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jamokrx

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    James

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  • Lexus Model
    RX300
  • Lexus Year
    1999
  • Location
    Oregon (OR)

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  1. Yes, I know it's years later but.....I have the same problem, apparently. Suddenly, hood release inside the cabin wouldn't open the hood. (As you know, lifting the hood is a 2 step process - pull release tab in the cabin towards you until the hood 'pops' - then go the the grille, reach under it, and find that release tab to open hood.) With a lot of trepidation, I finally got a pair of small pliers and pulled the cable on the inside release tab towards me, with the tab already pulled towards me. Given that, at first, there was no reaction nor increase in tension in the cable when I pulled it towards me with pliers, I feared that whatever that cable is attached to had come apart, and I might just make things worse by pulling it further towards me. But when I did so, it popped the hood up a couple of inches as per above, and then I could use the hood latch beneath the grill to get it open. What's interesting and I have a question on, is this: During my attempts to get the hood open, I thought maybe I could pull the lever or the assembly up through the grill of the car by going through the grill with a stiff wire 'hook' mechanism (the idea is something like this: if you 'unwound' a wire clothes hanger and used the curved 'hook' part to get under that latch inside the grill, or hook onto the assembly to it and lift it up, I hoped it might pop the hood open. I used something of wider diameter and a good deal stronger than a clothes hanger for this - a file folder cabinet metal 'divider' - the thing that allows you to set where you want the files to be propped against usedin a lot of file cabinets. Something similar, and sturdier, such as whatever that thing is that thiefs and cops used to slip inside the window and into the door to open locked cars would be more ideal.) Anyway, regardless of where I positioned that device, the latch mechanism would not budge. My questions are twofold: 1. Like you, from the hood release tab inside the car, now that I know I must shorten the attached wire in order to get the tab doing its job of opening the hood a couple inches, I can't see a way to take the tab apart, much less shorten the wire that's attached to it. Any help would be appreciated. 2. Is the reason that my 'hook mechanism' on the latch behind the grille unworkable because opening the hood is a 2 step process, and without the wire on the inside tab 'triggering', pulling on the tab behind the grill will never open the hood? Or should I try to lube the joints of that part with WD 40 or some such lubricant and it might work? The other obvious questions is, now that I have the hood open, can I solve this problem from that end? If anyone had an 'exploded' chart of both the inside and outside mechanisms, that might help, so please post link if you do. I'm doubtful it'll work, but I will search for that as well, and if I find something, post it here.
  2. Yes, I know it's years later but.....I have the same problem, apparently. Suddenly, hood release inside the cabin wouldn't open the hood. (As you know, lifting the hood is a 2 step process - pull release tab in the cabin towards you until the hood 'pops' - then go the the grille, reach under it, and find that release tab to open hood.) With a lot of trepidation, I finally got a pair of small pliers and pulled the cable on the inside release tab towards me, with the tab already pulled towards me. Given that, at first, there was no reaction nor increase in tension in the cable when I pulled it towards me with pliers, I feared that whatever that cable is attached to had come apart, and I might just make things worse by pulling it further towards me. But when I did so, it popped the hood up a couple of inches as per above, and then I could use the hood latch beneath the grill to get it open. What's interesting and I have a question on, is this: During my attempts to get the hood open, I thought maybe I could pull the lever or the assembly up through the grill of the car by going through the grill with a stiff wire 'hook' mechanism (the idea is something like this: if you 'unwound' a wire clothes hanger and used the curved 'hook' part to get under that latch inside the grill, or hook onto the assembly to it and lift it up, I hoped it might pop the hood open. I used something of wider diameter and a good deal stronger than a clothes hanger for this - a file folder cabinet metal 'divider' - the thing that allows you to set where you want the files to be propped against usedin a lot of file cabinets. Something similar, and sturdier, such as whatever that thing is that thiefs and cops used to slip inside the window and into the door to open locked cars would be more ideal.) Anyway, regardless of where I positioned that device, the latch mechanism would not budge. My questions are twofold: 1. Like you, from the hood release tab inside the car, now that I know I must shorten the attached wire in order to get the tab doing its job of opening the hood a couple inches, I can't see a way to take the tab apart, much less shorten the wire that's attached to it. Any help would be appreciated. 2. Is the reason that my 'hook mechanism' on the latch behind the grille unworkable because opening the hood is a 2 step process, and without the wire on the inside tab 'triggering', pulling on the tab behind the grill will never open the hood? Or should I try to lube the joints of that part with WD 40 or some such lubricant and it might work? The other obvious questions is, now that I have the hood open, can I solve this problem from that end? If anyone had an 'exploded' chart of both the inside and outside mechanisms, that might help, so please post link if you do. I'm doubtful it'll work, but I will search for that as well, and if I find something, post it here.
  3. Update on my post from Yesterday: I finally was able to open the hood by taking a pair of pliers and pulling the 'release wire' attached to the hood release tab in side the cabin towards me - with a good deal of force - although at first, given how slack the wire was, even with the tab pulled towards me, I was afraid that the other end of the wire had come apart from whatever it was attached to, and I might be just making it harder to fix by pulling a loose wire through its shielding sheath further into the sheath, wherever that was. It popped the hood, and then I could access the latch behind the grille and open the hood fully. But a couple questions remain, and TIA to anyone who can answer them: I see no way to shorten and attach the wire on the inside cabin hood release tab - it seems mysterious as to even how to remove the wire and the metal thing that attaches it to the tab off. Any idea of how to do that? Diagrams? minus that I have to stand on my head with a pair of pliers each time to do step 1 of opening the hood, with the possibility that it feels like the wire might snap somewhere. Also, is there some 'emergency hood release' mechanism on the car/behind the grill/whatever? I have read mention of it while googling this problem, but nothing more than a mention of some 'small box' (?) behind the grill that is an emergency release mechanism. Thanks to all in advance.
  4. Yes, I know it's years later but.....I have the same problem, apparently. Suddenly, hood release inside the cabin wouldn't open the hood. (As you know, lifting the hood is a 2 step process - pull release tab in the cabin towards you until the hood 'pops' - then go the the grille, reach under it, and find that release tab to open hood.) With a lot of trepidation, I finally got a pair of small pliers and pulled the cable on the inside release tab towards me, with the tab already pulled towards me. Given that, at first, there was no reaction nor increase in tension in the cable when I pulled it towards me with pliers, I feared that whatever that cable is attached to had come apart, and I might just make things worse by pulling it further towards me. But when I did so, it popped the hood up a couple of inches as per above, and then I could use the hood latch beneath the grill to get it open. What's interesting and I have a question on, is this: During my attempts to get the hood open, I thought maybe I could pull the lever or the assembly up through the grill of the car by going through the grill with a stiff wire 'hook' mechanism (the idea is something like this: if you 'unwound' a wire clothes hanger and used the curved 'hook' part to get under that latch inside the grill, or hook onto the assembly to it and lift it up, I hoped it might pop the hood open. I used something of wider diameter and a good deal stronger than a clothes hanger for this - a file folder cabinet metal 'divider' - the thing that allows you to set where you want the files to be propped against usedin a lot of file cabinets. Something similar, and sturdier, such as whatever that thing is that thiefs and cops used to slip inside the window and into the door to open locked cars would be more ideal.) Anyway, regardless of where I positioned that device, the latch mechanism would not budge. My questions are twofold: 1. Like you, from the hood release tab inside the car, now that I know I must shorten the attached wire in order to get the tab doing its job of opening the hood a couple inches, I can't see a way to take the tab apart, much less shorten the wire that's attached to it. Any help would be appreciated. 2. Is the reason that my 'hook mechanism' on the latch behind the grille unworkable because opening the hood is a 2 step process, and without the wire on the inside tab 'triggering', pulling on the tab behind the grill will never open the hood? Or should I try to lube the joints of that part with WD 40 or some such lubricant and it might work? The other obvious questions is, now that I have the hood open, can I solve this problem from that end? If anyone had an 'exploded' chart of both the inside and outside mechanisms, that might help, so please post link if you do. I'm doubtful it'll work, but I will search for that as well, and if I find something, post it here.
  5. I have a 1999 RX300 on which the hood doesn't do it's 'preliminary' release when I pull on the under-dash hood lever - no 'click', just no response. The cable moves towards you when you pull on the cabin release, but there's no tension on it, and hence no response - it is attached to the release handle.I tried gripping the wire cable attached to this indoor 'handle', and pulled it towards me using a pair of pliers - it moved towards me, and seemed to offer some more 'tension' resistance as I pulled, but did nothing to open the 'preliminary' hatch on the hood (by that I mean the first step of the two-step process one normally uses - 1. release the inside handle by pulling it towards you 2. release the under-hood latch that step #1 moves the hood up by a couple inches so you can do step 2. I could use 3 hands to pull the inside latch, pull the cable towards me with pliers, hold that in place, and have someone else pull the now-'more tensioned' cable with another set of pliers - but I fear that at a certain point, I'm going to break something I shouldn't. Tried another method - bent some steel wire (not a coat hanger - stronger - actually a file cabinet divider support) so that I could put pressure on the latch that's just inside the front grill - what is normally the 'step 2' procedure above. Got some pretty good upward pressure on it, but no release of any kind occurred. Again, I'm reluctant to put any more pressure on it, as something might break - and I suspect (conjecture) that there are 2 'latch' mechanisms - step 1 which frees the 'grille' handle so that pushing (or pulling) it upwards lets you raise the hood. Any 'solution' advice would be appreciated. Lacking that, maybe any diagrams that show the workings of both the inside and outside latch mechanisms might be helpful in figuring out the solution. Thanks so much in advance - has eaten a lot of time, so far with nothing to show for it.
  6. Curious about how to implement the fixes found for this leakage problem - assuming it's the drain holes in the sunroof that has been so often cited in the forums on this issue, outside of taking it to the dealer, where could one get the right dispenser and pressure to do this oneself, assuming you don't have a strong air compressor? Can the tire air fill-up stations at gas stations be adapted? Are products like this appropriate? http://www.acehardwa...oductId=2845784 (http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2845784) I assume 1. it needs to be 'just' air, as anything designed to clean metal or pvc type drains would likely damage the type of plastic that I *think* seems used in the lexus drain system, and 2. How does one tell not only how much air pressure is enough, but is it possible for it to be *too* powerful, damaging the rubber or plastic sections of the drain? Thanks! ? Also - other forums/posts list a new windshield as also being the cause of such leaks - does anyone know how you would test for that, and if there is a 'key' indicator that points to the new installed windshield as the cause of the leak? I did have my windshield replaced in the last few years.
  7. In response to to blexusaowner who said the most likely culprit of the sunroof drain lines being the culprit of water entering the car cabin and soaking the rugs, as well as anyone else who tried that route - outside of taking it to the dealer, where could one get the right dispenser and pressure to do this oneself, assuming you don't have a strong air compressor? Can the tire air fill-up stations at gas stations be adapted? Are products like this appropriate? http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2845784 I assume 1. it needs to be 'just' air, as anything designed to clean metal or pvc type drains would likely damage the type of plastic that I *think* seems used in the lexus drain system, and 2. How does one tell not only how much air pressure is enough, but is it possible for it to be *too* powerful, damaging the rubber or plastic sections of the drain? Thanks! Also - other forums/posts list a new windshield as also being the cause of such leaks - does anyone know how you would test for that, and if there is a 'key' indicator that points to the new installed windshield as the cause of the leak? I did have my windshield replaced in the last few years.
  8. lenore, I really appreciate your response. That does sound like the easiest, most logical thing to first try. I'll give it a go when I can find a compressed air source, and when it lets up raining here long enough to venture out. (Pacific Northwest - aka 'Northwest of Normal', as it rains most days, Oct. to June.)
