tmastres

Last things first, you should change your oil somewhere between 4000 and 5000 mi if you use synthetic oil IMHO. Also IMHO you're nuts to use dino oil in an RX since they run so hot normally. At the rate you mention of 400 mi per month you'll end up changing your oil about once a year, $23, $25, even $30 is just not that much money to spend once a year to know you're engine is being protected properly. Also, you should invest in a top-notch oil filter as well since it may be sitting on there for a year, spend the $10 and get the Mobil1 filter.

Don't have any help for you other than to comiserate as mine did a similar thing about a year ago. Weird thing is that mine will un-lock fine 99% of the time but will only lock about 5% of the time. I've gotten in the habit of just locking the driver door manually as I exit the car as all the other doors work fine. If you find any answers to this dilema please let us all know. I plan to get into the mechanisim sometime and try to rig a fix, perhaps the holidays will provide that time, I'll let you know if I come up with anything as well.

Glad you got it fixed, thats what this forum is all about, glad I could help too.

is this true? my dealer uses conventional quaker state dino oil, not synthetic :( I'm surprised by that since they've had such a serious sludging problem. Mydealer uses Mobil 1 and so does my independent shop. My RX has a notice near the oil fill hole i the valve cover that recommends it. Curious

My answers to your questions 1.) No you dont have to go to the dealer, but DO keep the receipts (as mentioned) and be diligent about it. If you have trouble they'll be the make or break of your case. 2.) IMHO Synthetic is the only way to go. Its recommended for the car by Lexus and its one sure way to avoid oil-sludging. 3.) I do my own oil changes and an oil/filter change generally uses 4.5 US quarts. Synthetic is double the cost of regular oil but I can get a six pak of Mobil 5-30 at Costco for about $27. These RX 300s run pretty hot (as a normal temp for them) That type of heat will reduce the effectiveness of regular oil after a few thousand miles. Too long and you get sludge, at lest with the syn.oil I know the oil will hold up between changes.

I've done this and posted on it with a fairly detailed account of my experiences, check out the following links and I believe I gave part numbers for replacement parts as well. If you run into questions please post and I'll certainly help all I can Post #7 on the first link is my account of replacing the antenna http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...c=29014&hl= http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...c=28874&hl=

Let me add my many thanks, people like yourself are what makes this forum great.

I would think buying a first or second model year vehicle (which the RDX is) would signifigantly inrease the chances of encountering the same types of annoying (and usually costly) failures/repairs that have plagued many owneres (like yourself) of the 99/00 model RX's. Theres really no question that there are far fewer problems with the 01-03 RXs than there are with the 99-00's and the mileage doesnt seem to be a mitigating factor. The RDX seems like a great vehicle and maybe you can hold off long enough to let Acura get all the bugs worked out. Good Luck :)

Don't know about the vibration, and the tail lamp indicatior seems self explanatory but I along with a few others have posted some detailed and hopefully useful info on how to replace your power antenna. They have tendency to fail after a while just due to wear and they're fairly straightforward to replace.

Well its not exactly HIGH mileage in my book but I'm getting ready to turn 100,000 mile on my 2000 RX in the next few weeks. I've only changed the transmission fluid twice in that period and the last time was at the 90k service recently. As mentioned many times in previous posts it seems that the 99's are primarily at risk for failure with a noticeable but smaller numer of 2000's having failed ( maybe just wishful thinking since I have 2000:-) The number drops of signifigantly beginning in 2001 and WWEST has provided the best explanation as to the differences in the transmissions in the two differnt years. So far(knock wood) the only signifigant problem I've had with this rig is the damn coils going bad again and again.

that would be the best...So I would be able to pull the antenna up and down for when I wash the car??? Do you know how to turn the motor off??? Sure , you simply disconnect the power leads to the antenna. There may be another place to disconnect it ,possibly the fuse, but I know you can do it righ at the motor itself , its a quick-connect clip and if you un-clip it theres no motor power and the antenna will stay where it is. As for manual retraction/extension, I think that will not work well or for very long due to the way the motor works. Inside the motor theres a worm gear that draws a toothed nylon cable. To extend and retract it manually you'll have to push/pull the toothed cable past or against the worm gear and thats not likely to work.

I'm sure this could be done as theres an antenna lead that just plugs into the power antenna motor-base. You could simply plug this into a stationary antenna instead but you'd need to find one that fits int the existing antenna hole in the body. Honestly though most of the work in changing antennas is getting TO the antenna. Once youre there its fairly straighforward to replace.

