus is it makes cleaning the roof tons easier as you dont have to move them or squeeze between them. In all a worth quick mod.

As far I can see, Lexus / Toyota have been having problems with suspension, steering and ball joints for some years now, in fact a recent recall has been anounced for nearly 1 million of their vehicles for poor quality ball joints. My vehicle and Iam sure a number of others have this problem , but Lexus are more arrogant and will hold out on any repairs as long as possible. My guess is a lot of people just put up with the RX's and live with all their misgivings, which is ashame because in the end the ratings don't reflect the poor service and quality, so more people buy the vehicles and are then trapped without little recourse but to throw money away and buy another manufacture. I can live with the wind noise but feel when it comes to safety , lives come first and I only hope Lexus see fit to sort this problem out before lives are lost. I recommend to all with the aforesaid problems to regiter a complaint with the NHTSA and hopefully they will persuade some action to be taken as they did with Toyota.

I have a 2004 RX33O, April 2003 model and just wonder how many other RX's have noise whilst driving slowly over bumps or undulationg surface, also the steering seems a little vague and appears to wander on straight roads with slight cambers. My dealer says it is fine , but I have driven many other same vehicles with no noise from the front end. I would be grateful to hear opinions on anyones elses experiences or are these cars just noisy when the mileage gets in the high 20000's. Just don't want to be caught out with suspension collapsing as a few Toyotas have been doing, and caused the recent recall of nearly one million vehicles. :snoooorrrtttt: