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mikey00

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Posts posted by mikey00

  1. I have a 2004 RX330 that I just installed the lexus trailer hitch on. The factory wired 4 prong connector has been connected but it is not providing any power to the hitch wiring. This is the same issue Steve Ross was having.

    The fuse for the Towing option is in place but I don't think this has anything to do with power not being applied to the connector when the tail lights,brakes or signals are active.

    Is there something else that needs to be connected for the factory harness to be active?

    Thanks

    Allen Patenaude

    The original post was about a RX300 and you have a RX330 which is slightly different. Anyway, you need the converter module which is located behind the driver's side rear seat somewhere. I can't tell you the exact spot, I have a RX300 which has it located in the cargo tray area. Check here for more info about RX330 converter module:

    http://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-second-...tion-block.html

  2. Just to clarify, when you said you have the aux trans cooler you did mean the little radiator type one in the fender well, right? That is the one I believe is part of the towing prep package. There is another trans cooler which is part of the bottom of the radiator. Most people don't even know this one exists. I think it was standard equip. You can see it in the link I attached labeled "oil cooler".

    Anyway my RX had both coolers, the fluid was maintained, and it was driven primarialy by my wife on easy country road commutes and the trans still failed at 133K. My personal opinion is that they all have the planatary gear design flaw discovered by lenore and additional cooling and filtering don't really help.

    Back to topic, I did have problems with the light failure indicator 2 or 3 times with all lights working and was usually able to solve it by reseating the center brake light bulb. I think that connection is a little touchy, at least on mine anyway.

    1999 RX 300 Radiator

  3. I have a 2005 Rx 330 and just replaced the Michelin tires with Dueler HL tires and noticed my MPG has dropped. The Michelins were qrap, however when I increased their psi to 35 I started getting 25 mpg. With the Duelers I get 22 mpg at 35 psi. Maybe I should increase the psi to 40? WSY?

    Sorry to answer a question with a question but you did replace with the exact same size tire, right?

  4. Lenore, Interesting thought about the converter causing the problem. Definetly worth looking at if the bulbs don't fix it.

    Code58, The cooler was part of the towing prep package so it sounds like you have the converter. I realize you have a 99, but in 01 the towing prep was even added as standard equipment. Most likely they were trying to solve the trans problem with additional cooling. Being that when you add one it's just a matter of plugging it in, you should be able to just unplug it and everything should continue to work. The converter doesn't actually work until you add the 20amp tow fuse in the fuse box but I bet even without the fuse it is still connected to the rear lights and could potentially cause a problem.

  5. I have a Lexus ES300 that starts just fine, but immediately dies unless you keep your foot on the gas. My independent mechanic has spent a couple of hours running diagnostic tests, but the car isn't "throwing" any codes. Anyone have any suggestions/thoughts? I just had the 150,000 mile service about a month ago and everything was fine. This is the first major problem I've had with the car.

    You are on the RX forum. On the RX this would be the Idle Air Control Valve (IACV). I am pretty sure the ES is the same. Here is the cleaning procedure:

    http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...showtopic=30723

  6. So what will happen if I tighten these caliper bolts to say 85 ft/lb? Can't imagine that extra tight is a problem since mechanically they don't do anything except hold the caliper in place....

    It looks like in lemon's post above he snapped the head off the caliper bolt. They are 2 different bolts with 2 different purposes. One is long and thin and is part of the sliding pin system. Other is short and just holds caliper or caliper mounting plate (depending on which year) firmly in place.

  7. Ebay has them with no guts for about $20 (or used to). Weather it's worth it by the time you cut it and clone it I don't know.

    Good luck PK

    This won't work unless you have the guts from a old key to load into the new one. The security chip is located in the guts part, not the key, so there is nothing to clone. Even if the chip was located in the key part the keys on ebay are not "clonable". To clone a key you first need a special clone able key and and key cloning equipment to do it. Instead of cloning, what is typically done on the RX is to buy another complete key and program the ECU in the RX to accept the key. Google RX300 key. Here is one of many sources for keys:

    www.toy-lex.com

  8. Jeezus

    If the poster before me didn't call me a "deuch Bag"with "no knowledge of repair and maintanacne" "and "an emporer with no clothes" , I wouldn't have said a word. But if I was overzealous in the face of the my pals(in his own words)"running of at the mouth". call me "arrogant", make yourself at home.

    BTW:I suck at baseball, foot ball...have dyslexia, can't spell, almost flunked out high school. total scatter brain, 20 yrs. religiously surfing everyday and never got past "competent" ...etc.

    Make way for my BIG ego.

    If you read between the lines on my post just before his you may come up with the same conculsion.

  9. Jim's first post was about a 2000 RX. His specs agree with the specs I have in a 1999/2000 manual. It's been a while since I have done my 01 brakes but I seem to remember that the front caliper bolts hold the caliper on directly but the rear ones are part of the sliding pin system. This would account for the front to rear torque difference. I could be wrong here, You need to check when you have it apart. Just be careful and make sure you know the difference between caliper bolts and support plate bolts.

    Lenore, I am not sure where you got your specs from but they seem to agree with my 2003 manual. There was a design change in 2003 and I am not sure if these specs apply to 2000. I think this was the first year that the front caliper mounting bolt became part of the sliding pin system so the torque was lowered. And the front bracket was no longer part of the sliding pin system so its torque was raised.

    The PDFs Lemon posted are from a 2004 RX330 which had another brake design change with different specs.

  10. Here's the good news. The guy at autozone was right, and you probably didn't hurt anything at all. This car is nowhere near semi exotic (think Camry) you likely can handle this. What else? Lets see, you did not muck up your MAP sensor because this car does not have one. It does have MAF sensor that is upstream from the throttle body. You don't have plug wires either, whew safe there too. Your throttle body can be filthy and not have bigger problems like an air filter, say what? or blow by.