OK I know a scant few of you RX300 owners have had a coil go bad on you and a few months ago I had one go bad too. Problem is last night I had another one go bad and I'm wondering if this is more common than I realize. Alternatively I'd love to find out why this seems to be a recurring problem fro me. My question is to anyone who has had a coil go bad previously: did you have the others go bad soon after or did you replace them all as a preventative measure? I've got a 2000 with 97,000 ,, Thanks

Ditto...I average between 18 and 20....sometimes 21 or 22 on long trips but usually right around 20 or a hair less with mixed driving. Ditto for me too. Hate to be a Ditto'er but in this case were trying to find what the avergae early RXs get in mileage. I get about 18 around town and just did about 22.5 on an 800 mile trip. I have a pretty light foot arouund town so I could easly see getting 16-17 if you like to jack-rabbit between stoplights.

Interesting story. I dont know the dynamics of the oil system to say if thats possible, but my guess would be no since oil-filters are built to simply pass the dirty oil if pressures in the filter elements get too high. Interesting though, did the techs ever mention the oil leak? Perhaps they noticed it and threw a little stop-leak in with the oil? Just another theory but it is very interesting, thanks!

Pleae don't take this as gospel but I believe the sludge issue was also one that effected primarily 99-00 models. These engines all run pretty hot and if you didn't do a frequent oil-change and used dino-oil you'd likely develop a sludge problem. In any case if you use synthetic oil you should be protected from the sludging problem. The problem is pretty well documented and affected several Toyota models. you should easily be able to find info on the web.

The trans issues were pretty much solved by 03. Thats an 99-00 issue. The 04 had a few issues as well , I remember a problem with the leather seats as well a couple of other minor things. Although its a 2nd gen model its still a first year production of that model, meaning that some newer things we'rent all ironed out. You cant beat a power boost although I'm not sure how much more you got. I'm a bit partial to the original and I've put off purchasing a new one because although I kinda like the newer style , I don't $50k like it. If Lexus doesnt come up with a really nice 3rd gen RX I'm probably going to buy an A7 or maybe just switch to an ISorGS.

How bout some details! What year, AWD etc.. We're all trying to figure this thing out so the more info we have the better. Thanks!

Funny enough, after doing a little bit of research I found out that the RX's V6 is high enough compression to take advantage of premium fuels. Seems to me though that the only way to see that extra power is get it inot to its power band up in the 3500-4000 rpm range which is almost impossible to do with the auto tranny. And of course this would certainly lessen you mileage. Guess my conclusion is that there reallyis no difference in day-to-day driving. I switched to 87 from 89 about a year ago and have noticed no difference at all. By the By if anyones lexus is pinging with any fuel grade , I'd say you've got a problem other than the fuel.

Hi all, I'm interested in getting a trouble code reader to use on my 2000 RX and was wondering which ones everyone/anyone out there is using and if you like it. Also if anyones got any ideas on the type to get/not get I'd appreciate the input. Thanks

I don't know of any other service you could have done at the same time, but I would take the problem to Lexus Corporate before you gie up on it. I reaize its a lot of hassle but the "goodwill" is fom the Lexus brand not an individual dealer. I've never had to do that so I don't know exactly how to contact them but several others on the list have , and if you send a PM to them they may be able to give you some guidance. Might be cool to do it here in the forum too. I know theres a Lexus USA number somewhere .

I have a 2000 as well and while I never noticed any condensation in the tail lamps I have noticed that small amounts water will run behind the tail-light assembly on each side. If you're looking at the back of the vehicle with the hatch up you can follow a channel from the top of the car back down behind the light. I dont know what caused the water to get in, could just be raising the hatch when there water on the car but I caulked a little at the top of the light assembly to keep the water from getting in there nd it seems to be working. Here in So Cal its rarely wet enough for any length of time for condensation to stay, but if you're taillight isn't cracked this may be worth looking into.

For all the Noobs :D out there that are unaware, some RX 300s have tempermental transmissions (some don't for whatever reason) Primarily 1999 models w AWD but also some 00 models w/ AWD. Seems to be much less occurence of trouble with 2wd models but then again there are far fewer 2wd models out there. It seems to have been cured by 01-02 and doesnt seem to have been passed on to the 330/350 generation. Hope that seems helpful

Thats because your !Removed! is permanently disfigured from driving a Ford for so long Just kidding there, Really though a year and ahalf after my original posting on this thread I have to say I do notice a shift to younger RX drivers. Funny thing , our 14 year old swears he wants the RX when he starts driving, sounds to me like the perfect op. to have a midlife crisis and buy a 911 :D

Brilliant! I've been wanting to do that for years. Thanks!