tmastres

I think I'll do that from now on. Do they have the exact same engines?

Great advice Code, thanks and thanks for adding it to this thread. Awesome.

Thanks guys, just trying to put as much info in one spot as possible. Yeah, I'm worried about the rear one, I'll have to crawl under there and check out its location just to see how big a pain it will be. If they're anything like the coils, the rear one will be going sooner rather than later. The Toyota dealer frustrates me because they're so close, I know they've got to have this part and its not like there's a Lexus dealer all that close by. I realize they may be trying to keep business going to the generally more expensive Lexus dealers and I might even have a modicum of understanding but if you've got a CEL or in the case of my coil failure, you're running on 5 cylinders, it seems ridiculous to refuse to sell parts to a customer of what is essentially the parent company of both places. Sorry for the Rant!

I recently replaced the Air/Fuel ratio sensor and thought I would consolidate all the info I found as well as my experience into one post for future reference. 2000 RX 300 with 119,000 miles. Symptoms pre-code or CEL: One morning I noticed the RX was idling really high when cold. More than the normal increased cold- idle, it was up around 1700-1800rpm. After driving 5 miles to work, the idle was still a bit higher than normal. Later that evening the idle was back up to the 1600-1700 for the drive home. No CEL yet. Exact same thing the next day, still no CEL. Wife took the car that evening to run an errand (of course) CEL comes on. Read the code , P1150 front bank air/fuel ratio sensor. After searching the site it was revealed that this is the sensor right in front(yes!). Just past the radiator/fans sticking out of the front bank exhaust manifold with wires coming out of it. Re-set the code and took the car to work again and begun searching for a replacement part, ide was still a bit high. My semi-local Lexus dealer, 30 miles away quoted $250 for the part. My uncooperative Toyota dealer 4 miles away wouldn't quote me a price for a part to put in a Lexus (a$$holes). Cliffs notes version, after checking the usual Sewell, Park Place etc I found the part at www.factorylexusparts.com for $160. This is actually a shell site for Lexus of Roseville CA. I had to pay shipping AND tax but it still came in under $180. Part Number Toyota 89467-48011 or Denso 234-9009 I went with the Toyota but you may be able to find the Denso for about 10-15% less Doing the replacement was quite straightforward. Some folks noted that they had a hard time getting the old sensor out. Some even mentioned they had to heat the whole area up with a torch to loosen the sensor. I got mine out fairly easily using an 8 inch adjustable (crescent) wrench and a 3 foot length of 1" steel pipe to use as a breaker bar. Snug up the wrench around the sensor, attach the bar and a good tug yielded the satisfying pop of the nut breaking loose. Unscrewed the sensor the rest of the way and inserted the new one. The hardest part of the whole operation for me was (as usual) the fact that this car is made to be worked on by midgets. No offense to midgets (or little people) but normal human male hands are a severe hinderance when working on these vehicles. I had a particularly difficult time releasing the quick-release connector connecting the old sensor wires to the wiring bundle. After that though is was cake. So far, everything is running fine.

IIRC the oil gel deal covers 97-01 engines!

I paid a shade under $600, so you're quote is not outrageous but perhaps a bit high. If its your trusted mechanic maybe its worth it but if its just a random shop I'd say shop around a bit. My toyota dealer refused to work on Lexus' but that's a great option if you can get it.

Not to be a contrarian, but if the fluid looks good and its full it doesn't seem like changing it will do much for you. If you research changing the trans fluid you'll see it requires a series of drain-fill cycles to get a complete change. If you have it flushed it may be more effective but may also cause some other problems. Personally I only change mine ever 30-40k and so far I've got 120k mi. on my 2000.

I've done tis experiment and I noticed no difference in mileage or performance with higher octane gas. Reasons being are, there are too many variations (traffic, stop lights other drivers) even if you drive the same route and the same distance every day you'll see 1-2 mpg variation even with the exact same gas. As for performance, unless you can rev your RX up to 4000 RPM+ you'll never see the slight performance gain you can sometimes see with higher octane gas. With the auto slush-boxes set to shift at lower rpm its a waste. Now that gas is up above $3 again you're just tossing $$$ out the window.

Thanks guys, it seems to be holding up well so far and we've had one decent rain recently so I'm confident it will stay in place.

Here's a pic of the 330 step-pad on my 00 RX 300. I ended up using heavy duty double stick tape rather than epoxy so I'll see how it hold up (so far so good).

I've had a lot of experience with coil replacement . http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...979&hl=coil I'd say only buy the new, 90080-19016 coils as the old ones (if you can even find them) we're supposedly changed to stave off the failures that brought us all to this point in the first place. Also , as I mentioned in the linked post, the parts do seem to be the same across the Toyota brands and my Toyota dealer wanted $106 for them while the Lexus dealer was charging (only:O) $91. I found them for as low as the mid $70's but I wanted them right away since my rig was sidelined until I replaced them and I didn't want to wait for them to be shipped

Hey all , just for informational purposes, the 330/350 bumper step pad does fit fine on a 300. Its not exactly the same as one for the 300 but the arc angle is the same and fits just fine.