  9. My model is different (RX300 1999), but I've experienced something that may be tangentially related to your battery problem: Last fall, carpets soaked by mysterious leak, I kept doors opened for many hours/day for a good many days, until battery would not start car. Didn't think those little courtesy lights on lower front doors would drain much power, but there you go. Reasonable that they might. Battery still barely under warranty, and interstate shop said battery was bad. Replaced it with a brand new interstate, the right one for the car. For a much shorter period of time (couple days) opened moonroof, and 2 passenger doors to do some drying work. Within those few days, the battery was drained, altho the only power I could see drawn was from the small little red 'door open' indicator below the mph display. Seems insane to me that no other lights on, no obvious draws would drain a battery that new, and that powerful completely, but I have a fancy brand name self-diagnosing charger (Schumacher) that read below usable charge. Charged it up and it hasn't repeated, but then I haven't kept any door opened, except the moonroof. Beats me. Sorry. Oh, just saw there were some replies to you: My alternator tested good after the first drain and before replacement. If there is a fix to have lights go out when you close the doors or lock the car, automatically, I'd like to know it, also. I've given up on being sure interior lights do that, as none of the settings seem sure-fire. Which lead to often using the 'auxiliary' light in the middle of the sun visors, which for sure will never go out unless I turn them off manually before I exit the car, which is an easy thing to forget. I'd trade that problem as 'unfixable' for some solutions to the more weighty ones that cause me serious concern lol.
  10. I know it's years later, but did you ever find a cause and solution, if you still follow this thread. My story is strikingly similar, and I am equally puzzled, altho I do not have a thousandth of the technical skills you spoke of to tear apart my car: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/topic/60116-2000-rx-300-water-on-floor-problem/ Don't want to clog forums with questions already asked/answered. But my RX300 has a mysterious leak somewhere when it rains, such that the carpets get soaked (the low spots being worst of course, but the driver's side left side well seems quite wet, as well as the spare tire compartment having standing water in it at one point. Most everything left in the car ended up rusty, given the time before I really took notice (all I noticed at first was the interior windows always fogging up into 'unseeable' condition. But I live in the Pacific Northwest (rains 9 months of the year), the car was kept outside on a driveway with a modreate steep downward slope (that's front (high) to back (low) for the car), and I think probably the covers over the carpet hid it until it soaked thru those, too, and I began paying more attention and finding the leak problem results in many parts of the car, from the floor carpet to under the optional carpet rear cargo carpet protector (that could've been just condensation on the rubber back over time, rather than the result of a direct leak - I can't be positive.) But things like having standing water in the well of the spare tire (the lowest point in the frame of the car) was pretty alarming. At the time the weather was dry, and for days on end, I put the car outside with all the openable things open, and put heaters and fans pushing air into it, while removing all mats and spray regularly and liberally with Lysol (anti-mold IMHO), as well as putting one of those things you use for drying out basements (draws water into it) when the car needed to be closed. Good news was that it made me clear space in the garage to keep it out of the rain. I don't drive much, so I haven't noticed a return of this. But I'm sure it's still there. The other day it rained and some of the carpet might or might not have been damp - hard to tell. Maybe it takes a certain amount of rainfall to accumulate, maybe not. I'm not eager to repeat what I did last fall. The car is a 1999 Rx300, with only 85k on it - but it spent a lot of its life outside in torrid Texas summers, where temps are in the 90's and up for months - probably not real good for rubber seals and drainage channels. It does have a sun/moonroof which, while almost never used (open), does of course have seals to it. I cannot say where, exactly, the leak came from. My problem is this: In reading the forums, that kind of problem is mentioned for many different Lexus model. The problem cause, and solutions, both have numerous conflicting answers, from drainage holes in near the sunroof to windshield replacements being the problem (yes, I had my windshield replaced in the last couple of years. Even if I knew *which* was the problem's cause, there is often not a singular or confirmed working solution: e.g., in one thread, clogged drainage holes are near the sunroof are deemed to be the likely problem. Some threads/sites say there's a kind of black wire you can feed down those holes to clear the clog (I wonder - would that not have a high chance of poking new holes in portions of the drainage system that might be rubber, long weakened or compromised by the heat?), to the solution of clearing out the holes with 'air'. Others said, 'not your problem - tell your insurance company, likely they may pay for mold'. That sounds dubious, but even if so, do I have to let everything re-mold to do that? Not great.? So, I realize 'different ideas' always exist. I'm wondering if 1. People have had experience with confirmed ID of problems; 2. What solutions actually worked and how was it done? (compressed air in roof drain holes the safest thing that 'worked'?). I thank all in advance for any help, and apologize if this should be in other forums and/or not reposted elsewhere. BTW, the dealer where I live now I do not consider honest nor trustworthy, so I don't think they'll be an ally in this, but I may be wrong on that.