    Ok, so it sounds like your car is not idling well and you have not thrown any codes yet. It could easily be a sensor or coil on it's way out, but you should have seen a code by now. So likely it is an issue with the IAC valve and throttle body. I would probably clean the MAF senor too just for grins since it's easy. Here are some links that will tell you what you need to do. If you have no codes my money is on the IAC valve and although it's not super easy it's not hard either, just a pain to get to. Clean the IAC, throttle body & MAF and report back, I bet the car runs great again. But if you do have any codes post them up first before doing anything else.

    http://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-first-g...bout-yours.html

    http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/knowledge...id=152&c=11

    http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...showtopic=30723

    Great post carguy07, with accurate helpful facts. I think we can all learn a little, from a post like this, on how to be helpful to a new member trying to get help with his first post. Lets hope he came back to read your post. If he did, he most likely will have a success story to post.

  11. Yep great sales tool, but real life is different. I would drain and fill the tranny with the

    Toyota recommended fluid at no later than 30k miles, and the radiator coolent with Toyota Type Red no longer than the recommended 5 year mark....

    I'm pretty sure Toyota stopped using Toyota Long Life Red, a 30,000 mile coolant, before 2004. Red is in my 2000 and 2001 RX 300 but they changed to pink sometime around 2003. Your Rx330 should have Toyota Super Long Life Pink which is good for 100k. The sticker you are reading under the hood leads me to believe you definitely have the Ultra Long Life Pink.

    As far as the trans goes I think you would be safe going with the lifetime recomendation as long as you check it regularly and monitor its condition. Earlier RX transmissions had a design problem which which cast some doubt on this "lifetime" claim. However, if it were me I would change it at 30k just to be safe. I am still a little gun shy from my 2001 trans failure. Let someone else prove the lifetime claim.

  12. From your post it sounds like before Aamco worked on your trans, they or someone else read the code and it pointed to a shift solenoid. After replacement the CEL is back on and trans won't shift into OD. Now they are telling you the ECU is not letting the trans shift into OD and to get the code read. This is reasonable for there are some engine related codes that do exactly this. My problem with this whole thing is if they read the first code that pointed to the solenoid, why can't read the code again and tell you what it is?

    Bottom line is you need to get the current code read. Maybe even reset it and read it again. You can buy a cheap scanner and do it yourself (Harbor Freight is one of many sources). Also most AutoZones will read it for free. Or find whatever sources are available locally. I would stay away from the dealer at this point unless you are looking for convenience and don't mind spending major $$.

    My bet is you are going to have some non-transmission related engine type code that needs to be repaired. Once repaired, the ECU will let the trans shift into OD. But until the current code is read you are shooting in the dark.

  13. I have to agree with code58 here, it sounds like you may have a can of worms. A 2000 RX with 120K on it with trans shifting problems with clean fluid sounds unusual. The previous owner may have flushed the trans in an attempt to solve the issues. Or maybe it's a bad rebuilt trans. The result of both would be clean fluid in a malfunctioning trans. Is there any way for you to obtain the service history of this vehicle? You could pull the service history from Lexus, using your vin, which would at least show if Lexus performed service. If you see Lexus put a rebuilt trans in sometime before your purchase I would bet it's a bad rebuild. Of course this won't list any work done by independents.

    If it were me, I would first concentrate on the CEL. You need to get the codes read and report back here with them or have the cause fixed. Sometimes engine sensor codes affect the operation of the trans through the ECU. Many times engine problems are miss-diagnosed as trans problems because of this. Are you sure you are shifting into overdrive? With many CEL codes your ECU prevents the tranny from shifting into overdrive. Count your shift points. You should feel a 1st to 2nd shift somewhere around 20mph, a 2nd to 3rd somewhere around 35mph and finally a shift from 3rd to 4th(od) somewhere around 45mph. Or you may end up with a code indicating a trans prob such as speed sensor or shift solenoid.

    Once the CEL is fixed, if the trans problem is still there, I would do a trans drain and fill. I agree with the previous comments that draining clean fluid is a long shot but this assumes that you know what type of trans fluid is in there. The previous owner may have used some incompatible fluid, which could be causing the problem.

  14. I'm trying to remove the driver's foot rest on the left side of the floor. I see from parts schematics there are two "clips" underneath the foot rest. I have been able to force my fingers under the foot rest from the side toward the accel pedal...I pulled up with about thirty pounds of force but nothing happened, and I was afraid to pull harder. Anybody know how to get this thing off?

    Look carefully, and if I am not mistaken, from a post some time ago about the same thing, there should be 2 small round plugs on the footrest. take those out and you should find 2 screws that will make it a little easier to get off when you pull on it. Don't pull too hard once the screws are out... if ya know what I mean! :lol:

    Thanks 58, I found the round plugs...briefly tried to get them out before going to work...man, those things are in tight. I tried a pair of alligator pliers, they would not budge. I'll work on it more this evening. If anybody has a trick for getting these plugs out, please tell me!

    They don't unscrew do they Ricco? Sure doesn't seem like they should be that hard to get out.

    Last night I mixed some liquid dish detergent 50-50 with water, took a q-tip and swabbed both plugs generously. This morning I tried again to get them out, no luck. They do rotate, but they don't unscrew. At every 180 degrees of rotation, they make an audible "click". I tried pulling them out at varying degrees of rotation, same results. I'm ready for a stick of C4 !

    I bet the plugs themselves don't come out. Try turning them till they click then pull the footrest off.

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