Les Lex 2018

I recommend you get a lo-capacity Ozone generator on a timer and run that to get rid of the smell. Fumigation, I don't know. Mice also will not stay in the vehicle, or will parish due to the lack of Oxygen. Just opening the vehicle and selecting outside air should get rid of the Ozone, provided the filter is cleared. Things, Gary, I could no longer do without in an RX: Blind Spot Mirror, Radar tracking Cruise, radar perimeter auto braking/cross-track braking, Auto-hold brakes at stop lights, Speed Limit sign reading/posting/ over the limit warning, Cooled Seats, Voice Activated Weather Radar Display, Live operator for any questions, Auto tire pressure readout, heated mirrors. Mile Range to fill-up, internet set clocks, Homelink door opener... Some day they will offer a College degree in how to run and set all this stuff, haha...

There is a two position door between the clean side of the filter and the condenser box. Under the dash air is blocked from entering the box from under the dash in Outside air mode. In Recirc, the door opens up to air from under the dash while closing off the path from the clean side of the air filter. Same as the way it's done in a window air conditioner. If your 350 has mice in the vehicle but they have not chewed thru the air filter, then the only way I know of is that they forced their way thru the rear exhaust vent. IF they are on the top of the air filter, but they can't get in to the vehicle, then its the drain hole or hood hinge thing. But then, there are things you know, and things you don't know that you don't know... Or something like that.

There is only one location for air "intended' to enter the vehicle and that is below the windshield as you show. Air exits the vehicle via the vent I showed you in the rear. After air enters the dirty side of the filter, it then goes to the condenser coil and then out all the vents provided. 1. IF they are nesting on the dirty side of the filter, they are coming in thru the windshield intake or some other opening that is not intended to be there in that path. All air from the windshield intake is suppose to go to the cabin air filter. Lexus does not want dust in your condenser or your cabin. 2. If they are nesting on the clean side of the filter, they are coming in from some where else and going thru the air vents and they can get into your condenser coils and on to the clean side of the air filter. But, see below: I think you hit on something - The drain hole! That hole is inside the cage where air is collected and sent to the air filter. If they come in there, they get a free ticket to the air filter.

Sounds like you live close to Mother Nature, where there is an overpopulation of rodents. I hate cats but my kid found one. We made it a nice cozy box in the garage and it was happy running around the area catching mice. I don't recall that we had any rodent problems after that. Didn't need to buy cat food after that. Nothing like the balance of nature. But getting back to your problem, the exit vents are way in the back of most all vehicles. Once again, the vent opening is 1/4 in on the 2020 RX here.

Well, your Computer selects the speeds and RPMs it needs to make your car either economical or just plain Fast, based on you desired setting. If you are going to pass a lot of cars on two lane going 60 MPH and need to get up to 80 real quick, you would want the sport setting.. IF you are just interest in puttering around town with the rest of the crowd, Econ mode is just fine. In Sport mode, the computer will want to get you up into your max HP range before shifting, whereas for econ mode, the computer will shift up early at a lower power output and RPM. I'm sure I over simplified this, but that's kind a how it works.

Thanks, Jack! The vent holes on my 2020 are 1/4 inch wide, not 1/8th and even bigger for length. I keep seeing on internet searches that small rats can fit thru a 1/4 inch hole but mice can't. I don't know what a small rat is as far as what species... Based on that, you are right. Mice should not be able to get thru the vent to the dirty side of the filter. Les Lex 2018 / 2020

Sounds like you picked a 4 Year old commuter car that was parked in a parking lot every day. Traded Fair condition vs. Excellent... I would expect that the paint is covered under WYSIWYG... With the new generation 16s, you have a lot more functionality than the previous gen. My advice would be to test as much of that new functionality as you can during warranty to make sure it all works correctly, vs. what the paint looks like. Those plastic inserts snap in really tight so can’t imagine what is going on there, and the seals coming loose almost sounds like it’s been handled in a body shop vs. factory. I assume that you got and have a copy of the car fax or equivalent and have some idea of the accident and maintenance history of this vehicle. That’s a freebee from the dealer so I presume you did or can get one. Eyeball that report carefully for your own understanding of the vehicle. Read your warranty carefully. My opinions are simply past experience and should only be treated as such.

I tested the 18 RX when I got it to see how much time it took to charge the battery after 2 days in the garage and a short trip, and came to the conclusion that the charging system is a bit on the stingy side. Like it ain’t fully charged when I get it back in the hanger. But that’s with short trips, so to be fair: I would not go more three days without driving it or put in at least 5 miles city or 10 miles highway each time you drive. The airport thing sounds silly, but I’ve actually heard more laughable explanations that turned out to be true, like I can’t have 2 different security system near each other because it causes one of them to crash, and when I take their advise, the problem went away, hahaha... Minders are a real pain and I have one but geeez... Gas is cheap, so get out there and enjoy your transport and go with the flow.

The call list is filled automatically with the calls I send and receive. So, can’t recall every having to key in a phone number, since it can be found in the list.

Interesting because my 18 RX with no hitch will lock up the brakes at about 12 inches from a post or grocery cart. You can’t be towing a trailer that close to the rear bumper. So you must have some hardware that is sitting up high enough for the radar to catch the reflection. Check setting to see if you can disable that feature. RX Manual should help with that.