  11. Yes, I have a similar unsolved leak problem with my 99 Lexus Rx300 - reason and fix are beyond me. What you posted helps tell me some of the possible thousands of problems causing and fixing this get ruled out, so thanks for posting. Here's my story: Don't want to clog forums with questions already asked/answered. But my RX300 has a mysterious leak somewhere when it rains, such that the carpets get soaked (the low spots being worst of course, but the driver's side left side well seems quite wet, as well as the spare tire compartment having standing water in it at one point. Most everything left in the car ended up rusty, given the time before I really took notice (all I noticed at first was the interior windows always fogging up into 'unseeable' condition. But I live in the Pacific Northwest (rains 9 months of the year), the car was kept outside on a driveway with a modreate steep downward slope (that's front (high) to back (low) for the car), and I think probably the covers over the carpet hid it until it soaked thru those, too, and I began paying more attention and finding the leak problem results in many parts of the car, from the floor carpet to under the optional carpet rear cargo carpet protector (that could've been just condensation on the rubber back over time, rather than the result of a direct leak - I can't be positive.) But things like having standing water in the well of the spare tire (the lowest point in the frame of the car) was pretty alarming. At the time the weather was dry, and for days on end, I put the car outside with all the openable things open, and put heaters and fans pushing air into it, while removing all mats and spray regularly and liberally with Lysol (anti-mold IMHO), as well as putting one of those things you use for drying out basements (draws water into it) when the car needed to be closed. Good news was that it made me clear space in the garage to keep it out of the rain. I don't drive much, so I haven't noticed a return of this. But I'm sure it's still there. The other day it rained and some of the carpet might or might not have been damp - hard to tell. Maybe it takes a certain amount of rainfall to accumulate, maybe not. I'm not eager to repeat what I did last fall. The car is a 1999 Rx300, with only 85k on it - but it spent a lot of its life outside in torrid Texas summers, where temps are in the 90's and up for months - probably not real good for rubber seals and drainage channels. It does have a sun/moonroof which, while almost never used (open), does of course have seals to it. I cannot say where, exactly, the leak came from. My problem is this: In reading the forums, that kind of problem is mentioned for many different Lexus model. The problem cause, and solutions, both have numerous conflicting answers, from drainage holes in near the sunroof to windshield replacements being the problem (yes, I had my windshield replaced in the last couple of years. Even if I knew *which* was the problem's cause, there is often not a singular or confirmed working solution: e.g., in one thread, clogged drainage holes are near the sunroof are deemed to be the likely problem. Some threads/sites say there's a kind of black wire you can feed down those holes to clear the clog (I wonder - would that not have a high chance of poking new holes in portions of the drainage system that might be rubber, long weakened or compromised by the heat?), to the solution of clearing out the holes with 'air'. Others said, 'not your problem - tell your insurance company, likely they may pay for mold'. That sounds dubious, but even if so, do I have to let everything re-mold to do that? Not great. So, I realize 'different ideas' always exist. I'm wondering if 1. People have had experience with confirmed ID of problems; 2. What solutions actually worked and how was it done? (compressed air in roof drain holes the safest thing that 'worked'?). I thank all in advance for any help, and apologize if this should be in other forums and/or not reposted elsewhere. BTW, the dealer where I live now I do not consider honest nor trustworthy, so I don't think they'll be an ally in this, but I may be wrong on that.
