anthonyiez

don't forget to factor in the sales tax money you spent into your loss.

another great reason i spent the $$$ to have the factory computer. this has to be down on a few newer lexus models as wel as toyotas. not hard to do once you've done it once, but yes you need the tool.

Watch out for stone chips. The Lexus paint is not very durable.

Doesn't have anything to do with Lexus paint in general, its the new VOC requirements for automotive paint finishes and the newer paints being more brittle. They'll get it figured out.

bingo! anyone remember all the american cars rolling around in the late 80's - early 90's with paint falling off. mostly silver variants.

not a fan of them either, but use them when called for via oem applications. we all know how electric works. if one side wears out faster than the other then the other tip becomes pointless.

yeah, those bosch multi plugs suck...actually imo any multi electrode plug sucks.

most aftermarket warranties are like flushing money down the toilet.

I'm a used car dealer. I bought an Avalon at auction and learned the hard way about the master key. I always supply two keys to my customer and keep one key myself. Long story short--I only had a valet key and I wasn't about to spend $1500 on a computer and two keys. I found some places that would flash the computer for a lot less, but still way to much to just make some keys. My solution was to zip-tie the valet chip key to the ignition cylinder under the dash, then just use non-chip copies of the key to start the car. The car thinks the non-chip keys are chip keys because it senses the key that is zip-tied to the ignition. My customer doesn't even know it's there. You have to fiddle with the location/position of the chip key to make it work, but it will work when it's in the right spot.

i know a lot of people that use this method for many different makes as well.

Carbon buildup can cause pre-ignition knock.

bingo...just what i was going to say on an older car.

The radio itself is the same. The Nakamichi sound option refers to a better amp and speakers.

My Lexus is the only car I've owned that is quiet enough to enjoy classical music at freeway speeds. :)

the radio is different as well.

there are very few cars out there i'd put bosch platinums in. as good as a company bosch is, i'm not a fan of their plugs.

well its a bit hard to put the tach lead on a spark plug wire when you can't get to the wires. not sure how the testing is out there, but in pa we're not required to remove anything to get to the wires. there are 3 other ways to pick up the rpm signal...

a ground lead, very inconsistent, especially on well built cars.

a battery lead, same deal as above.

an "antenna" placed in the vincinity of the distributor.

if none of these 4 ways can work, we can run it "rpm unknown" and it just gets a one speed idle test.

its funny...every customer i have that takes good care of their vehicle, this has never happened. i have a camry here right now, that didn't take to kindly to not having its oil changed for almost 15k miles. the guy is actually surprised that the engine locked up.

I have never flushed a tranny since I have been driving. I always drain and refill with proper synthetic fluid. Then I drain between 25 to 35K and do it again. Samething over and over.

i know a lot of people that never perform a flush, that doesn't make it correct though.

the thing is no matter how many times you drain/refill it can never be the same as a complete flush

luxury = V8 or more w/rwd. always has and always will.

the others have hit the nail on the head with the acura example. acura will never be considered a real luxury car as long as they stick with a v6.

the part #'s for the struts you're looking for are...

334245

334246

this "average grease monkey" has no problem fixing evap failures on toyota products. then again this "average grease monkey" ponied up the $7k to buy the factory toyota/lexus tester.

nope, use them all the time on all makes of vehicles with not one problem.

search and you shall find....

i've never had a problem flushing a high mileage trans in these vehicles. flushing (done properly) is hands above draining and refilling.

i mean i'm not surprised that the rx400h would wear tires as well. like i said i don't have a real answer.

37,000 miles on a RX 300. The main vents blow air hot and cold even AC is fine but no air hot or cold will blow out of defroster or out the floor vents under the dash. The fan blows nice and strong out of the main vents though. Has anyone experieinced this?

Ok, here is the answer to my question which nobody could answer. For some unknown reason the computor system put the defroster / floor vent into "fail safe" mode and the local Toyota dealership "re-initialized' the system. Same as rebooting your computor. Now everything works fine at the cost of $100.00. Could have been alot worse I guess.

Wow. sounds like the dealer got $100 for disconnecting the battery cable for a few minutes. Not bad.

did anyone ever think they might of had to spend some time to find the problem?

come on, dealers are the best, they know lexus vehicles better than anyone :whistles:

one thing i can say as an independent...we tend to see a lot of cars with higher mileages then the dealer does, so a lot of the time we are fixing problems they might never see. not to mention we are, well at least my place, are more willing to think "outside the box" when needed.

$80 was my guess for the pads, shims and fix kit

to reiterate once again...

the shim kit is made up of the thin metal plates that go on the back of the pads.

the fix kit is made up of the clips that go in the caliper bracket the holds the pads.