The 19 Fed Econ Guide claims you have a 288 Volt Ni Metal Hydride battery. So you have a bunch of low volt cells daisy chained to build up 288 volts. If one opens in the chain, you have no voltage. Same as your standard 12 volt car battery. I am very surprised to see that Lexus went to a Lithium Ion battery instead in the 2020. That is a big step forward. Toyota started putting it in the Camry. I had the 15 Camry Hybrid with the NMHi and it was awesome=40mpg in city traffic. Had to sell to get out of the sedan market into an Suv. Hated to do that. Looking at the 2021 in 450h...

I want to trade up to the F sport but the build fails if I try to avoid the panorama roof. Does anyone from south TX to So Cal know how much heat gets radiated down on the passengers in the blazing sun, due to the black glass that covers the roof?

This got my attention because I’d am interested in a 2021 400H Sport. Let us know what they find. The Lexus computers should be able to figure all that out. Your concern about an engine stall on the road would be very rare, and it is considered a dangerous condition if not fixed, and soon enters assessment under the lemon law and makes it a candidate as a crusher. So nothing to be worried about there. Lemon law is on your side. Your system computer should never go off into the wild blue yonder like that, except for maybe a virus, program error, or a memory chip failure, but again, the Lexus guys are pretty smart, or at least they have the right equipment to track down just about anything. Regards, Lex Les

I presume that you got this new and not a used car. So you know it’s not been in a wreck or had glass replaced previously.

I went from a Camry XLE w/sunroom to the RX 350 w/sunroof, and I can’t tell the difference. Both seem a bit too noisy for being high-end models. Your sound system should have automatic volume increase set for speed increments some place in your settings menu.

That is a bummer to find out that your Lexus was driven for a couple of years in the rust belt and you weren’t told. All cars are now treated to go many years in the salt and rust belt states, but sure, it does look a bit ugly. If you avoid the salt Latitudes, you should have no further problems, as long as you stay in the waiting room when it’s on the rack for service.

You do realize that your 12 volt cig lighter is not connected to power when the the vehicle is turned off so it is impossible for anything plugged into it to draw power. There are other devices connected to the same fuse that draw power 24/7. But none off them are designed to kill a battery in 4 days. My 18 RX is a juice sucker but it’s never left me stranded so far. I had a Camry Hybrid that you really had to drive a lot too or it would suck down the battery pretty low. Toyota had the same line that Lexus used on you. Drive it more.

I did challenge the option, thinking I had it disable somehow, and they proved to themselves that it was working fine, but here is my conclusion: The seats do have a fan and they say it was working, but I understand that the seat covering is porous but NOT openly vented. Therefore, the seat is cooled indirectly by cooling the material, but does not really push air thru the seat. After two summers using this feature, I can’t say that I’ve ever noticed that the seat was warm. when getting out. Most cars are now coming out with the heated/cooled option. You might check out the cooling method Toyota and Honda are using... Bet it’s the same!

I still would caution you that a lease can be abused for all sort of reasons that don’t show up at the lease surrender, like the reasons given and driving at higher speeds over speed bumps. Maybe the lessor checks alignment and charged if its out, but I don’t know. Same for excessive brake wear. Typically you have 5 Lexus dealer within a 200 mile area/radius, as we do in Huntsville, being Atlanta, Birmingham, Nashville, and Memphis. Hope someone has the RX you like. The 17s should start showing up more and more but your better bet is the 16s if you are particular.

I’ve been fortunate to not have any of those expenses, due to trading every 3 years, But you could just ask Toy and Lex what they charge for a certain repair. As to why I stay way from used leases. One bad experience on a lease Toyota that had front end problems that model never should have had. I feel like: If you don’t own it and you know you will turn it in in 3 years, some would be more likely to buy cheap grocery store gas, drive it harder, and leave it out on the street in all the element - Sun, Ice, heavy due/condensation, etc. The big prize when buying used, is finding the original owner to have garage kept it and used a top rated hi-detergent fuel. In other words, they loved their RX as much as I do. Nice having a discussion with you on my favorite subject, John.

There are many way to look at replacement cost for parts. I usually settle on the “Cost vs. Value” philosophy. I had an 18 Rav4 and have an 18 RX350. Both with basically the same package including Blind Spot mirror and radar cruise. Rav4 was 28K and the RX was 51K, called their Bread and Butter package. Therefore, if it costs me twice as much to replace a part on the RX vs. the Rav4, then, I would have no problem paying twice the price to repair the RX. If you have to replace a windshield in any of the new cars, cheap or expensive, that have the not-so-optional window cameras, you may want to check the deductible on your insurance first. When I tried to do what you want to do, there just wasn’t anything out there that met all my milage, no lease, color, condition, options and owner history. What ever you do, make sure you get radar cruise and set it to lock in at the max of one-football field to avoid them flying rocks from the trucks in front of you. Just kidding about the rocks, John.

It (what ever they use to create tension) isn’t visible from the outside. Probably accessible when they pop off the rear left inside panel. Door is attached to an arm that is connected to something not visible from the outside.

Checked my 16 RX. The door has some form of spring action holding it open. If it will not stay open, the spring (regardless of what it is) is sprung or broken.

Under Settings Display (gear wheel icon). Under Meter Setting - Select Units. Change the units of measure. This is covered in my 18 RX manual. Page 102 of Instrument cluster.

Said to be fuel system pressure relief system. Not a problem.