I'm curious how you came to the conclusion that its the #3 coil is one that commonly goes out? It certainly is the most difficult one to get at but I'm wondering if there's something that causes this one to go before the others? I've replaced all of mine (3 failed at different times so I just replaced the rest as well). I'd caution though that coil failure seems to be yet another issue more common on 99-00 models. It could be the age and mileage of the older vehicles but I just don't see folks reporting it on 01's and later. The coil part number changed after 01 so there may have been a problem with the originals. Back on topic though, I'd concur with the rest that the back three can be done but its a pain. I can see it being a 2 hr job but if you don't DIY at least buy the iridium plugs yourself and take them to your mechanic, that should cut the job down to about $250. Personally I find that a bit high, I don't know your area at all but I can't imagine that you wouldn't be able to find a shop to do this type of job for less.

Well, if you do cut it open I'll be curious to see what you find out. I disassembled mine (didn't cut it open though) last month to see if there was a way to get at the friction mechanism but came to the same conclusion that anything that might work would most likely destroy or disfigure the visor. I stuck a long straight pin into the visor where the L-arm attaches to the visor and that gave a few percent more friction but not enough to be worthwhile.

I'm just speculating here but I vaguely remember that you may not be able to utilize OD while there are misfire codes pending. If you got the CEL then you would have codes pending. Have you had the codes read? If not that's definitely the first step. Rough idle and a CEL are also the classic symptoms of a coil failure, not uncommon in 99's. Seeing these posts and comparing my own and other incidents of coil failure I'd say the way you can tell which-is-which is that in coil failure situations you 'll usually have only one (final) cylinder misfire code, where in the OCV incidents it appears you get an entire bank misfiring or at least more than one cylinder. There is a caveat, however. A failed coil will cause misfire codes in other cylinders if you drive a good distance with the misfire. In that case you'd need to clear the codes and check them as soon as the CEL came back on.

Thanks for those tips, I was wondering how they were attached form the factory. I like the epoxy idea, I don't want this thing coming loose.

These would be my top choices Yokohama Geolandar A/T-S Michelin LTX M/S Dunlop Radial Rover A/T Goodyear Wrangler HP But you'll likely suffer the consequences of more road noise and probably a bit less street performance (braking, roadholding and such)

Update! I contacted the guy selling the step pads on ebay (he says he works at a Lexus dealer FWIW) and he told me that the only difference in the steps is indeed the depth (distance form the edge of bumper to the tailgate), with the 330 version being about 1 inch deeper. This would explain why it looks so much bigger and perhaps appears to be not as wide as the earlier version. Supposedly the radius of the arc is the same and it will fit on the 300 so we'll see. For $50 bucks shipped I can't go too wrong and I'll let everyone know if it works.

Thanks All, I Believe RX is correct and the new versions are of different dimensions. I couldn't find any actual size specs anywhere but I was able to compare photos of the two different step-pads installed and to my eye the 330/350 step-pad is not quite as wide but a bit deeper (distance form edge of bumper to tailgate) than the model for the 300. The arc of the two looks pretty similar so I'm guessing that aspect will work but I'm not sure if my 300's bumper has enough depth to accommodate the newer style. I may just pick up on of the ones I saw and risk the $50 , then I'll know for sure. Thanks again guys!

I finally getting around to getting one of those black plastic step/covers that sit on top of the rear bumper to protect it from scratches and the like. I was wondering if anyone knew if they are the same size/design for the 300 and the 330/350 series? I see a couple on ebay that say "bumper step pad for RX 300/330" but I'm not trusting enough to believe they are the same and was wondering if anyone here knew? Thanks!

Too funny! I was just about to post the exact same thing when I got to your post. I just used marine epoxy to fix mine as well. Seems to be holding up fine so far , but its only been about 2 weeks so we'll see.

I don't think its plugs but at that mileage there is a remote chance. It seems a bit unlikely that 2 coils would fail at the same time but if I had to bet I would say coils failure over plugs. There was a very similar post to your recently but I don't remember the resolution to it. I agree completely with the idea to swap coils and see if the code moves with it. I also have a 2000 with 115k miles on it and after my 3rd coil failure I finally replaced all the remaining coils. There is a new part number for coils that supercedes the original one: new 90080-19016 old 90019-02234. If its the coils, yes they are expensive. You Should NOT have to pay over $100 for them but they will run $85-90.

Very Cool of you to do this BillyShaft, I replaced my antenna a couple of years ago and I certainly didn't find a great price like that!

Wow, that's quite a leap! A cylinder misfire code--to a torn down engine. As previously mentioned I would have swapped coils from cyl 1&2 with two others and checked to see if the misfire moved with the coils. While it is odd that 2 coils would fail simultaneously, its a cheap and fairly quick check.

The general consensus in this forum is that drain-and-fill trans. fluid replacement is the way to go. Not taking sides here but I found this link interesting. Truth be told though, they may have a vested interest in the flush process so take it for what its worth. http://www.toyotechs.com/autologic-news/le...ission-failure/