  12. Don't want to clog forums with questions already asked/answered. But my RX300 has a mysterious leak somewhere when it rains, such that the carpets get soaked (the low spots being worst of course, but the driver's side left side well seems quite wet, as well as the spare tire compartment having standing water in it at one point. Most everything left in the car ended up rusty, given the time before I really took notice (all I noticed at first was the interior windows always fogging up into 'unseeable' condition. But I live in the Pacific Northwest (rains 9 months of the year), the car was kept outside on a driveway with a modreate steep downward slope (that's front (high) to back (low) for the car), and I think probably the covers over the carpet hid it until it soaked thru those, too, and I began paying more attention and finding the leak problem results in many parts of the car, from the floor carpet to under the optional carpet rear cargo carpet protector (that could've been just condensation on the rubber back over time, rather than the result of a direct leak - I can't be positive.) But things like having standing water in the well of the spare tire (the lowest point in the frame of the car) was pretty alarming. At the time the weather was dry, and for days on end, I put the car outside with all the openable things open, and put heaters and fans pushing air into it, while removing all mats and spray regularly and liberally with Lysol (anti-mold IMHO), as well as putting one of those things you use for drying out basements (draws water into it) when the car needed to be closed. Good news was that it made me clear space in the garage to keep it out of the rain. I don't drive much, so I haven't noticed a return of this. But I'm sure it's still there. The other day it rained and some of the carpet might or might not have been damp - hard to tell. Maybe it takes a certain amount of rainfall to accumulate, maybe not. I'm not eager to repeat what I did last fall. The car is a 1999 Rx300, with only 85k on it - but it spent a lot of its life outside in torrid Texas summers, where temps are in the 90's and up for months - probably not real good for rubber seals and drainage channels. It does have a sun/moonroof which, while almost never used (open), does of course have seals to it. I cannot say where, exactly, the leak came from. My problem is this: In reading the forums, that kind of problem is mentioned for many different Lexus model. The problem cause, and solutions, both have numerous conflicting answers, from drainage holes in near the sunroof to windshield replacements being the problem (yes, I had my windshield replaced in the last couple of years. Even if I knew *which* was the problem's cause, there is often not a singular or confirmed working solution: e.g., in one thread, clogged drainage holes are near the sunroof are deemed to be the likely problem. Some threads/sites say there's a kind of black wire you can feed down those holes to clear the clog (I wonder - would that not have a high chance of poking new holes in portions of the drainage system that might be rubber, long weakened or compromised by the heat?), to the solution of clearing out the holes with 'air'. Others said, 'not your problem - tell your insurance company, likely they may pay for mold'. That sounds dubious, but even if so, do I have to let everything re-mold to do that? Not great. So, I realize 'different ideas' always exist. I'm wondering if 1. People have had experience with confirmed ID of problems; 2. What solutions actually worked and how was it done? (compressed air in roof drain holes the safest thing that 'worked'?). I thank all in advance for any help, and apologize if this should be in other forums and/or not reposted elsewhere. BTW, the dealer where I live now I do not consider honest nor trustworthy, so I don't think they'll be an ally in this, but I may be wrong on that.
  13. Welcome to the Lexus forums jamokrx :)

    If you would like help using our forums then please check out our forum user video guides: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/forum-90/announcement-29-how-to-use-our-forum-video-guides/

    1. jamokrx

      jamokrx

      Thanks, Steve. I already did post my problem in a few relevant forums. Hope I what I asked/posted was cricket: Unsolved cause and fix for mysterious water leakage into 1999 RX300 carpets/spare tire well when it rains.

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